Roof Damage

[4Corners]

Have you got a rubber mallet with you or borrow one from a fellow camper? If so you could get that roof almost back to its original shape. Once you've knocked it back down you would probably be fine to use the roof. Just raise it up with care.

Will consider this on return to the van bigmac, thanks

 

[BagmanJim]

I really feel for you, as Granny Gen said, "there but for the grace of god". It doesn't matter how it happened, it's just a momentary lapse of concentration which we can all hopefully learn from. Good luck with getting home and getting it repaired.

Cheers

Jim

 

[flying banana]

I would love to know how it happened really. maybe the bike was slightly caught on the brake lever when the roof was shut and then when the bike hit the barrier it pushed it up?.but what a bummer. I have the same bike rack. good intel

 

[Jabberwocky]

Good luck and safe journey home. It certainly is a case of " There for the grace........" in my case back in June this year.

 

[westfalia]

I´d like to know what happened with your roof ?
Or are you still there cos you can´t get it back down ?

 

[WillSS]

Being fully experienced in height barriers attacking tailgate rack bikes my Miss Marples suggestion would be the damage to the roof was done when reversing back out from under the barrier once the depressing crunch of the bike was felt. An instinctive reaction to immediately go back and in my case definitely caused more damage than the initial impact, (thankfully mashed the bike only!) Feel for you but no-one hurt and soon forgotten.

 

[andyinluton]

As others have said, get a rubber mallet and bash the back down again & you will be fine. As long as the bellows haven't been pulled out of the edge of the roof you will still be watertight. If you've bashed it down you should be ok to raise the roof. If you don't bash it down first I would suspect that the bellows material will rip or become detached as the highest point of the rear will be higher than its supposed to be.

It would be worth contacting your insurance company before you do anything - you could argue that the van is underivable, you may be surprised how quick they could find a panel beater if it save the cost of getting the van transported home.

 

[4Corners]

evening all, my promised update: I didn't want to raise the roof again while away in case it decided not to go down after, but I didn't like the gap around the seal. I would have hunted for the recommended towing/tension strap in Split, but it was 10tonoon on Saturday, the shops about to close for the weekend. I had to do something more than nothing, so at the chandlery where they sell bits for boats I bought rope and carabiner hooks with eyelets. Ran the rope across the roof and down to each rear wheel arch, tied the rope off in the carabiner eyes with approved nautical knots (protected the paintwork from the hooks with scraps of cycle inner tube). The rope brought us all the way home, via Zagreb and Frankfurt. Today, at a VW recommended repair shop, the roof mechanism proves fine (lucky eh?), and in hindsight, maybe the rope over the roof was unneccesary, but the peace of mind it gave me definitely made my drive home more comfortable. The roof is a composite of aluminium and some honeycomb material for lightness and rigidity, they say they have to seperate the roof from the bellows to mend it. It's definitely distorted and therefore there's a chance of water getting in: A DIY repair isn't for me, although I did briefly consider the rubber mallet suggestion offered earlier. This is England, and if I don't do a proper job, it *will* leak eventually: I'm lucky like that. The accident investigators' posts have been interesting and entertaining (thank-you all!) and for a mo', I began to doubt whether the height restriction was responsible: I mean, I didn't feel anything as we drove under and didn't discover the damage until I came to remove the bikes, and remembered the 2.1m height restriction an hour previous. I can't accept the trapped handlebar theory because the bikes had been on and off many times over the trip. That said, I will make a point of closing the roof *before* loading the bikes in future. Worst that happens then will be you get a new bicycle when you drive away without them. And everyone loves a new bike better than a repair bill! The Q for repair is £800+VAT, BTW. For sure, that's a bitter price to pay for a momentary lapse of concentration, but you know what? We had a great holiday!

 

[GrannyJen]

evening all, my promised update: I didn't want to raise the roof again while away in case it decided not to go down after, but I didn't like the gap around the seal. I would have hunted for the recommended towing/tension strap in Split, but it was 10tonoon on Saturday, the shops about to close for the weekend. I had to do something more than nothing, so at the chandlery where they sell bits for boats I bought rope and carabiner hooks with eyelets. Ran the rope across the roof and down to each rear wheel arch, tied the rope off in the carabiner eyes with approved nautical knots (protected the paintwork from the hooks with scraps of cycle inner tube). The rope brought us all the way home, via Zagreb and Frankfurt. Today, at a VW recommended repair shop, the roof mechanism proves fine (lucky eh?), and in hindsight, maybe the rope over the roof was unneccesary, but the peace of mind it gave me definitely made my drive home more comfortable. The roof is a composite of aluminium and some honeycomb material for lightness and rigidity, they say they have to seperate the roof from the bellows to mend it. It's definitely distorted and therefore there's a chance of water getting in: A DIY repair isn't for me, although I did briefly consider the rubber mallet suggestion offered earlier. This is England, and if I don't do a proper job, it *will* leak eventually: I'm lucky like that. The accident investigators' posts have been interesting and entertaining (thank-you all!) and for a mo', I began to doubt whether the height restriction was responsible: I mean, I didn't feel anything as we drove under and didn't discover the damage until I came to remove the bikes, and remembered the 2.1m height restriction an hour previous. I can't accept the trapped handlebar theory because the bikes had been on and off many times over the trip. That said, I will make a point of closing the roof *before* loading the bikes in future. Worst that happens then will be you get a new bicycle when you drive away without them. And everyone loves a new bike better than a repair bill! The Q for repair is £800+VAT, BTW. For sure, that's a bitter price to pay for a momentary lapse of concentration, but you know what? We had a great holiday!

View attachment 25491

Thank you for that update. The main thing is you are all home and safe. Yes, expensive, but a great holiday, the van will be back to new and more great holidays in the future.

Glad you made it home without further drama

 

[Hotel California]

Seems a confirmation the "miss marlpes" where correct in thiere assumption .

 

[Meoncoast]

I thought poirot solved it

 

[WelshGas]

Glad you arrived home safely. I know the repair bill is high but could have been worse. Something to tell the grandchildren about in years to come.