Message Forums

We went away last weekend with a club on a non electric pitch this is the latest we have been out and the van performed well. I had quite a fright as I opened the rear locker under the bed I found there was a pool of water. The locker door is the longer type with a lockable catch either side. The locker is open to the whole space under the bed and I tend to put seating, spare bed linen sleeping bags etc under there. So the presence of water made quite a lot of mess and drying out. Does anyone have an idea why this has happened and how to stop it. I had a theory that I hadn't pushed the catch fully home and it seeped in that way. It has lifted the vinyl a little - so in the summer when it is nice and dryed out I will staple it down and seal between the edge of the vinyl and the wall. Has anyone else had this type of problem

For some reason, this is a common fault on Explorer caravans - even though they use the same lockers as other manufacturers.  If you do a search on the forum(s), Im sure you will find several threads on leaky lockers.

Mike 

Hi sdrew56 ours is a 2007 model. I got it from mendips but to be honest, I never seem to get a good repsonse from them. It is going in for a service at Derby Caravans in march I will mention it to them but it will be 3 years old then - so not sure whether they would honour warranty or whether it has run out.

Hi Chalkie - I have had a similiar problem with the offside locker door on my Elddis Crusader. The problem was caused by the locker door becoming deformed due to it's length, and the fact that the locks are too far away from the corner. It should have been designed with three locks - one at each corner and one in the centre. As a result the door had a significant gap at each top corner, meaning the seal wasn't pushed up against the inner edge of the frame, so any rain running down the side of the 'van easily got inside.

After sealing it temporarily with silicon, a replacement was fitted by the dealer. When I went to collect it, I found that the new door was as bad, if not worse, a fit as the first one, and so wouldn't accept the repair. The dealer ordered yet another one, and this time, when I collected it, it seemed a good fit. But within three weeks of the work, while I was away (in early November 2009) I saw that this door had also started to deform at the corners, and once again there was a gap of some 12 mm or so, and accordingly, it rained and the rain came inside! The dealer's response was to fit a white profile above the door to deflect the rain away, but I wasn't satisfied with this - the "deflector" looked like an obvious "add-on", and the gap was still not covered to prevent rain ingress.

As I hadn't been able to use the locker door throughout last year whilst waiting for the repair (as I'd sealed it with silicon), and as I can access it easily enough under the offside fixed bed, I removed the "deflector", and decided to bite the bullet and fix it myself. At each corner I fastened a mild steel strap, about 10cm long and 1.5cm wide, pre-drilled, inside the locker door, using an existing screw on the inside of the door, and extended it up against the inside of the caravan above the closed door. I got someone to push the door tight against the frame before I tightened it, and now it holds the door closed properly, without any discernible gap. As a result the inner seal is now able to do what it is designed for, and keep out the rain. We've had plenty of heavy rain since, and I'm pleased to say it's been completely dry.

I could have continued to argue the case with the dealer, but the company supplying the doors - BCA - seem obviously unable to supply a door that, given the design, would keep its shape for any length of time. In the meantime, I was going to either get rain inside the 'van, or have to keep it sealed up with silicon or tape! Now I have peace of mind with a nice rain-proof door, and a dry 'van!

The irony is that the corresponding door on the nearside is much better fit and quality - never been a problem and that's the one usually inside the awning!

Sorry for the long post, but hope it gives you some assistance!

regards,

Al.

OK Chalkie - the advantage of my repair is that I've made use of one screw-hole in each corner of the inside of the locker door frame, that was already there, and haven't had to make any others, with no work needed on the outside. So the metal strap securing the door shut is only inside.

If I can be of any more help, or if you need a photo, drop me an e-mail at northa2901 at aol.com and I'll be happy to do what I can.

Al.