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 I have recently taken my 2001 Avondale Dart 510 in as a trade in on a new van . On inspection they have found the floor is delaminating in 2 areas . The main area is after the doorway but before the lift up hatch for the spare wheel .It feels slighly spongey rather than springy . I was surprised to find this on a 3 1/2 year old van. On 2001 models avondale only offered 3 years guarantee recent models have a 5 year guarantee . According to the Chorley based dealerships staff its a fairly common problem on Avondale as due to the underfloor wheel storage area the floor isn't made from 1 sheet but is made from several . I wonder if anyone has suffered the same trouble with a similar aged van ? The dealers in question are not Avondale stockists , I cant make my mind up if they're telling me the truth ? What causes a floor to delaminate , is it road spray underneath the van , poor manufacture process , bad design , or at 15 stone am i too heavy for the van ?

Sorry not familiar with this make.Try sending an enquiry directly to the Company.

I have attached a contact link from this site.

AL

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/directory2/details.asp?revid=39&typeid=1

Hi there,

we have a 2003 model Avondale Rialto 555/4. No problems so far, and as far as build quality is concerned, Avondale have one of the best reputations in the industry. I'll be keeping an eye on mine though, as we'll be looking to trade in possibly next year or the year after.

My opinion is it's bad design, it always occurs in the areas that are most used, your weight should not come into it as manufacturers should allow for this.This never happened in years gone by until they started thinking of saving weight to fit all those toys we now have. When I repaired our last caravan, Swift Challenger, I was appalled at the lack of cross bracing struts in the floor that would probably have stopped it from delaminating, and if they used a product that didn't turn to powder after it was walked on a few times our floors would last longer. Rant over.

                      Jim

We have a Bailey Ranger 1996. The floor on that started to de laminate.

The floor is a sandwhich of Plywood, foam/polysterene type insulation and more plywood. All the sections are glued together then pressed. This should last the life of the caravan.

Another symptom apart from spongy floor is if you lift the carpets you will find powdered foam near floor joints ( In our case blue powder) as thge motion of the top layer rubs the surface of the insulation.

However delamination is a common problem and not that difficult to solve. (The guy who services ours showed me the proper way.

Youy need to get the proper two part epoxy caravan floor glue (Around£20 for a small tin with hardener) from a caravan shop.

With the carpet removed drill holes through the top layer of ply until you hit the insulation.

 the holes need to be around 6 inches apart and form a grid sligtly bigger than the delaminated area. Each hole is around 6mm diameter.

Once the holes are done the glue is mixed and injected by big plastic syringe into the holes - Pump it in 'til it comes out of the next hole etc. When done the area may need to be weighted flat. As the glue drys (24 hours) you should see a pattern of mushroom heads of glue sticking up from the holes, these need to be sanded back.

It is a messy dirty job but it has to be done as untreated areas just get bigger.

Top tip - Careful not to do what I did - I used bricks to keep the floor flat whilst drying but the overspill of glue stick them firmly to the floor. They were a real pain to remove as this glue is very good

One tin of glue did an area about 2square feet

Apollo Adhesives _ Now I remember the name

http://www.apollochemicals.com

Thanks chad - he just worked that out but then he went to see his Dad...

Quote: Originally posted by Rich T on 04/02/2005

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Top tip - Careful not to do what I did - I used bricks to keep the floor flat whilst drying but the overspill of glue stick them firmly to the floor. They were a real pain to remove as this glue is very good

 

You can still use bricks, put alayer of polythylene over the repaired area, then a sheet of plywood weighted down with bricks, the glue won't stick to the polythylene. Also, as you work your way across the grid you can tap dowels into the filled holes, this prevents any glue leaking and you won't need to do any sanding.

                    Jim

Thanks Jim - That a much better way -

Rich

Hi rd57chad,

I have a 2002Avondale Golden Eagle, when it went in for service last year (2004)the service agent reported he floor was delaminating. He contacted Avondale and they agreed a repair under warranty. I only used the van once more and then put it into storage so I will be interested in how it has faired over winter.

When  I expressed my disgust at the floor delaminating in just 2 years, the Service Manager agreed but said that whilst Avondale had a name for quality it does not seem to be the case anymore. Instead of building new vans up to a quality they seem to be building them down to a price!!

It is interesting to see that for 2005 models they have reduced the price again. At the cost no doubt of quality. The Eagle was my third Avondale that I have owned, but sadly it will be the last. When the five year warranty expires it will be time to get rid of it.