Make sure to use a tall enough ladder to get on your roof

[Jeremy]

Drip rail on my bus is made of rubber and not something you can clamp to sadly.. 

In any case, whilst having a ladder which won't wobble or fall over is important, I think having one extends above the roof is the most essential aspect - climbing up onto the roof from a too-short ladder is easy, it's getting down again when the top rung is some way below you which is tricky.

On a couple of occasions when I've been working on the roof of my bus I've gone to the trouble of lashing two ladders together to create an A-frame (like a very big step ladder), with two long lengths of aluminium further lashed down at an angle to the ground on one side to create an utterly stable platform which you can monkey about on with impunity - almost as good as the scaffold frame which I was on the verge of buying before I had the idea.

Jeremy

[sparkplug188]

The purpose of ladder hooks is to stop the ladder from falling over from a small accidental bump when stepping off of the ladder and to keep it from getting blown over by the wind.  During normal use there shouldn't be much if any load on the hooks.  Depending on how robust your rubber drip rail is, normal ladder hooks may or may not do their job.

I am thinking about getting one of these to replace the ladder hooks I made out of flat stock:



This type does support the weight of the ladder. It transfers the load to the flat of the roof instead of the wall.  It seems like a good way to stop rubber ladder bumpers from marking up the paint.  If you want ladder hooks, it might be a viable alternative for you.

Amazon Ladder Standoffs

[Lin]

I have one of those collapsing ladders also.  I only use it at the back of the bus since climbing up the slopped sides seems a bit precarious to me.

[Ed Hackenbruch]

The curved top on our 5s is tricky like Lin says. I have a telescoping ladder and any more i also on go up on top from the back....the PO put a cap on the back so it makes a flatter surface there. A couple of years ago a guy here in Yuma was up on his 5th wheel and put his foot thru a fan cover. Lost his balance and fell off the roof and died.

[belfert]

Hooking the ladder to the bus will keep it from tipping over, but it doesn't solve the problem of the ladder being too short in the first place.  I was barely able to reach the top of the ladder with my foot.  I could have easily slipped off the roof while I was stretching to reach the top of the ladder with my foot.

[sparkplug188]

Belfert- I completely agree. The ladder should extend 3' beyond roof and angled out 1' for every 4' of height.  Any less is tempting fate.

[B_K]

I only use a set of scaffolding or "Guido" (our forklift) as I'm too big for a ladder and my bad knees don't approve of me climbing one anyway!
  BK 

[Runcutter]

I've had to learn about weight ratings, not just on ladders. 

A few weeks ago, my wife (all 105 pounds of her) commented that the fold down attic stairs really seemed to be creaking a lot.  Gee, I wonder how that happened.  Maybe I could blame our HVAC guy, it couldn't be me (ahem.)  So, I picked up some 4/4 ash, surfaced it and ran it through the table and radial arm saws.  Now every step is its own T-beam.  I sure feel a lot more comfortable now.

Arthur 

[Dave5Cs]

Mine is pretty easy. As you know The Saudi bus has the double roof. between the edges of the roofs there is an Aluminum piece all the way down the side that has 1 inch holes in it for ventilation. When I put the ladder up I use a bungee around the ladder rails and hook it to the piece between the holes. 

Dave

[TedCalvert]

I always use an extension ladder, 3 feet taller than the roof so I have something to hold on to and balance when stepping off of and on to it.

But one time, while washing the roof of my '04, I lost the ladder.  No problem, I thought, I'll just loop the hose around an A/C unit and rappel down.  There's not much friction between soapy wet hands and soapy wet hose! 
Wheeeee! Splat.

Fortunately, and '04 isn't that tall and I didn't break.

Ted.

[Zephod]

I'm lucky. If my ladder fell when I was on top of my bus, I could slide down onto the hood and climb down the tire using the mirror bracket as a handhold.