Hey folks, a bit more progress. We're hoping to get this finish for next Monday in time for a nice week away near Matlock. Lots to do before then though. There's the all the rails on the front to get back on and the front half of the awning rail. Which reminds me, the awning rail was a nightmare to clean. My girlfriend and mum spent a day and a half of scraping, scrubbing and wiping.
I'm not 100% sure what to reseal the awning rail with. It looked like just seamseal in the channels when cleaning, what would be best to use?
Precautions against the schizophrenic British weather - tarpaulin!
Hi Ant , Well Done mate what a change from what is was like . It looks a whole lot better now . Personally i would go for roll mastic for the awning rails , window hangers and joint alloy trim strips . If your re-using your window rubbers i would use Tigerseal ( in a tube ) to reseal them .
We're on the last stretch now with only a few cosmetic bits left to do including bits of wall board strips down the sides of the front end, the little rubber corner trims and then get the fittings like blinds and curtains back in place. Looks like we'll be ready for Monday unless I create more work!
I've not taken photo's recently but all the rails are now back on, the window rubbers and windows back where they should be and the van is hopefully sealed up good ready for at least several more years use before it needs attention in those areas again. You wouldn't believe how pleased I am not to be putting up the plastic sheeting and tarpauling. I've had nearly 3 weeks of doing that most evenings. I'll be a happy man if I never see duck tape again.
One thing is bugging me about the way I sealed up the awning rail though. I applied FC40(cheaper alternative sikaflex 512) into the screw channel on the rear of the rail and then applied roll mastic over that. Is this acceptable?
I did the roof rail with seamseal in the channels and roll mastic over those but found it very messy when fastened down and started oozing out everywhere.
For the window rail I just used roll mastic as it had no channels.
I do have to admit there was more than one occasion where I considered sending the van off to the crushers for nothing more than to sate my desire to see it in pieces! But patience and some poking from the other half steered this not so little project in the right direction. Amazing that its all come together so well considering a couple of months ago I'd never owned a caravan let alone rebuilt most of the front end :)
Thanks for the advice and help. Especially those that took time to document their own journeys. It helped immensely and boosted confidence high enough to feel like it was worth of shot doing this ourselves. In total we spent around £250 in materials and that's including £80 in new window rubbers after we had a disaster involving white spirit reacting and perishing the foam window seals whilst cleaning the old mastic off.
One thing is bugging me about the way I sealed up the awning rail though. I applied FC40(cheaper alternative sikaflex 512) into the screw channel on the rear of the rail and then applied roll mastic over that. Is this acceptable? Sounds fine to me .
I did the roof rail with seamseal in the channels and roll mastic over those but found it very messy when fastened down and started oozing out everywhere. Yep that seamseal is horrible runny stuff .
I'm really pleased for you it's nice to hear a success story, and you can be proud you've done it all yourself , very well done I would guess your repair including the awning rail reseal would have come to about £1500 atleast , so you've saved yourself a fortune and done a top job at the same time .
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Topic: New caravan and damp found
what a change from what is was like . It looks a whole lot better now 
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