De-lamination.
Frightening? Not if you set out your stall and take your time.
This is not a two hour job as stated. When you have finished, you will know why they charge so much at the caravan repair shop.
I have just done my caravan a few months ago. The floor had gone in two places, next to the door entrance and next to the sink four feet away.
You will find that de-lamination is where the floor is used most .i.e. next to the sink and the door entrance.
First decide how much de-lamination you have, ie.2 feet (old school) or 6 feet, and check underside for gas pipes before starting..
This size of the de-lamination is required when you order your epoxy resin mix.
One mix will cover about 3 feet by 3 feet. I bought mine from Barrons - £25 for both tins.
You will also need a large syringe to inject the mixed epoxy resin. Barrons sell this also.
The glues are called Apollo 1 and Apollo 2 I think the code is A8136.
The small tin is the hardener and must be used in the time stated on the tin.
I will go through the steps best I can.
You will need:
A sharp 10mm drill
Some 10 mm round wood to cut and plug the holes, (sold in 6 foot lengths). This needs cutting into plugs, half inch long and sanded down at one end to make insertion easier
You need to:
Remove all carpets or lino.
Tape up all joints and the cowls under the caravan. Use a good tapeline brown 3” wide packing tape.
If you don’t the glue will run through the seams. (You will not know until you see a pool of glue on the path. So this is a must),
Support the floor under the van in some way so it cannot bend when pressure is placed on top.
Do not push up the floor. You can damage the fittings inside.
Use wood blocks stacked up just touching the floor on the underside in the same place as the
de-lamination.
.
Drill a test hole. Find a place that has no gas pipes on the underside.
Slowly drill one hole until it only just touches the plywood at the bottom. DO NOT DRILL THROUGH.
Tape up the drill at this depth, use plenty of tape to stop the drill going deeper than it should.
Mark out the area of de-lamination using a black marker, in a square grid pattern of 4 inch.
Drill to the grid pattern. When finished you will have a large square full of holes to the size of the
de-lamination. I.e.: 3 x 3 feet.
Clean away all and any dust or shavings.
Have a large polythene bag ready to put over the square; the glue does not stick to polythene.
You will need:
A tin or old pan large enough to hold the mix of glue.
A clean strong stick to stir the mix.
Only mix what you need within the time allowed.
Start at the rear end injecting the holes one by one until the glue flows out, then plug with the wood plug.
When finished, place the polythene bag over all the holes.
Put a heavy weight on top i.e. wheels and tyres or gas bottles. Leave for 24 hours to dry.
Open all windows to ventilate the caravan before starting the final tasks.
Protective clothing (masks and gloves) must be worn at this stage.
Sand down all plugs until smooth. Replace flooring.
Posted by Metz from UKcampsite
The delamination repair can be carried out from underneath, but you need to buy the complete kit which works out expensive if you only use it the once,
this is a description of the method I use for the repair of floor delamination.
Determine the extent of the damage from inside the van, transfer the information to the underside, drill a series of 8mm holes through the first layer of ply ONLY these should be centred at 200mm over the whole area, now drill 6mm pilot holes through the insulation until you just touch the upper ply NOT through, mix the 2 part adhesive carefully and load into caulking gun supplied with kit, the mixture will stay usable for about an hour, push the plastic probe into the hole until it touches the upper ply then pull it back a 1/4", pump the adhesive into the floor four or five pulls should do it you will feel the pressure build depending on the severity of the de-lam in that area, work your way across all the holes one line at a time, when injection is complete, place boards inside van and place weights on to apply an even pressure across the reworked area, place plugs into holes, and leave for 24/48 hours. DO NOT inject to close to original joins in the floor!!! Make sure you clean all equipment with the supplied solvent within the hour. The kit is available from www.theglue.co.uk .
You can also find delamination repair kits on ebay.
Here's how Brian Davies did the delamination repair step by step, with pictures Click_here .
Topic: Floor Spongy Caravan
