Hello! Does anyone have any tips to stop rain water ingress from, what appears to be, the canvas / net on the roof?

I was thinking of replacing the roof trim but as it’s not a seal I’m not sure if that will help to stop water from getting in.

Both the canvas & netting excess fabric are fully pulled inside before the roof is locked (not excessively so as to cause gaps) & it’s pitched level both length & width ways.

When I check the caravan after rain there are droplets dripping from the fabric onto the rear seats on one side & there’s nothing obvious caught or loose when looking both in or outside, it’s driving me bonkers!

Any ideas welcomed before I try a replacement roof trim.

Thanks all

Thanks very much for the reply Colin, definitely feels like one of the last two scenarios could be the potential culprit.
We tried the nose up trick but then got a slight leak at the bottom right of the back window so maybe we need to focus on that problem! The window doesn’t let any water in when entirely level hence us levelling it again. Can’t remember if it fixed the roof issue though so will have to have a play around! We have a gap on the roof trim so that’s good, thought it was a bad thing at first until we did some reading.
The side the van is leaking gets the brunt of the cold winds so everything you said makes total sense. Might have to look into covering the van or turning it round to see if the other side copes any better! Lots to think about. Luckily it’s dry with the roof up so I can do that when the winds are low until the issue is fixed.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply, very much appreciated!

to the Forum (not in the Gladiator sense, of course...)

We have only had a leak through the roof fabric once - that was after towing in the wet; I had shut the roof, but forgot to zip up the triangular vents and water managed to get in that way. it shows how good the roof fabric is at keeping out the rain when all is zipped up tight! It's also a good idea to reproof the fabric from time to time - following a recommendation on here, I did mine with 303 Fabric Guard for Outdoor Materials and it has been very impressive - it would now be highly competitive with a duck...

There is always some condensation build up in the winter, so it's worthwhile ensuring the fabric is all tucked away inside and it's isolated from the roof material as much as possible.

Hi Emma & welcome

Touch wood we have not had any water ingress through the canvas in the 9 years we have had our Troll. however as we use it right at the start & end of the season we have had some pretty bad condensation on the aluminium trim. This is especially so in really cold and dark weather when we have ended up sitting inside the van with heating on.

I have been woken up a fair few nights by water dripping off the aluminium strip and onto my baldish head. In these conditions I take the precaution of wiping down all the strip with a paper towel before knocking the light out. When it is near to freezing outside I have been known to don a woollie hat in bed , despite Kath referring to me as "Compo"

hope you get it sorted

MikeT

Thanks for this!

The fabric seems to be water tight when the roof is up as we have no drips but good to know what product to use when the time comes.

I’ve had a couple of leak free nights now after being meticulous about pulling the canvas in so hopefully we just had a little bit stuck previously & that was causing a capillary action. I’ll keep a close eye on it!

Thanks again & cheers for the tips

Thanks Mike! That strip is so cold to the touch so definitely a factor like you say. I’ve had a couple of drip free nights after carefully checking that everything is fully pulled in before locking the roof. Maybe there was a tiny bit of fabric caught & with the cold & metal I caused a perfect storm!

I’ve not had to resort to a hat yet but slipper socks & a dressing gown have been worn in bed!

Thanks again!

One little tip that may help with ensuring the canvas is pulled in when dropping the pop-top is to open the door to prevent pressure building up as you pull the roof down that prevents it collapsing inwards. Open the door and it will usually sort itself out...

hth...

Thank you! I’ll give that a try too