Hello everyone. This is my first post here, though I have read many of your posts and have been overwhelmed by the amount of fantastic advice on here. Soooo, where to start? My wife and I bought our first caravan last year, a Swift Corniche 12/2, from a friend to try out caravaning. We instantly fell in love with the lifestyle. We decided that this year the Swift was to small for us and wanted to upgrade so after a quick look on line I found a Bailey Pageant Auvergne locally at a very good price. I gave it a good look over and knew that the offside wall was water damaged and the floor was delaminated in parts. Not one to shy away from a project, money changed hands and I dragged the wreck back to my house.(Maybe wreck is a bit harsh...)
I've removed most of the furniture, bathroom etc and started stripping back the walls. This has raised a few questions which I'm hoping you knowledgeable people can answer for me.
The water appears to be leaking in at the seam between the roof and wall. This has caused 90% of the wall to go spongy and once the paper was stripped back the ply was coming away in shreds. The worse part is the rear of the van where the water has obviously collected at the bottom of the wall. In this area the entire bottom timber is basically compost! This has also caused the first 6-12 inches of the floor to start peeling back the ply. How should I go about repairing the floor here? My thoughts are either cut out the affected top layer of the floor and then resin a new piece in place flush with the good section or treat the remains of the ply and cover with new 4mm ply although will this mean doing the whole floor to maintain a level?
My other question is, at the top of the wall, the wall board goes up past the ceiling board. Do I have to remove the ceiling board to refit new wallboard or is it a case of cut it oversize and poke it up behind (ooer..)
Thanks for reading this, sorry it turned in to an epic..
Hi Harbourfolk and welcome to the forum, a good first post. It looks like you won't be short of something to do for a while but it is doable and will give you lots of job satisfaction along the way.
My advice, if you haven't already been there is to peruse the vast wealth of info and previous experience of similar situations in the Fixed It Club, pinned at the start of the repairs section. My experience is very limited in that field so far,(thank God) but there will be someone along soon to give more detailed help I'm sure. Good luck in your project.
Dave.
------------- Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.
I would go with keeping the original design, and fix the floor so it is flush. This will avoid having to adjust the fit of any furniture that sits on top, and allow any new floor covering to lie correctly.
With most of the furniture out the ceiling boards should be removable where they are curved, since these sections won't be bonded unlike the flat areas. It might be worth doing this whilst you have access, but beware that these boards are very thin and fragile. This would at least reveal any ingress issues, before you re build everything
Thanks for the advice people. I've now removed the bathroom, wardrobe and all seating down that side. It's looking a lot easier to access those areas. I'm planning on doing the awning rails this weekend which is where the water is coming in. I've looked locally for W4 Mastic Tape but can't find a stockist. Will Self Amalgamating Tape do the same job?
We've the same problem with our van, the more we strip out the more we are finding! Floor wise I'm removing the front floor and making a complete new piece to fit, then removing all rotten wood and replacing the plywood...all good fun!!!!
Simon.
Quote: Originally posted by Harbourfolk on 18/2/2017
Thanks for the advice people. I've looked locally for W4 Mastic Tape but can't find a stockist. Will Self Amalgamating Tape do the same job?
I would think not, self amalgamating tape sticks very well to itself but may not stick as well to other materials. You could always buy some on-line?
Dave.
------------- Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.
Fantastic feedback, thanks for all the links etc. I've now removed the offending rail and cleaned it up and as a precaution taped the joint until I get hold of some mastic tape this week. I've just found out how to post images so here's a quick look at the work done so far:
Front of offside wall not stripped yet
Entrance Floor - Semi Solid but needs attention - Any suggestions?
Found this when I took out the shower tray. It seems like a list of names. I was wondering if it was the people who built the caravan, or a list of people murdered by it's previous owner.
Once you have everything cleaned up & dry with loose material removed. You can do plenty of repairing with Isopon P40 which is gpr reiforced car body filler so it has tensile strength better than the material it replaces. It's good for repairing rather than replacing wood. P40 goes off after about 15mins so you can build it up in layers fairly quickly.
Thanks Opensauce, I'd never have thought of using GRP to reinforce those areas.
I've finished stripping the wall today and have the heater in there drying it all out to see whats left! Watch this space.
Wow, that's some project you have there buddy. Hats off to you for rescuing this van.
Going back a couple of posts, self-amalgamating tape is basically electrical insulation tape and totally unsuitable as a joint sealing tape. Try your local dealer, they have rolls of the correct stuff in the workshop.
Fair play for taking this on, many would not.
Hope it all goes ok, i remember doing the front end on our old piper clubman, and that was bad enough.
keep us all up to date, as you progress.
Good luck.
Thank for the encouragement. Just finished prepping the walls so I can replace the timbers that are needed. Not to many! Just need a couple more days drying what with the good old cornish weather!
Just one more question. There are gaps above the windows where there is no insulation. Is there a technical reason for this or can I fill them with insulation?