Hi bought a second hand caravan and just had it serviced and the report says a meter reading of 45% damp in the top Near side back corner. They said it could be the awning rail or the roof bar. I have had a quote of £899 to replace the rear roof bar and half the awing rail. A couple of questions are:
1. Do they need to replace the awning rail, cant they use the old one, clean it up and reseal. I have been told the sealant Bailey used makes it difficult to get the rail off without bending the awning rail. Is that true.
2). I dont see the point in doing half a job why do they not replace the whole rail? Which of course would increase the price of the the quote by another £ 500.
3). I am quite handy at doing things so having seen the fix it club on this website I think I could do it but I have run into a snag that Bailey wont supply me the parts I have to go through a dealer. I am really hoping to be able to get the rail off and clean up and refit. Has anyone done this on a Bailey 500/5 (2006 model)
I only paid £6k for the caravan and dont want to fork out possible £ 1400 for something that I might be able to do myself. As I say its whether I can get the old rail off without bending it. Any advise would be most welcome.
For the workshop charging an hourly rate it will work out cheaper if they remove old rail quickly probably cutting it off in sections it in the process & fit a new one. It also avoids time consuming job of removing sealant from old rail.
If you are diy'ing then you can remove rail carefully taking the time you need. You can cut sealant as you pull rail off. Use one of those throw away knives. Care is needed to avoid damaging rail & you need to able to handle it carefully once off. You will then need to carefully clean off sealant from rail.
They were well known for the rear panel cracking at the top corners and letting water in.The rails were just screwed on without pre drilled holes. Some vans had panel replaced during warranty period. This applied to vans manufactured up to 2010 before they changed to Alutec construction.
With all screws removed you could go round it with a cheese wire to cut sealant as they do when removing car windscreens.
I agree with birdman101 a cheese wire will cut through the sealant easily. A guitar top steel E string and a couple of bits of dowel will work as well. I did the awning rail on my old Elddiss that way. Once off laid it face down on some of those plasticky rubber foam
mats (this sort of thing: Here ) joined end to end while I scraped off the residue. Managed to get away without deforming it.