Adria rooflight blown off !! Has this happened to anyone else ? Help please.

Jul 13, 2011
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We own an Adria 542DT. We bought it brand new in 2009 with the cash lump from the retirement package, we were all set and well fed up with putting tents ! Picked up the van from West Wales got home...no jockey wheel assembly, the salesman had wound it all the way down after we were hitched up, I knew no better and drove home. It took a good few weeks for them to send it to me.

Had a problem with the sink surround where a fixing screw had raised the laminate....it was just badly fitted during construction. After a bit of time...the dealer got it fixed... sort of......what actually happened was, we had to deliver the van to a farm up a really scary track in rural Carmarthen (about 60 miles away) and we left it there for a week (!) whilst the farmer/caravan fitter fitted the new sink surround.

Unfortunately, he screwed through the partition panel into the table storage slot by about 8mm, which we didn't know about untill two very symmetrically positioned holes appeared on our table and my very own Miss Marples (the wife) worked out the cause. He also didn't reconnect the spark igniter so were without that for a while, cooking was ok but not using the fridge on gas was a problem a couple of times.

We managed to convince the dealer that we should use a local proper caravan fitter to sort out the fixing and igniter.....result.

Sorry, there's still the rooflight story to come, but I wanted to give a flavour of Adria customer service and the time taken to get anything sorted.
Travelled home from the West country when the van was about 10 months old and arrived home to find the rooflight had popped up during the journey and the resultant draught had shredded the integral nightblind but the rooflight dome was still with us. Made enquiries with the dealer and a replacement was not on, I think because of cost and of course they had never heard of these rooflights popping up.
So I managed to get a blind manufacturer to supply me with material and I made a replacement which worked great as a night blind but you couldn't open it because the concertina material wasn't quite the same profile as the original, so it just sat there,it was neat but fixed and we didnt get woken at 5am on sunny mornings.I meant to replace it with an original as finances permitted.
All went well untill two weeks and three days ago, we came home from a weekend in Dorset on a beautiful evening, no winds, no rain (thank heavens) 55mph all the way on really good roads, no problem, untill we opened the van at home to clear it out and the roof light dome and parts of the handles had gone and we were left with just some dangly bits.
The dealer the next day said this was the first one he had ever heard of blowing off like ours. Their after sales guy flagged it up to Adria UK and they sat on it for a week and said it was extermely unlikely that it had just popped up and they were not responsible as they had never heard of it happening in the three seasons that they had used this particular pop-up type rooflight.
So men and women of caravaning UK have any of you heard of this happening? particularly with an Adria as I would love to prove them wrong.
Lynette and Paul
14/07/2011
 
Dec 14, 2006
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There have been lots of stories on here of caravan roof lights blowing off - and we've seen it happen 'on the road' as well as seeing caravans where the rooflight has been left to flap in the wind. I'm sure I read somewhere that 'negative' air pressure (caused by turbulence over the top of the van when being towed') can 'suck up' the rooflight if it isn't secured 100% correctly. We did stop someone in a fuel station as we'd followed them, with rooflight flapping around, and he absolutely denied leaving it unsecured.
I know the caravan was new to you in 2009 - but are you absolutely certain that the rooflight was fastened down properly? You do see so many flapping about that you just wonder if it is the 'operator' or the design!
What type of rooflight do Adria fit? It is the normal 'Heki' (1, 2, or 3) or something different - like a Fiamma or Remis? Looking at the Seitz/Heki website I'm not even sure which ours is (though it is a Heki), from their description as it has a reflective night blind, not a concertina-type!
Sorry, not a lot of help, just more questions?
 
Jul 13, 2011
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Hi Val thanks for your comment. The rooflight is the pop-up type, so there is nothing to secure unfortunately, to open, you simply push up to overcome the spring loaded handles and similarly to close you grab the handles and pull down. Thats what is wrong with the design. A simple lock when closed would have been brilliant.
Thanks once again
Paul
 
Aug 4, 2004
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We lost our skylight because someone had not closed ti properly and it dfinitely was not us! Today on the A449 we saw a caravan travelling in the opposite direction with one of their rooflights flapping in the wind. Looks like they ar ein for shock when they get on site.
 
Apr 17, 2010
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In our old Lynton van (15 years ago) we had the same problem as you - the roof light disappeared in transit. It was the push up type. When I replaced it I purchased an add on that fitted into the handle . When the skylight was closed a bar automatically sprang in stopping the handle from being raised. You had to press the bar back to open the skylight - so it was locked closed in transit.
Hope this makes sense! I cannot see these on the web but maybe a caravan workshop might remember them and be able to supply them.

The alternative is to see if a modern lock down model would fit.
 
Mar 2, 2010
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My friends Lunar Quasar is in the workshop at Caravanland,Banbury at the moment having a new rooflight for £680.Luckily his C&CC insurance is covering it.The handles as previously posted are just turning ones apparently the latest ones have spring buttons to give additional security.Ther one slides to the side rather than lifts up and the runners went as well as the rooflight.
 

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