+52 ROOF BUBBLES! NORMAL? 10 months old

[BRENDAG]

We have a 2011 keystone bullet ultra light with these +52 bubbles and have been assured they are normal and purely cosmetic. When I wear a sock and take it off, it does show wear. If rivets come out of a plane-I would want them replaced before flight. The Dicor company, that makes the roofing material and supplies the glue to Keystone, does not claim it is made to bubble. It is improper installation as I see it. The warranty does not include any other costs other than the roof material replacement. What is under the bubbles? Will they continue to appear? Keystone has only seen photo's from the dealer, who immediatelty came and picked this up when I notified them, over a month ago, and insinuated to me they were not so normal. How are all of you, who have had this happen to you in the past posts, dealing with the bubbles today?

There are numberous other issues with this purchase including: broken toy-lock, burnt-up jack hitch fuse & motor, wheel fenders tore out, as none are properly braced (please check yours), hot water tank wiring not correct @ motherboard, screw backing out on outside kitchen door, hot water pump replaced, none of which gets me into thinking the quality control on these units is surpassable by any means, especially after coming from a Northern Lite Camper that was never ill even after 7 years.

I am so frustrated as to Keystone forcing me to accept this as normal and not concerned as to how I maintain the roof according to their warranty which includes cleaning the roof 4 times a year, re-sealing vents & caps annually, walkable roof.....ugh! Even a dealer wouldn't get up there!

See post 4-20-2012 below for update!

[Festus2]

While I don't have a roof bubble problem with our '08 Cougar, a friend of mine does but not nearly to the extent that you are reporting. He has several, the majority of which are located in the front half of the roof. It doesn't appear as though they have increased in number nor have they enlarged to any great extent.
When he inquired about these bubbles, he was also told that they are "normal" and that they should be inspected from time to time to see whether or not they have grown in either size or number. I think he was told this by both Keystone and the dealer. In any case, neither one seemed to be overly concerned about the bubbling and the message appeared to be "Don't get too excited about this".
Telling you this probably does little to provide you with any useful guidance other than your knowing that you are not alone in this.
The "loose screw" issue is also a common problem - with Keystone cabinetry I mean. Often, they are over-torqued and will, over time and travel, work themselves loose.

[gepaine]

I have about 6 small (1" to 2" diameter) bubbles in the front section of the roof of our 2011 Cougar TT, and was also told by the dealer that they are normal.

[rjsurfer]

Same here, sometimes they grow in size a bit and sometimes when I look they settle down and I can't see that many.

In the summer they seem to flatten out and adhere to the plywood roof better.

I'm not concerned, they haven't gotten much bigger overall. BUT it is something I look for when up on the roof, I have seen some campers going down the road with a billowing roof liner.

Ron W.

[BRENDAG]

First of all, thank-you for the replies. A Mr. Keystone specialist called .... after an e-mail, earlier in the day, saying he would not include a statement that Keystone would absorb the costs of supplies/damages if the roof failed from the bubbles...& considered this case closed... and said: "Upon looking at and blowing up some photo's missed" that these bubbles may indeed be a defect and AGREED TO INSTALL A NEW ROOF. We will see what happens next.

[E6ret]

It is interesting, what you said about the cabinet screws. Our 2011 33FKV surprised me after only the second weekend we used it, the bathroom cabinet door fell off in my hand as I opened it. I opted for a few toothpicks and Elmers glue rather than the dealer making a mess out of it.

[CPE]

I am an engineer inspector for VZ and have supervised at least 50 new rubber roof installations over 15 years and bubbles are not permitted by me or the roofing mtrl companies (Carlisle, Firestone, etc) who have roof inspectors to also inspect the installation and warrant/bond it. Bubbles are cut out and patched if small larger sheet is cut out and reapplied. Glue left uncovered for long in heat dries to a point it has little adhesive and dust on the surface even feet tracking it to the area will not allow the rubber to adhere. A fellow camper friend replaced his trailer roof and it is absolutely perfect 2 years later.
No details, but I find Keystone always ready to claim nothing is wrong several issues like this I have had.

[smiller]

Bubbles are an installation defect, pure and simple. What Keystone is really saying by calling them 'normal' is that they consider them to be not enough of a problem to absorb the cost of a new roof installation unless an actual failure occurs. We may or may not agree with their assessment, but that is the bottom line.

[2002 Keystone Sprinter]

I have replaced the roof on a Coachmen trailer and it wasn't difficult. once the glue is applied there are time constraints in laying the rubber roofing material for proper adhesion. Once the glue is applied the rubber material is rolled over the glue and the air bubbles are "pushed" from the center to the outside edge and then continue rolling the rubber roofing toward the end of the camper and pushing the air out from under the rubber roof. I did not have any air bubbles under my roof once completed. However, I have viewed many other roofs and many have a few small bubbles randomly over the areas. Proper installation takes time to install the materials propery. Roofing can be installed with no bubbles or at least very few. We now have a Keystone Sprinter and I have been on the roof and viewed probably a half dozen bubbles. Long and short of it is if the manufacturer isn't willing to take the time to install it properly then you will end up with bubbles. Time is money so to speak. I'm sorry to hear that you have this problem.

[ColoradoKeystone]

It's funny that I just saw this. We just purchased a 2011 Keystone Bullet. We thought eveything was great until we got a call from Camping world (were we purchased) saying they wanted to make an apointment for us to bring the trailer in to have the front and end caps replaced due to bubbling. They said Keystone was aware of it and gave them permission to replace under warranty. I was pretty mad they let us take the trailer home knowing it had issues. So our brand new trailer has been in service already and is still sitting there waiting for parts. Ugh!

What Camping World told us was that Keystone was aware of these issues and was replacing alot of them.
I hope this helps a little.

[tsenior]

We just picked up our 2011 3455 RL and I found that the roof decking was actually seperating from the rafters beneath the rubber surface. We had it for 1 week and had to return to dealership. Now waiting for resolution.

[Halibutman214]

I ABOSOLUTELY WOULD NOT ACCEPT THE PREMISE, "THIS IS NORMAL"! IT'S NOT! As I understand it Dicor also makes the roof material for Lance and many of their rigs are having the same problem. For ANYONE that would say this is normal let me ask you this. Would you buy this rig as is after seeing the bubbles; if a dealer would even take something like this on a trade how much you think they would give you. Let me answer both, NO AND NOTHING!
It appears after talking with several Lance owners that Keystone is taking a page from their playbook, the blame game. They say it's a Dicor problem and Dicor says it's a Lance problem. I DON'T GET IT! THESE RIGS CARRY THE COMPANY NAME AND THE COMPANY SHOULD FIX THE PROBLEM! AT NO TIME SHOULD A REPUTABLE COMPANY REFER ME TO SOMEONE THAT SUPPLIED MATERIAL. THAT IS BETWEEN THEM, AND THE CONSUMER SHOULD NOT BE THROWN IN THE MIDDLE! I for one am pretty sick and tired of this crap!

[BRENDAG]

We got our trailer back finally after 3 months in the shop and yes, it has new roof, and a new shed to store it in.....The manager of the repair dept. in Gig Harbor was nice enough, a salesman pleaser type but, HE eventually GOT THE JOB DONE, after informing the main offices back East that I would NOT GO AWAY! No way do I see DICOR as fault in installation of roofing.

The biggest saftey feature they need to address is that they did not add any addtional bracing to the wheel fender that cracked off. Check yours to see if they are intact!

I am amazed at the POOR QUALITY these AMERICAN companies allow as standards! Even after attending this years RV shows! Disposable?
I am anxious to see what this season brings...she may be for sale...real cheap! ENJOY!:bdance:

The board titled: DIVING BOARD ROOF has some big problems too...I wish you luck.