CAT FLAP INNER ROOF REVERSAL *DO NOT DELETE*

[ADAMD]

I have a question about the upper balls for the struts:-
"they just screw out, put a spanner on it it will undo, there are captive nuts/rivnuts inside the roof flap."

Do you need to fit your own rivnuts, or can you just drill and tap a new hole?

Many Thanks

Adam

[Northern Bongolow]

when you have cut the roof in pieces it will expose the cavity where the captive nuts are hidden during original manufacture.
decide where you want to put the strut top, drill a hole then fit a nyloc inside the cavity to the strut top while the flap is opened at the end.

[ADAMD]

Thanks Northern Bongolow, but I am not planning to cut my roof into pieces - I am just doing the inner roof reversal!

[melaniedaniels]

hi there
half way through this and now reeeeally stuck. trying to put the roof back on its big black hinges and cant do it at all.
heres what we're doing if anyone can tell us what we're doing wrong!
so husband lifts roof a little so i can get the bolt through the hinge, i poke the nut thru the teeny weeny gap in the tubular support to try to get it on the bolt, (my fingers are small) the bolt drops off the bolt or just wont go on because i cant access it enough. have tried blu tac, pliars and tweezers so far. but no success. amazed that anyone has done this in under two hours and therefore conviced that we are muppets who are doing it all wrong. HELP!

[ADAMD]

Not quite sure of where you are getting stuck, but I knocked the pins out of the middle of the hinges.
The whole job took me most of the day, at least. Don't despair!!

[melaniedaniels]

i think that knocking the pins out might help in terms of improving access to the bolts that we cant get in. how did you knock them out tho?

[ADAMD]

The pins have a star washer on one end. Remove with pliers then pin slides out.
Watch out for nylon washers either side as you seperate hinge.

[melaniedaniels]

thank you! we'll try this. did you manage to do this without breaking the star washers?
thanks

[ADAMD]

Yes, but I may have just tapped the pins out gently and the star washer just came off.

[melaniedaniels]

okie dokes. we'll give that a go. we've tried walloping the pin with a hammer, so we'll give it another try. did you expereience any difficulty at all getting the bolt through the hinge and holding the nut in place in that tiny gap in the tubular bit?

[ADAMD]

I had tapped holes on the other end, ready to go. Did you have to drill your own??

[melaniedaniels]

yes, holes drilled and new bolts purchased. hence trying to get a nut on the back. tricky!

[ADAMD]

Rivnuts may help, as they won't rotate. But you need to drill a larger hole and use a special tool.

[melaniedaniels]

thank you.
we'll try removing the pins first and see where we go from there.
let you know how we get on!

[Steptoe]

Next was to fix the struts to the existing holes nearest the front of the bongo and drilling two new holes for self tapping screws.

I decided to have a go myself, this evening.

Removed inner roof (had to cut the light cable as it fed THROUGH the hinge before the plug), drilled out flap hinge rivets. I extended the wire for the light using crimped connectors and running it down the strut channel, peeling back the material before sticking it back down with the wire underneath. All OK so far.

Managed to reattach the main hinges by getting my son to support the loose end. Bit fiddly though. The problem came when I came to attaching the struts. The above suggests that we should be able to re-use one of the strut mounting holes, but that is not the case. I suspect I may need to take it out again tomorrow, and drill/tap a new top mount, reusing the original bottom mounts. It's dark and raining and 9pm, so I'll stop for tonight. At least I'm hoping the worst bits are done now.

I wonder if I can drill/tap by opening the 'tent' and leaving the main flap attached ...?

Also noticed that the tent is coming away from the main roof in one corner, so need to glue the 'pegs' back in once I can close the roof again.

Need to get this sorted by Thurs, as we'll be sleeping in it for the following 10 days!