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Hi folks,

Looking for advice, I have an ABI 450CT, Lovely big van which i think i got a bargain, got it about 6 months ago, and have had a few good trips away etc.

The only problem is, I had a small drip of water from rear window. I had to investigate, and when i did I could see that a repair of kinds had been tried allready and thast most of the n/s lower section (lights height) has rotted away, and to this end underneath in the n/s/r corner the wooden floor is rotting.

Everything works on the van, and I can see no more areas that give me great concern, but is the floor repairable ? I would consider myself to be a competant DIY-er, so would like to give it a go myself, if possible, but need advise, can i replace the area that is rotten or is it a hole floor panel etc etc. the area of concern is where the corner steady is aswell............

Your help would be greatly appreciated, thanks Alan

Hi Alan , can you post on here or email me some pictures of the area from both inside and outside ( if possible photo pointing up to the steady area ) .

atb

Wizard

Hi, and thanks for swift responce, I've e-mailed pics to you, as I'm a comp novice and couldn't work out how to post on here, sorry

Have been doing more investigating this afternoon, it looks like the van is leaking from the back n/s corner (full height) and from the back window frame, someone before has had a go to try and repair, but looking at the mountains of mastic in there, they just thought filling the holes with that would do it.

Was going to use caravan this Fri/Sat but don't think I'll be able to know, due to time, and ofcourse Scotland's lovely dry weather !! lol

Regards Alan

Hi Alan you should have my reply now , here's your pics .

atb

Wizard

Thanks Wizard, I'm at the stage now wether it's worth it to repair, after closer investigation the floor will need replaced for about 6' from rear roughy 1' to 18" and the whole back n/s corner will need repaired.

She only cost me £1100, so do I cut my losses and run ? Or do i get stuck in !!?

I will keep you's posted, thanks again for advice.

Regards  Alan

Get it fixed.youd be gutted if you dropped your wallet with 1100 quid so why bin it.

my daughter has bought 2 damp repairables for dad to fix.last one a 6 berth avondale.one side half way to rear and complete back, similar section of floor to yours. it doesnt take long to strip and repair.caravan cost her £750 and dad less than £200 to repair (somrthing wrong there).

If it was me I would cut out 20mil past the rott, this will leave you with a square hole in the floor, then I would get some marine ply 40mm thick and fill the hole.

If it is under a seat then get a larger bit of 3mm ply and make it 200mm bigger than the hole all round where you can and glue the 40 mil and the 3 mil together so it stops it faling through, on the bottom do the same so your making like a sandwich but using the good ply to stick to use plenty of glue, On the floor outside I would possibly look at a metal plate for a bit of extra strength and use small bolts to hold it in place.

Hope this makes sense

Many thanks for all your replies, Some good advice. cambridgecockne if you could let me know exactly how the floor was repaired, I would appreciate info'.

I've decided (I'm Scottish) not to waste my hard earned £1100, so Im going to go for it !!!. I'm gonna bodge it for this weekend, Can't let her indoors down, booked at Loch Lomond for last trip of season, then I'm gonna 'get stuck in'.

And thanks Dch75, seems like a good idea, but think I'm gonna go for it, Ie replacing a complete length of floor from n/s to o/s if it's do-able?

So thanks again everyone, I'll take pics and keep you's posted as I progress,

The weather this week is not v good caravan drying out weather, but believe it or not, the caravan wasn't that damp to look at, so hopefully she'll do us for two more nights away then the fun begins !!

Many thanks again

Regards, Alan

Just a wee update, if anyones interested.

Spent all day today, taking off all awning rails and metal strips from rear end of van, cleaned them all and refitted using mastic and mastic srtip £12 for 19 metres, which i thought was ok. Got new plastic to cover all the screws aswell, a full 10 hour shift, but touch wood that should stop my leak. Used expanding foam sealant on floor (gap) and put inside alll back together with the help of some new sticky backed plastic wood effect covering the old damp patches, she's looking quite good.So off to Loch Lomond tommorow, then when we get back, I'll get stuck into the inside repairs in ernest.

Thanks for all advise and words of wisdom etc, I'll be back, have a good 'holiday weekend' all you's that are going away

Haste Ye Back

Alan

Quote: Originally posted by AlanG66 on 15/9/2011

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Just a wee update, if anyones interested.

Spent all day today, taking off all awning rails and metal strips from rear end of van, cleaned them all and refitted using mastic and mastic srtip £12 for 19 metres, which i thought was ok. Got new plastic to cover all the screws aswell, a full 10 hour shift, but touch wood that should stop my leak. Used expanding foam sealant on floor (gap) and put inside alll back together with the help of some new sticky backed plastic wood effect covering the old damp patches, she's looking quite good.So off to Loch Lomond tommorow, then when we get back, I'll get stuck into the inside repairs in ernest.

Thanks for all advise and words of wisdom etc, I'll be back, have a good 'holiday weekend' all you's that are going away

Haste Ye Back

Alan

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Thanks for that UKTech. Had a great couple o days at Loch Lomond, the weather was actually quite good aswell.

Anyway I got back about 4 oclock today and decided I start !!! So I'm going to try and post some pics to show the damge etc. Looking at the damp, I think the water has been getting in where my caravan has a plastic panel across the top of the van and then also the plastic panel that holds the lights. So basically I'll need to try sand get all the rotten wood etc out, then test to see exactly where water is getting in from then seal and take it from there.

Where the pencil line is in above photo is the top ot the flat back panel, after that it start to bend round to the roof, this is a plastic panel, as you can see the wood is ok then is rotting at joint, so an obviuos point of water ingress I think.

Quick question for the veteran caravan repairers, Am I better leaving the polystyrene on, or should i take it off (glued on) and replace it aswell ?

The Story continues

Alan

Quote: Originally posted by jimmy12388 on 18/9/2011

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i have decided to leave mine on, small patches were wet, but now dried out and still stuck on

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