securing a roof deck

[TygerCub]

Today Mom and I finished securing the frame of the roof deck to the bus. But after pre-drilling the holes and installing the screws, I'm having second thoughts about the strength of the ties we are using. Or, more accurately, I'm concerned with the strength of the roofing metal that the screws are going through to hold the ties.

I think I hit the ribs of the bus. But the drill bit went through the metal mighty easily. Maybe that's typical and I'm being too paranoid?

There are 5 of these brackets per side. Each bracket was roughly centered between the double row of rivets, or was put in-line or just off to one side of a single row of rivets (depending on if the rivet would interfere with the bracket).

Do you guys think this will be enough for a 6' x 16' deck? That's an awful lot of weight placed on 20 screws.

My next step was to drill completely through the roof and install one of those huge 10" braces on both of the length-wise ribs to give me peace of mind about the deck staying in one place. But that's putting more potential leak points in the roof. I'd rather avoid that.

Any advice?

 

[syke]

Since you asked.... in the name of safety, I'm going to vote NO on the roof deck. Your attachment method is not going to be what you want to go with.
Unfortunately I do not have any good suggestions for you. I am still in the very early stages of planning out our own roof deck.

I'm sure some others with more experience than I will be along shortly.

Good luck and keep up the good work.

 

[chev49]

i replied to the other post of yours. it should be bolted as well.

 

[Diesel Dan]

Hmmmm... yeah, that looks kinda sketchy to me. I've thought about roof racks a bit as well, and I'm planning on doing a combination of bolts and welding. I would not feel comfortable using only screws. I'll confess that I recently had a roof rack blow off the top of my bus on the highway. It was one of those things that just clamps on to the rain gutter. I felt REALLY bad and was thankful that nobody was behind me - but that could easily have taken somebody out. :shock:

So in the interest of public safety, I advise you to rethink your attachment method.

 

[browncrown]

Tyger,
Over the past few years I have had to tighten and go to some bigger screws as the tourque of the bus body loosens them up. If you decided to go this route, check them frequently for tightness.

BC

 

[SeanF-SKO]

My concern would be the suspicion that the pull-out strength of sheet metal screws is not as good as the shear strength. Maybe there are engineering websites that address this. I could be wrong.

 

[TygerCub]

Thanks guys for all the input. I did go back and put larger brackets on the front and back that bolted completely through the bus on the long roof ribs. I'll post pics on the build thread.

 

[bapos]

Not sure how your welding skills are but welding the brackets and or perameter metal in place. When you weld big metal to small sheet metal can be very tricky and burn trhoughs happen.

Just food for thought.

 

[carloschoolie]

I built a mondo roof rack on an old Newell bus from the materials used for temporary canopies; footpads, T's, etc. and 1&3/8" rails of chainlink fencing. This could well serve as a base for decking material...

 

[chev49]

buying the corner and end pieces from the temp canopy is far easier than getting the tubing cutter and making a jig up to make your own...and they are quite strong.

 

[icnivad]

It sounds like you've got a solution in place, but if you haven't figured this out yet, the ribs are actually shaped like a U with little wings coming off the top. It's not tube, which is why drilling through the middle was so easy, as you didn't actually go through the rib, just the sheet metal.

 

[TygerCub]

It sounds like you've got a solution in place, but if you haven't figured this out yet, the ribs are actually shaped like a U with little wings coming off the top. It's not tube, which is why drilling through the middle was so easy, as you didn't actually go through the rib, just the sheet metal.

That's what I was afraid of, so there are now two 10" L-brackets on the front and two on the back that are bolted all the way through the bus on the longitudinal roof support. If that sucker comes off now, it means the whole roof has peeled off and I'm either doing a "Thelma & Louise" off the road, or am going the extreme route of flying to OZ.