# Rapido roof thickness



## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

Does anyone know for a fact the roof thickness? Heki do up to 42mm then 43 to 60mm I'd say its borderline but I'd rather be on the right side


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## WildThingsKev (Dec 29, 2009)

I'm pretty sure that when I fitted the solar panel cables it was under 42mm, more like 38mm. I'll see if I can measure it tomorrow but no promises as I used 1 small hole for each cable and it's a bit tight.

Kev

ps, just remembered; if you remove the 2 lights over the dining table you will find that one of them is recessed for cables up to the inside of the outer skin.


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

Yes definitely sub 42 mm 
Thanks again Kevin


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

Just to confirm it is 26mm and the walls too


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Just measured the core that I removed to fit the satellite dish - 28.2mm + the thickness of the top (non-bonded) anti-hail skin which I reckon would be around 1.5mm. For some reason I can't find the core plug for that layer.

It did puzzle me when I looked at the core plug after cutting it out, there's a wallboard layer for the inner skin, then the styrofoam, then an aluminium skin which is bonded to the styrofoam, then a fibreglass skin and finally the anti-hail skin. I didn't expect to find an aluminium skin, I don't think this is present on the sidewalls under the gelcoat although I haven't checked.

Could be that mine is a slightly different construction as it appears to be a slightly later manufacture than yours.


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

Possibly? I replaced the bathroom omnivent with a Mini Heki and measured it then. I only have a GRP anti hail skin on the aluminium


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

I'm curious as to how you fixed your dish, is the base plate just sikaflexed to the skin? I don't see screws having any substantial hold. :roll:


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

I fixed the dish by Sikaflex augmented by short self-tappers at about 50mm spacing around the perimeter of the baseplate. They grip into the fibreglass and aluminium quite well if not over-torqued.


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

I just envisage a lot of damage given a strong gust of wind 8O


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Techno100 said:


> I just envisage a lot of damage given a strong gust of wind 8O


That was something that I was wary of too, so I deliberately bought a very low wind resistance and low folded profile Camos rectangular dish. This also helps keep the folded height down to well under 3m for the Autoroutes. Overall the dish is very firm from a mounting point of view and I don't have any concerns but I can't reccommend the dish itself from performance, ease of use or build quality perspectives. We had a cheap Globesat dish on the last van and that outperformed the current one in every respect for half the price. Before that we had a Maxview which was excellent from a performance standpoint but that really did catch the wind in a gale. 8O


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## Jean-Luc (Jul 21, 2005)

gaspode said:


> I fixed the dish by Sikaflex augmented by short self-tappers at about 50mm spacing around the perimeter of the baseplate. They grip into the fibreglass and aluminium quite well if not over-torqued.


I have my dish fixed the same way. My Maxview Crank-up is up there for over seven years in all kinds of weather conditions and never a problem  
If I hadn't used screws I'm sure it would have parted company with the 'van long ago, taking a sizable piece of the outer skin with it 8O

I have many times posted here not to fix accessories on Rapido roofs due to the floating outer GRP skin using a bonding agent *only*


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