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Hi.

We've bought a 1989 swift corniche 14/4 last June and only used it once.   It was put into outdoor storage and last checked 3 months ago.

Its just come out of storage and I'm horrified to find it's VERY wet inside.   Mainly on the windowsill and around the front windows.

There are some area's where the wall is so wet you could put your finger through the wood!

Does anyone know...can this type of problem be fixed and if so, does it cost more than the caravan is worth?

Any damp can be fixed at a price.It depends on how good you are at DIY as to whether you can repair it yourself. If the damp is around the window sills, you might find the entry point is the window seals themselves. they can shrink and pull away from the corners as the age. Where ever there is a fixing or join on the van is a possible place for water entry.

Its doubtfull wheteher you will get matching wallboards, but as long as its a near match, it won't be too obvious. Caravan construction is very basic, basically a wooden frame sandwiched by an alloy outerskin, and a ply inner skin, the strength is in the bonding together of the alloy, polysterene insulation , and the internal wall board.

Thanks for the reply dean.

I would imagine the water has got in through the window seals as they do look as though they've shrunk.   We're not really into DIY but would certainly consider doing the job ourselves if we are quoted a vast amount for the replair.

I'm not too bothered if the wallboards aren't an exact match as long as the problem gets fixed.   It's a lovely van and we do want to get some use out of it.

Oh dear.  Do not despair, lots of people on here have fixed up their damp vans, do a search and you will find plenty of help.

If you are any good at basic DIY then you can do it , but paying a caravan workshop to do it will be very expensive most likely.

If you are no use at DIY then you need to get some quotes for the work and then decide what to do.

Thanks jennifernn - I certainly did despair when I saw the water damage.   It's our first caravan.   Beginning to wish we'd never bought the thing now!

Getting somebody to have a look at the problem tomorrow ... fear I may faint when I'm told how much it'll cost though.

Have you checked out Als Parkers  site and Wizards and.....can't remember them all.   Caravan construction is pretty basic so it is not that difficult to fix it yourself if the "professionals" want a fortune. 

OH always says  "if they can do it so can I....it isn't rocket science ".  By this he means plumbing,simple electrics, kitchen fitting, brick-laying......you name it!   He has had no official training in any of these but we still designed and built (with help ) our own house.    You need the right tools and to find out how you should do it......plenty of help with that on this site.

Started a new reply as for some reason I couldn't add to the one above.

I think you will probably need to sit down when they tell you the price to repair, but don't depair. It can be done yourself. I know, as I'm doing mine at the moment!

There is loads of help on this site, so you're in good company.

The first thing to do is have a read of these guys stories (in no particular order):

Als Parker http://www.alanparkers.dsl.pipex.com/

Wizard http://hp-h.com/p/wizard41/

Neil Scott http://members.lycos.co.uk/neilscot/index.htm

Good luck!

Nez

Hi nezza - thanks for the links.

IF we tackle this ourselves we've got the added problem that we're not supposed to have a caravan on our driveway... so can't do the repair here 

Never mind, we'll think of something.  

At least I now know that the damp can be repaired.

I'm going to save the links so my hubby can refer to them.

Thanks again 

Hi Snowflake

Regardless of whether you intend to get the work fixed professionally, it probably is worth getting a quote for repair, as it will detail the work required. It will also give you an idea of the time involved to do the job yourself, as with DIY time is the issue rather than money (in my humble opinion). To give you an example, I was quoted £2500 for repairs to my van. I am about 2/3 of the way through the job now, and estimate that the cost of materials will be about £350. The quote included a cost for labour which equated to 40 hours work. I originally guessed that I would take 80 hours to complete the job, as you have to learn as you go along. I think the total will be around 120 hours when I am done.

So, roughly speaking, the DIY version will cost about 10% of the professional but take 3 times as long. All very approximate of course, but it might give you an idea of the task you are taking on. As everyone else says, it isn't rocket science and there are plenty of people who have experience if you hit a problem or need a supplier reccomendation.

Good Luck

Simon

HI snowflake

its not hard to fix your caravan its just very time consuming, as you can see by my website which the link has been very kindly posted on nazza'a post, you can see just how much work we did on our caravan . if you read the whole project you will see we started at the back but phase two was all the front end of our caravan ,

if you decide to do it yourself and you wold like to e-mail me for tips and advice I will be only too happy to help you. photos are  a great asset when trying to describe a problem .

we are here if you need us

Hi Simon & alsparker,

Had the van looked at today... were quoted £2000+ just for the front...ha ha ha... needs work elswhere too... so it looks like we'll have to tackle the job ourselves! (Drinking a huge bacardi now just to get over the shock.....any excuse)!!!

Took it back into storage (during a huge downpour - got a puddle on the ledge just behind the seats again) and asked for it to be stored inside for now.

Going to insist my hubby reads all the info. on the above links before we make a start.

Thanks everyone - you have been a great help.

If it's going to take a while to get the repairs done and you can't keep it undercover, it may well be worth investing in a caravan cover. we did this and had it covered through the whole winter, if we didn't I think I would be looking at a much, much larger repair than I am!

Nez