Sitting On Top Of My World

If you caught the comments back and forth between Raven and I recently, you will notice that today's post was a planned episode.  This facilitated by God's planning my day for me. (lol)

Today was indeed catching up with the elusive beautiful thaw that we have been anticipating since a week before Christmas.  In honour of the day's arrival, we were informed the night before that we needed to spend time outside and on the roof.  How was said message conveyed?  Well, a dripping ceiling was the primary cue to that affect.

So first thing this morning (in positive integers - YEAH!!) I got up on the roof to clear the snow and ice off the roof and slides, as well as the eves troughing, and awning roll. (The awning was not extended, but ice and snow collected in the pocket behind the roll.)  We used gentle brooms, and windshield brushes as we did not want to add to the problems in the rubber roofing.  

Also note well, the roof was extremely slick, being wet and icy.  I mostly worked kneeling to reduce my sliding.  Kneeling assisted me in 2 ways:

1. It lowered my center of gravity, making me more stable.
2. It also distributed my weight more, reducing the direct weight application on any given spot.

Remember, you need to work on your roof at varying times and for varying occasions, but over all, the roofs are not meant to take a lot of excess weight over an extended period of time.  The less time on top, the better for extending the roofing life expectancy.

Having cleared the debris we inspected the roof, and wonders of wonders, the leak appears to have come from right above the leak. (For those unfamiliar with leaks in trailer roofing, it is almost NEVER that easy to find.  The source is usually on the far side of the roof following some obscure crack through nooks and crannies and eventually through no logical means, reaches the spot which revealed the problem).

We cleaned and dried off the location (just above the eves trough, in the rubber portion, but right where the rubber meets the gelcoat.) and covered the quarter sized tear in the rubber with Red Green's favorite tool, Duct Tape.

Hole temporarily covered, we dashed off to the nearest trusted RV shop for a patch kit.  We now have the kit, but will do the repair tomorrow when we can properly clean, prep and patch the hole at a warm enough temperature to allow proper sealing of the gluing agent.

Never under-estimate the handiness of the old duct tape and bailing wire.  It has rescued us from many a bind  over the years, until proper repairs can be completed.  Also good advice is to carry an 8' X 8' tarp with string.  It takes up minimal space when folded properly, but can be anything from a cover over, to a sheet underneath in unforeseen dilemmas.  

So today was very fruitful, and general activities beyond the roof involved movement of snow and ice in general.  It was a wonderful day to be out .... and tomorrow, it promises to continue the same.  Glory be!  (and about time !!)  :-)

Now off to cook dinner, so I bid you,

Adieu