Rockwood Repair: Hybrids, Folding Campers and Azdel Walls

A folding camper roof rises on cables routed through pulleys and driven by a winch, and the load is shared across all of them. When one cable frays, the others are the same age and have done the same work. Replacing a single cable puts a new component in a system of tired ones, and the next failure is weeks away.

So we replace the set, service or replace pulleys, inspect the winch and check the roof support geometry. A roof that binds on one corner is usually telling you a support arm is bent rather than that a cable is stretched, and that distinction is the difference between a lasting repair and a repeat visit.

A Roo is a hard sided trailer with fold down bunk platforms that carry canvas tent ends, which gives a small trailer sleeping capacity nothing else matches. The tradeoff is the canvas, the zippers and the support structure, all of which live outdoors and take ultraviolet exposure every day the trailer sits.

We repair or replace canvas panels, rebuild zipper runs, straighten or replace support arms, and reseal the hinge line where the platform meets the body. That hinge line is also a water path, so any repair that ignores it puts water into the floor structure underneath.

Rockwood's hard side high wall campers raise rigid walls rather than fabric, which changes both the failure list and the repair. The seal at the lifting joint is the critical detail: it has to compress evenly all the way around, and a lift that is even slightly out of square leaves a gap you can feel from inside on a windy night.

Repair means correcting the lift geometry first and the seal second. We measure the joint gap around the perimeter, adjust or repair the lift components until it is even, then renew the seal. Doing it in the other order produces a new seal that gets crushed on one side and stays open on the other.

Rockwood and Flagstaff come out of the same plants and are sold through different dealer groups, so their parts catalogs overlap heavily. When a component shows as unavailable under Rockwood, checking the Flagstaff number is the first thing we try, and it works often enough to be routine.

It does not extend to everything. Molded caps and painted panels are specific to the mold that made them, so a cross reference has to be verified against the actual dimensions rather than assumed from a similar description. We check before ordering because freight in both directions is expensive.

Body, cap and refinish work bills at $210 per hour. Lift systems, cables, canvas, appliances and electrical work bill at $260. A written estimate is $150 and is credited in full when the repair is authorized. Jobs over $2,000 carry a 50 percent deposit at authorization.

OCRV Center is an independent shop with no dealer agreement or affiliation with Rockwood or Forest River. All work is performed in shop at Yorba Linda. A folding camper is the easiest thing in this catalog to tow up the 241, and the smallest thing we work on.