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 Topic: A rather damp Abi Ace Orbit...
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22/5/2013 at 9:58am
Location: North Yorkshire
Outfit: Abi Ace Orbit
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Joined: 21/5/2013 Standard Member
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I’m undertaking some repairs to our 1994 ABI Ace Orbit, and have decided to post up a sort of diary on here, hopefully I’ll get some pointers as to what to do and more importantly what to avoid!
We bought the van in January this year, advertised on eBay. The description sounded perfect, no damp, clean and tidy and a very reasonable price within our budget.
We went over to Manchester to view, and noticed some minor damp / signs of water ingress, nothing major and I’d factored in having to redo the seals etc with it being 19 years old. I don’t think the fact it had moss on the roof and on the seals helped. After initially walking away from the purchase, (I was pretty annoyed that the description had said “No damp”) the seller later agreed to drop the price and we managed to strike a deal. The sale included just about everything to get us out holidaying, full awning, stabiliser, water and waste carriers and all the other bits and pieces you need.
We’ve had a good few weekends away in it so far, and decided that a spruce up was needed before a week away in Cornwall in July. We decided to remove the curtains and pelmets, we never use the curtains as it has roll up blinds and fly screens, and to remove the rear fold down bunk, as its pretty hopeless and I keep banging my head on it!
This is when it all went wrong, whilst removing these bits, we discovered the previously hidden water ingress and damp is actually worse than we first thought. So it looks like the repairs will be happening sooner rather than later!
It appears to be leaking from the awning rail, and perhaps the rail that runs across the roof – I’m not actually sure if the roof rail is a DIY bodge or not, but it’s definitely been resealed with what looks like bathroom sealant.
After removing some of the wallboard around the window, the wooden surround is wet, but holds up pretty well to a prod with a screwdriver, so perhaps some wood hardener will be enough, rather than having to remove it all and rebuild.
Fingers crossed I’m going to make a proper start at the weekend
Here’s the plan of attack :-
Reseal exterior seals
Investigate and repair damp at rear
Small repair to wall board at front – possible damp although seems dry as a bone (Perhaps an old leak?)
New carpet
Swap gas heater for small 240v electric panel heater – Having a young family, it’s nice to keep the heating on all night if needed, I don’t trust the gas!
Remove gas oven and swap for microwave -just far more practical for us, the oven is past it and we having a decent camping stove/grill for cooking in the awning.
Questions....
I’m thinking of resealing the outside first, to stop any more water ingress before I repair the inside, or is it best to just tape up the awning rails and repair the inside first?
I’ll probably need some new polystyrene insulation, where is this available from?
I’m intending to use mastic roll and some Sikaflex for the awning rails, Sikaflex 512 or 221? What’s the difference?
Thanks for any help, photos to follow..
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