We posted yesterday because we are attempting to repair a very damp caravan.
We are trying to convince ourselves that we are doing the right thing, if we had more money I suspect we wouldn't be doing the right thing but since its our only option to have a family caravan here we go!!!.
Couple of questions, to the fix it club in light of the fact that we have very little cash.
We have started stripping walls and found the struts at each side of the door either very soft or gone, this has forced us to remove the kitchen so that we can access both sides of the door.
Is there any tips ect.. that we should do with the kitchen area whilst it is out.
The other areas letting in the water are the rails on the outside of the van, we plan to do these as per fix it clubs instructions a.s.a.p. on a dry day, but do we have to replace all the rubber, in places it is shrunk.
Same goes for the windows, we know we will need to reseal but is it generally okay not to use new seals.
Beginning to have regrets now, the van looks a terrible mess and we keep adding up all the sealants ect.. to buy, plus wood then decoration arrggghh, all for an old CI Europa - Please tell me it will be worth it in the end.
The costs are not as much as you think. The first caravan we purchased was very damp, I attempted to repair it myself but gave up. The wood and ply board you need doesn't cost that much, I purchased 3 8x4 sheets and several lengths of 1 inch square lengths of wood as well as several tubes of grip adhesive for around £40 from my local timber merchants. The sealent for the awning rails was purchased from my local caravan shop and was £1.99 per tube, although many reccomend the sealent on a strip, which is more expensive. The rubber infill for the awning rail was about 49p per metre. I would say the entire job could be done for around £100.
With regards to the window seals I would suggest using new ones. The second caravan I purchased from a dealer. I was assured it was damp free and was told that the front windows had been leaking in the past. The dealer had replaced the damaged wallboard and wooden spars, it was as lovely job and you would not have known any work had been done. Unfortunatley they had reused the old window seals, these were still leaking and ater 5 attempts to fix the problem the dealer had to redo the entire front again, the leaks had damaged the replacement wallboard.
The dealer also replaced the windows seals with brand new ones, the difference was immediate. The windows sealed so much better, the old seals were very soft and when the window was shut you could easily push your finger between the window and the seal. The new seals are very rigid and there is no way you could push your finger in. The result is the windows now do not leak.
I don't know how much these cost per metre but spending a little extra now may well stop you having to do the job again in the future.
Yes, it will definitely be worth it in the end, our caravan repairs cost less than £50 in total with sealants, wood, boarding etc. I know it does seem hard work at the moment and the caravan no doubt looks in a terrible state, but stick with it...in the end it will all be worth it! We too thought we had bitten off more than we could chew (see our project link below) but we stuck with it and were so glad we did!
All of the rails on the outside have a plastic insert (often black) put in, basically only to hide the screws behind it, it does tend to shrink and stiffen up with age but replacing it is not essential and can be done at a later date.
The black window rubber i reckon should be fine and unless it has become very stretched and loose won't cause any problems once you have resealed it with suitable mastic/sealant. (athough if you can afford new it would be better).
We purchased 3 rolls of mastic-on-a-roll which was plenty for every rail/seal on the caravan, and cost less than £15 from This Online Shop and the wooden strips and boarding we bought from Travis Perkins - (try to use a timber merchant rather than B&Q, Homebase, Focus etc as the prices are much lower!)
We finally managed to get the kitchen our yesterday, it was sooooo fiddly, so we feel a little better now because we can just get on with stripping the walls.
We are doing 1/2 left hand side with door, and the front end, then we will move around the van clockwise.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Awning Rail and various bits
