[77newell]

Hey Jethot: I have not seen a Newell with a roof deck and I certainly wouldn't stand on my 77 roof for other than maintenance. However, given the strong structure of the Newell coaches I believe it is possible to install a roof deck.

Here is how I would approach it from a structural perspective. I would intend to use aluminum to minimize weight. I would design a series of saddles to sit directly on top of the side-to-side support structure of the roof. Depending on the spacing of those structures I might use every other one. I would attach the saddles to the roof using structural adhesives to eliminate holes that could leak and to spread the load as evenly as possible across the structure. I would then lay the decking on top of the saddles using the lightest decking I could that would support the weight. There would have to be some diagonal bracing from the top of one saddle to the bottom of the next to prevent racking of the whole thing. I would design access (ladder) so that its loads are supported by the ground and minimize loads on the coach. I would be thinking of removable hand rails with some way to get them safely up from and down to the ground without damaging the coach in the process.

The whole issue is the balance between spreading the load to as many existing supports as possible while at the same time making the added structure as light as possible. The other consideration is to get the added loads mainly imposed as near to the existing vertical coach structure as possible . I believe this all can be done, it would be a fun project, and keeping it light and durable won't cost more than an arm or a leg but not both.