I’m undertaking some repairs to our 1994 ABI Ace Orbit, and have decided to post up a sort of diary on here, hopefully I’ll get some pointers as to what to do and more importantly what to avoid!
We bought the van in January this year, advertised on eBay. The description sounded perfect, no damp, clean and tidy and a very reasonable price within our budget.
We went over to Manchester to view, and noticed some minor damp / signs of water ingress, nothing major and I’d factored in having to redo the seals etc with it being 19 years old. I don’t think the fact it had moss on the roof and on the seals helped. After initially walking away from the purchase, (I was pretty annoyed that the description had said “No damp”) the seller later agreed to drop the price and we managed to strike a deal. The sale included just about everything to get us out holidaying, full awning, stabiliser, water and waste carriers and all the other bits and pieces you need.
We’ve had a good few weekends away in it so far, and decided that a spruce up was needed before a week away in Cornwall in July. We decided to remove the curtains and pelmets, we never use the curtains as it has roll up blinds and fly screens, and to remove the rear fold down bunk, as its pretty hopeless and I keep banging my head on it!
This is when it all went wrong, whilst removing these bits, we discovered the previously hidden water ingress and damp is actually worse than we first thought. So it looks like the repairs will be happening sooner rather than later!
It appears to be leaking from the awning rail, and perhaps the rail that runs across the roof – I’m not actually sure if the roof rail is a DIY bodge or not, but it’s definitely been resealed with what looks like bathroom sealant.
After removing some of the wallboard around the window, the wooden surround is wet, but holds up pretty well to a prod with a screwdriver, so perhaps some wood hardener will be enough, rather than having to remove it all and rebuild.
Fingers crossed I’m going to make a proper start at the weekend
Here’s the plan of attack :-
Reseal exterior seals
Investigate and repair damp at rear
Small repair to wall board at front – possible damp although seems dry as a bone (Perhaps an old leak?)
New carpet
Swap gas heater for small 240v electric panel heater – Having a young family, it’s nice to keep the heating on all night if needed, I don’t trust the gas!
Remove gas oven and swap for microwave -just far more practical for us, the oven is past it and we having a decent camping stove/grill for cooking in the awning.
Questions....
I’m thinking of resealing the outside first, to stop any more water ingress before I repair the inside, or is it best to just tape up the awning rails and repair the inside first?
I’ll probably need some new polystyrene insulation, where is this available from?
I’m intending to use mastic roll and some Sikaflex for the awning rails, Sikaflex 512 or 221? What’s the difference?
If not fitted you considered getting bits out scrapper to install blown air heating most vans this era had on higher models or as option.
reason i ask is blown air has 2kw electric element in behind gas fire (usually under wardrobe) and distributes it all over van and is controlled by a thermostat.
if your ever away and its really cold you can pop gas on too for 10 or 15 just to get van warm quickly and as well as direct heat it will add to blown air heat.
just a thought as blown air heating doesn't have any hot surfaces that kids could get burned on or poke things into. And can happily be left going keeping all parts of van toasty ;)
Thanks for the reply, I didn’t even know such a thing existed!
It’s currently fitted with a Truma heater and Truma multivent? I’ve never been able to get the fan side of it working (or even tried the heater – no regulator on the gas pipe, and the previous owner claimed to have never tried it!) Am I right in thinking the multivent only works when the heater is on? I’ve not noticed any switches etc for a heating element or even a thermostat, so presume it’s not fitted with it.
Does the multivent just draw warm air through the heater and blow down the tubes and out the vents then?
We’ve been running a small 700w oil radiator on the colder nights, this seems to take the edge off but the van is certainly not ever warm!
This brings me onto another question, at the front and the back of the van are two small 2x6 inch holes through the floor, just covered with a fine square mesh. We obviously noticed a big difference in the warmth of the van with these covered, I appreciate they are probably there for ventilation, but are these required if I’m not using any gas appliances? I’d quite like to cover them, even if this is just a couple of pieces of ply to drop over the holes at night time.
I'd get a cover or tarp to keep any rain off and investigate the damp inside further before resealing. The logic behind this is the damp is likely more extensive than you first think and the frame work that holds the awning rail on could well be rotten and won't hold screws.
In my old van we used a 1400w oil filled rad in the centre (17ft Abbey) and this kept us warm even when down to 0 degrees outside but it was on 24/7. If you want to do away with the gas heater then a panel heater in it's place plus a couple of low powered tube heaters front and rear would likely do the job. Leaves you only EHU sites though but if you're like me that's not an issue. Also oil filled rads and tube heaters are silent. Great for use at night!
As for the floor vents they are there for a reason but if you're doing away with all gas appliances then they are no longer a safety feature and are more to prevent mould build up. I know what you're saying but I think caravaners either get used to cold feet or buy slippers!
Good news and bad news on the damp front I’m afraid.
After a further strip down it appears that there is more damp than first anticipated, it’s definitely coming in through the join on the roof rather than the awning rail
Following advice above, I’ve covered the van in a tarpaulin and removed more sections of wall board and ceiling board to fully expose the rotten timber. I’ve left the windows open for ventilation and its all dried out quite nicely now. Some of the supporting wood just crumbled away in my hands!
Next step is to remove the other side and see what that’s like, then I’ll strip out the rotten timber and put in some new.
I’m quite surprised actually, no real damp smell, some of the wall board was wringing wet and covered in mould!
Quote: Originally posted by fox3 on 22/5/2013
Here's a few photos...
A recent trip to Scarborough
Area of damp/staining at the front - I'm presuming this is old, and has since been repaired, It's dry now
Area of damp uncovered after removing the bunk bed at the rear
After some investigation... Wooden frame is wet, but might be salvageable
Yup this looks like mine too, I bought mine thinking it wouldn't be too bad but I ended up ripping it all out to find that all the walls and wood was wet through. Any one know where I can get the replacement wood from for the floor and corners, basically for all the caravan and how do I fix it up
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Topic: A rather damp Abi Ace Orbit...
