Upon cleaning the caravan yesterday, I've discovered a hairline crack on our shower tray :-(. I've searched on here for advice and found some great replies with most people using Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Repair.
The problem I have is that part of the crack is vertical as the shower tray is shaped over the wheel arch of the caravan. Has anyone any tips for applying this product on a vertical crack? Also, how successful will it be in stopping the crack from spreading? I've read the tip about drilling a small hole either end of the crack to stop it in its tracks but am a bit scared to do this in case the Capt. Tolley's doesn't fill it.
Hi
Captain Tolley's will just flow into a crack but will not give it any strength what so ever! The only thing I can suggest is if you can get behind it would be to reinforce it with something to give it a bit of strength ie some epoxy resin.
Thanks David. Neither hubby or I are not that caravan DIY capable and are not quite sure how to get behind it without removing the whole tray.
So I'm guessing the way this will play out is we seal the crack and expect it to spread over time and keep refilling it with Capt Tolley's until it is unrepairable. I dread to think how much it will be to replace.
It's a 2010 van and the list of things that have failed keeps growing :-(
No problem happy to try to help. Captain t's is very good for sealing hairline cracks so always worth having as it doesn't go off for years as long as you keep the top on.
Hi Jeff. thanks for posting the video. That Plast Aid stuff looks good but not sure if it would sort out our hairline crack. We'll probably need it when the crack splits wider.
However we do have a kitchen cupboard door at home that sometimes comes loose because the screw hole has worn away. Rawl plugs are holding at at the moment but this stuff would definitely fix it.
to stop the crack spreading you need to drill a small hole right at the end on the existing crack before you attempt any form of repair otherwise it will just keep spreading, this goes for plastic or fibreglass cracks a small hole about 2 to 3 mm drill bit is enough but must be right at the end of the crack
We had a crack in our shower tray and fixed it with some good quality silicone sealer (bought from B&Q) which is specific for wet conditions.
This was over 2 years ago and still no leak.
Don't drill it if you are going to use Capt. Tolleys. If its a GRP tray the crack will be cosmetic and nothing to worry about. If its made from ABS, the stuff jeff juke linked to will weld it. (Again no holes needed).
al+mel i have to disagree
weather fibreglass or plastic the crack should have a hole drilled to stop it spreading
i have spent many years repairing bodywork on caravans trucks (the old foden trucks had grp cabs) and boats and in every single vehicle industry that repairs grp or plastic they all drill the end of the crack to stop it spreading
I said don't drill a hole if you are going to use Capt. Tolleys because it has no gap filling properties. It works by capillary action and is very good at sealing hairline cracks. Drill a hole and it will go straight through! It might not be the final answer, but could be worth a try. The stuff jeff juke linked to melts ABS and adds new material, so could be seen to create its own hole, then plug it.
duh sorry i had read it wrong
and not realised how viscus the product was
we dont use that we use a form of superglue that is thicker like a gel and is then sprayed with an activator to cure it
this is the same stuff that we use but ours is just in plain 3m packaging for trade
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Marine/Home/Products/Catalog/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECIE20S4K7000000_nid=GSJPJQ46H8gsQH8HT14PGTgl56KR2MWR1Xbl
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