--- title: "Pop Up Campers Repair in West Covina" description: "Canvas, lift system, roof skin and bunk end floor repair on pop up tent trailers, performed in shop at Yorba Linda." canonical: https://ocrv.xyz/vehicles/campers/pop-up-campers/ business: "OCRV Center" phone: "(949) 799-3387" address: "23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887" market_served: "West Covina, California" --- # Pop Up Campers Repair in West Covina A pop up camper lives on three systems that all wear out on a schedule: canvas that degrades in ultraviolet light, a cable lift that stretches and frays, and bunk end floors that sag once water finds them. OCRV Center repairs all three in shop in Yorba Linda for West Covina owners, about 22 miles southeast. ## Common damage - Canvas coating chalked and cracking along the fold lines - Stitch rot opening seams on fabric that still looks serviceable - Lift cables fraying at the drum and at the corner pulleys - Lift arms binding because the roof has gone out of square - Roof skin delaminating from its decking after long term water intrusion - Bunk end floors sagging at the outboard corner under sleeper weight - Bunk end hinge and support hardware pulling out of soft decking - Vinyl window panels hazed and cracked at the crease lines - Roof to wall seal hardened so the closed camper no longer sheds water - Cracked or corroded lift arm bushings producing a stagger on the way up ## Canvas failure, stitch rot and what can actually be saved Pop up canvas is a coated fabric, usually a vinyl or acrylic coated polyester, and it fails in a predictable order in Southern California. First the coating chalks and stiffens as ultraviolet exposure breaks it down. Then the stiffened material cracks along the fold lines, because those are the only places it is asked to bend and the material can no longer do it. Then the panel opens. Stitching fails ahead of the fabric on most campers. Thread has a smaller cross section than the panel it holds and it takes the same ultraviolet load year after year, so it degrades faster. Owners describe a seam that opened for no reason after a normal setup. What really happened is that the thread had been going for several seasons and the last fold finished the job. This distinction drives the repair decision. If the fabric is still supple, still holds its coating and does not chalk on your hand, restitching a failed seam is a genuinely good repair and we do it. If the panel is stiff, chalky and cracking at the creases, restitching it puts new thread through material that will tear beside the new seam within a season. We tell owners which condition they have rather than selling a repair that will not hold. Window vinyl and zippers get evaluated separately. Hazed vinyl can be lived with. Cracked vinyl spreads across a panel quickly because the crease concentrates every movement. A seized zipper that has been forced usually tore its tape out of the fabric, which is a panel repair rather than a zipper repair. Panel by panel replacement on an otherwise sound camper is frequently the right plan. - Coating chalks, material stiffens, then cracks along the fold lines - Thread degrades ahead of the panel it holds - Supple fabric is worth restitching, chalked fabric is not - Panel by panel replacement often beats a full canvas job ## The cable lift system and how it goes out of square Most pop up trailers raise their roof with a winch driving a cable system that runs to four scissor style lift arms, one at each corner. The design assumes all four corners rise at the same rate. When they do, the roof stays parallel to the box and every arm carries a share of the load. When they do not, the roof racks in the guides and one arm carries far more than its share. Loss of square comes from a short list of causes. A cable that has stretched more than the others. A corner pulley that has seized or that has worn a groove. A lift arm bushing that has worn oval. A guide channel packed with grit. A previous repair that replaced one cable and left three original ones in place. Each of those puts one corner behind the others. Owners report it the same way every time: the roof got hard to crank. That is the moment when the repair is inexpensive and nothing has been destroyed. Continuing to crank past it produces the expensive versions, which are a bent lift arm, a stripped winch, a cable that snaps under load, or a roof that comes down while somebody is under it. We do not soften that language, because it matters. Our repair sets the roof square and level first, then finds and corrects what caused the loss of square. Cables are replaced as a complete set. Pulleys, bushings and guides get inspected and replaced as needed. Bent arms get replaced rather than straightened, because a straightened arm has already yielded and it will yield again in the same place under the same load. ## Roof skin delamination and the decking underneath A pop up roof is a shallow structure: a skin, usually aluminum or a thin fiberglass panel, bonded to a decking layer over light framing, with an air conditioner or a vent penetrating it on many units. It has to be light because a person cranks it up by hand. That lightness means there is very little margin once water reaches the bond line. The entry points are consistent. The roof to wall seal that is supposed to close the camper when it is down, the vent flange, the air conditioner gasket if the camper has a rooftop unit, and the edge trim around the perimeter. All of those are sealed with a bead, and beads shrink under Southern California ultraviolet load faster than owners expect. Once water is at the bond line, the skin releases from the decking and the roof starts to feel soft when you press it. On a fiberglass skinned roof the symptom is a visible bubble or a waviness in raking light. On an aluminum skinned roof it is more often a drum sound when tapped, and a slight low spot. The decking underneath is usually the part that has actually failed. Repair depends on how far it has gone. Localized delamination with sound decking gets the void relieved, adhesive injected and the panel clamped flat while it cures. Failed decking means the skin comes off, the wet material and any rotted framing get cut out, new material goes in, and the skin gets rebonded and refinished. Then the entry point gets addressed, because the repair is only durable if the leak stops. - Roof to wall seal, vent flanges and edge trim are the usual entry points - A fiberglass skin bubbles, an aluminum skin drums and dips - The decking is normally what failed, not the skin - The job ends at the leak source or it repeats ## Bunk end floors, hinges and the load they carry The bunk ends are the parts of a pop up that slide out over the tongue and over the rear bumper to carry the beds. Each one is a cantilevered platform, hinged or supported at its inboard edge, carrying the weight of two adults with nothing under the outboard end but a support bar or a strap. Structurally it is the most demanding part of the camper. It is also directly beneath the canvas. When a seam opens or a window leaks, the water goes onto the bunk end platform and sits in the mattress. Owners often do not know it happened, because the camper gets folded and stored and the moisture stays trapped for months. The decking absorbs, the bond fails and the platform starts to sag at the outboard corner. The diagnostic is straightforward. Extend the bunk, press down at the outboard corners and along the edges, and look for give or a faint crackle. Look at the hinge line for fasteners that have started to back out and at the support hardware for elongated holes. A platform that has sagged has usually also pulled its hinge or its support out of soft decking, so two things need fixing rather than one. We rebuild these on the bench. The platform comes out, the failed decking gets replaced with material that will hold a fastener, framing gets repaired or replaced, and the hinge and support hardware get remounted with proper backing so the load goes into structure. Reassembly gets the bunk set square so the canvas tensions correctly, which is the part most owners notice afterward. ## Bringing a pop up in from West Covina and what to bring with it Our shop is at 23281 La Palma Ave in Yorba Linda, about 22 miles from West Covina and 30 to 45 minutes on a normal day. The 10 or the 60 west to the 57 south, then the 91 east to Imperial Highway is the standard route, and Carbon Canyon Road across to the 71 works well with a trailer this small when the 57 is heavy. Bring the camper dry. If the canvas went away damp, open it in a driveway on a warm day before you tow down, because we cannot evaluate mildew damage or restitch anything on wet fabric, and a camper that arrives wet adds days to the schedule. Empty the interior and pull the mattresses out so the estimator can see the bunk end platforms. If the lift is the complaint, stop cranking it. Every additional attempt on a binding lift bends something else. Tell us on the phone what it does, whether one corner lags, whether it makes noise and where, and whether anyone has replaced a cable before. That last question saves diagnostic time more often than any other. Call (949) 799-3387 to schedule. All work is performed in shop at Yorba Linda and we do not offer mobile service. If there is an insurance claim open on a tree limb, a hail event or a storage lot impact, bring the claim number and the adjuster contact with you to the appointment. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do I know if my pop up canvas is repairable or needs replacing? Feel it. Supple fabric that does not leave chalk on your hand can be restitched, patched and kept in service, and that is a good repair. Fabric that is stiff, that chalks when you rub it and that shows cracking along the fold lines has lost its coating, and new thread through it will tear beside the seam within a season. We evaluate panel by panel, because it is common for the roof sides to be finished while the bunk end panels are still fine. ### One corner of my pop up roof lags behind the others. What is wrong? The lift system has gone out of square, and the cause is usually a stretched cable, a seized or grooved corner pulley, a worn lift arm bushing or a guide packed with grit. It is also very often the result of a previous repair where one cable was replaced and three stretched ones were left in place. Stop cranking. We set the roof square, correct the cause, and replace cables as a complete set rather than one at a time. ### My bunk end feels spongy near the outside corner. Can that be fixed? Yes, and it should be, because the bunk end is a cantilevered platform holding two people with only a bar or strap under the outboard end. Sponginess means the decking has taken water from the canvas above and the bond has failed. We remove the platform, replace the failed decking and any rotted framing, and remount the hinge and support hardware with proper backing. Reassembly sets the bunk square so the canvas tensions correctly again. ### Water gets into my pop up when it is closed and stored. Where from? The roof to wall seal is the first suspect on a closed camper. It is a compression seal that has to make contact all the way around when the roof is down, and after enough seasons it takes a set and stops rebounding. After that, check the roof vent flange, the air conditioner gasket if you have a rooftop unit, and the perimeter edge trim. All four are sealed with a bead that shrinks under sustained sun. We locate it and reseal with the roof accessible rather than guessing from the ground. ### Is a thirty year old pop up worth putting money into? It depends on the box and the lift, not on the age. A camper with a sound floor, sound bunk end platforms and a lift system that works is worth canvas and cosmetics, and those campers stay useful for a long time. A camper with a soft floor, sagging bunk ends and a lift that binds is a much larger project. Bring it down and we will show you what we find before you commit to anything. Call (949) 799-3387 to set up the evaluation. --- OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. Phone (949) 799-3387. All work is performed in shop at the Yorba Linda facility. We do not run mobile, roadside or fleet route service. Ranges are planning figures, not a quote. Final numbers come from a written estimate on your vehicle.