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Our 2004 twin axle Lunar caravan 640 was purchased new in January 2005.  We have now noticed a few areas on the floor where it is spongy to walk on.  The feeling in one area is as if you are walking on uneven floor boards.  Should delamination be occuring in a caravan as new as this?

Our main concern is when the warranty runs out and the delamination continues to happen.  We also have an issue with the chrome peeling from underneath the tap on the kitchen sink, the heating not switching on at all occasionally, inner walls moving away from the out side walls, basin cracking in the corner where the inner wall and the outer wall meet.

Modern caravan floors and walls are made of sandwich construction. The floors are constituted of upper and lower sheets of thin plywood bonded to a styrofoam core, while the walls comprise the outer aluminium and the inside wallboard bonded to a polystyrene core. If the bond breaks down, delamination takes place. This is more likely to happen to the floor, which then feels spongy. The obvious sign of wall delamination is the aluminium panel bulging outwards. Both forms of delamination can be effectively cured using a specially-formulated epoxy resin.

Does this help?

Ali

Ian,

First off back to basics, a "lamination" is anything that is made of layers of material glued together. the usual reason of glueing layers together is that they form a solid, of the same or less, thickness, but inherantly stronger, and usually lighter, than a single solid of the same thicknes, think of a plank of wood and a "plank" of plywood of the same thickness, then you'll get the picture.

The decks of modern boats are a 3 layer lamination of GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic, fibreglass to you & me) a foam or balsa wood core and GRP, much lighter and much stronger than a solid wood deck.

Delamination is when the adhesives (glue) between the layers fails, for whatever reason and thus the strength of the lamination is compromised.

If it's not treated, more of which later, then eventualy the lamination will fail completely as it is now only as strong as the weakest layer.

Treatment usually consists of identifying the area of concern, drilling a grid patern of holes larger than the area of concern, 6 to 10 mm drill thickness, not quite all the way through the full thickness of the "floor",  50 to 75mm apart, then injecting epoxy resin into the holes, letting the epoxy cure then sanding the excess down to the level of the original.

Tedious & time consuming!!!!

Hope this helps

GeorgeB

Ian just a thought, I have seen previous posts on here where manufacturers tried to dodge their warranty obligations when people told them that they used the vans almost permanently.  Their retort is that they are designed for occasional holiday use not regular daily use and the warranty doesn't cover that.  You might want to bear that in mind......!

Ali

Ian,

The longer you leave it the worse it will get, especially if the vans in constant use.

BUT if I were you, I,d be talking to the dealer who supplied the van especially as it's still under warranty, get the van back to them ASAP before the warranty runs out, DONT WAIT ANY LONGER, and let them asses the "damage" & then get it repaired under the warranty.

If you have to repair it yourself, the only problem with the epoxy resin is that the lower the temperature the longer it takes to cure, easy if you've got a heated workshop like the dealer, but a nightmare if you have to do it yourself in winter.

You can get a "delamination repair kit" from most Caravan dealers accessory departments, cost is about £25 ish.

Best thing is to have a mooch around your local dealer for one of these kits & ask if you can read the instruction leaflet inside.

Take the details of the manufacturer of the kit & have a look at their web site.

At least then you'll know what you're letting yourself in for.

GeorgeB