I am purchasing a new to me trailer, trailer is a United and there have been zero roof leaks to date. Trailer is an 05 and in great condition and I hope to keep it that way. Curious if you guys think it’s best to leave it alone until there is an issue or to be preventative and find someone to professionally reseal and coat the roof?

If re-sealing is a good option is there anyone in Jersey that someone has personal experience with?

If the trailer is 16 years old and been used good chance it has a leak. You might never see it as it can leak at the roof edge and go right down between the inner and outer wall. Get a ladder and look at the edges of the roof. Good chance you'll find cracks in the sealer. If you go under the trailer look up at the bottom of the floor at the wall and see if there is water damage. I would want to have it sealed at the least and prevent damage to the floor and interior.

it may also prevent black streaks

Depends how the trailer was built. Both of my Classics had flat roofs that were horizontally smash riveted to the channel trim around the sides. The front seam was on the downward top of the chrome cap, and the rear was bent over the siding, but under the trim, so not much chance to leak even if the sealer cracked.

One thing about roof coatings. I used Kool Seal on mine and it did make a difference in the inside temperature of the trailer. But the stuff does stain and discolor. I have gone up and pressure washed the roof to clean it and will need to recoat it again.

I had mine decked and rubber roof installed.
I think it was less than $1k. No more leaks, and I can walk on it.

LANCO makes a very good roof treatment (sealer) that is called Urethanizer and also has one called Solar Guard. Both are used a LOT in South Florida on metal roofs and EPDM RV roofs.
I use it every season, now on the 5th coat I just put on last week, on my 34" RV. Costs about $40 to do a 8'x35' 5th wheel roof. First one should be double coats so double the cost.

My Classic trailer finally leaked on the front seam but I used the Manus Bond to seal that and it worked perfectly.

If you are gonna coat the whole thing then I would use something different but for a leak repair that stuff was awesome!

I finally found the product I was looking for, Crazy Seal. They have some videos out, might look at their stuff.

Do not use a product like cool seal or anything that does not have a gloss finish when dry. The porosity of a flat finish product holds dirt. It will stain and become filthy in a few months. Use a pure silicone based product, or a product called R-400

My trailer is a 2010. Never saw 1 drop of water in the trailer. Got under it last fall in the front and I could shove a screw driver through the wood all the way. That was also where the winch was mounted. Surprised it even held the car. We started taking it apart. Front cabinets are out of it now. We removed a 20" section in the front all the way across. Getting ready to reseal the roof in a few eeeks then We will put the new flooring in. The one positive is since its all tore apart now. I am going to put the tool box under the cabinet & already moved the winch to a recessed box in the floor. Just because you dont see any water does not mean there are no leaks

quote:

Originally posted by Eman:
If the trailer is 16 years old and been used good chance it has a leak. You might never see it as it can leak at the roof edge and go right down between the inner and outer wall. Get a ladder and look at the edges of the roof. Good chance you'll find cracks in the sealer. If you go under the trailer look up at the bottom of the floor at the wall and see if there is water damage. I would want to have it sealed at the least and prevent damage to the floor and interior.

I replaced floor,walls and ceiling no fun at all. When I had the floor out I welded in reinforcements for the D rings in the floor. I had to weld some of the wall studs back to the angle iron for the floor.

I resealed every edge with DICOR. Great products. They have a vertical and horizontal self leveling product they also have an entire roof sealant product. Good stuff.

Great topic for discussion.
Last fall we had a torrential rainstorm, I had the trailer parked with the front end jacked slightly higher, (I usually kept it this way, so any rain would run to the rear and off the back). I walked in the side door, and heard water falling. I could see behind the car, water pouring from the ceiling down one corner, just in front of the ramp door.
I lowered the jack so the front was down, and waited for a leak up front. Nothing on the inside. After things dried out, I went up top, and cannot see any cracks in sealer or roof, or signs of where the water was entering. (It is a 1 piece flat metal). I emptied the trailer, and pulled off the sheet metal box that runs full width at rear of ceiling to cover the torsion spring for the ramp. No tell-tale signs of water ever having been in there. Checked the walls and floors, no rot anywhere, even underneath. The ceiling is covered with screwed-on plastic sheeting in panels about 4' long. No water marks at any of the seams, but my guess is the water entered someplace, and ran down on top of the ceiling toward the rear. It was coming out the opening in the sheet metal for the ramp door cable. I am going to pull off all the panels, to look for any roof rot or signs of where the water may have entered. I am baffled by this. From that day on, I leave the front jack lowered to run the water to the front, and still no signs of any intrusion on the inside. I plan on coating the roof either way, but sure would like to find the point of entry first...

Gaco S2000, thank me later