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Hi Folks

I've now nearly completed my project of resealing my caravan and as I've received lots of helpful advice on this website I thought I'd give a final report which may help others considering undertaking a similar job, as a thank you.

My van is a twin-axle Avondale Landranger (97) and nearly 7.5 metres long - so quite a big job. At it's last service I was advised that there were a couple of high damp readings and a partial reseal was advised. I was rather surprised at this particularly as one of the suspect areas had had damp repaired and been resealed a couple of years ago by another dealer.   As I have been recently made redundant and had lots of time but less cash I read widely on the subject and decided to have a go at the job myself. I am a easonable "hand" at DIY but not a caravan expert.

The Caravan Club have a useful article by John Wickersham which they sent me, its actually a copy of a CC magazine article from Nov 2000. I, also, asked for and received a lot of advice from other folks on this website, also, caravan talk and Practical Caravan Mag websites.

From these I gleaned the job consisted of removing awning rail, skirt rail and window rails, cleaning of old sealants from rails and van, re-fixing rails with new sealants. There are various sealants available they can be bought either as a mastic ribbon with a paper backing or in a cartridge for a mastic "gun". There is, also, a product called Silkaflex 221 which John W and others mention which has very strong adhesive properties.

I decided to stick with mastic ribbon. I bought this in 2 widths from my local caravan dealer. He had available small rolls from "W4" or large much more economical rolls of unknown make both in 2 widths. I chose the latter getting both wide and narrow ribbon for different width rails. I, also, got a few cartridges of Caravan mastic sealant (non-setting). Both of these products are white spirit based and can be cleaned off with white spirit.

I began by removing the skirt rail on ones side of the van. To do this I removed the rubber strip covering the screws and undid these. The rail then came away quite easily as the old mastic was dried out and not adhering well. I cleaned off the old mastic from rail and van with white Sp, (I used plastic scrapers and rags -beware of scratching paintwork - easily done.)washed off the white spirit with detergent and water, and the applied length of mastic ribbon to rail and then replaced it carefully on the van and screwed it in place with new STAINLESS STEEL screw which I obtained by mailorder from Screwfix. I put a blob of gun mastic on each screw to completely seal the holes. I added gun mastic to anywhere where there were small gaps not filled by the ribbon. I finished off by removing any excess mastic with white sp on a rag and washed off that area with soap and water.

I then graduated to the window rail, this involved removing the windows, not difficult they slide of horizontally, and then the awning rail. My wife and sons helped with lifting this off as it is quite long and alu easily bends. Beware of bending when puling it off the van if old mastic is still gripping it.

I took the opportunity to thorougly clean all the rails and replace the infill/capping rubber which covers the screws - the original had gone very black, mouldy and ugh!! this cost £1/metre from my local caravan dealer - he has it in a variety of colours.

Problems I encountered were:

(1) Some of the old screws had rusted, Avondale, or someone previously,  had used ordinary steel screw which rust and react with aluminium rails. I got most of the screws out by tapping them to loosen rust and then managed to screw out carefully. In one very bad section I had to drill out a number of screws - a slow and annoying process. I have read that some people have to cut off stuck screws and replace with new ones in holes drilled nearby but I managed to avoid this.

(2) Someone had at some stage used a silicone rubber sealant on top of the original mastic. This proved very hard to remove. I did buy a special silicone remover from Band Q but it was no help. I just had to pull and scrape it off - it took a very long time.

(3) The mastic, old and new, is very sticky stuff and gets everywhere. Fortunately white spirit cleans it off.

(4)  Arguments with my family members when they were helping me!!

I have continued with the back and front of the van and have no nearly finished the second side. In total it has taken about 50 hours work but I am a beginner and I did want to do the job thoroughly. It is not very difficult but it is very tedious and requires a lot of elbow grease cleaning off the old mastic from van and rails and dealing with rusted screws, etc.

On the plus side

(1) I believe the van is now well sealed.

(2) I have the personal satisfaction of having done it.

(3) A BIG SAVING. The materials cost just over £150 a £850 SAVING on the dealer's quote of £1000!!

I am glad it's nearly done - tomorrow should see it finished!! but I am glad that I did and I would do it again when necessary but hopefully not too soon!!

Hope this helps - This account was much easier to write than the job was to do but such is life!!!

If I can advise anyone - please reply on the website to ask.

Regards

Tim

Hi Tim , well done on your caravan resealing  , sounds like you've made a great job of it , just goes to show what us normal folk can do , do post some pictures in your profile of it when you've finished so we can all have a gander . I'm sure your writeup will be of great help to people thinking of having a go at resealing their caravans

Welcome to The fixed it club .

atb

Wizard

well done tim

just think of all that money you have saved , that will pay for a good trip away in your newly sealed van

 Sounds like a job well done.  With you being made redundant I can understand the need to save money, have you considered setting up a small business on your own to do such jobs for people who can't afford dealer prices and can't do it themselves, you could make a killing in the off season months - and enjoy your own 'van in season.

Enjoy your next trip

Hi Melanie , welcome to UKCS , have a look at http://hp-h.com/p/wizard41/
This should give you some info to get you started , have a look at the links at the bottom of the page to other " Fixed it Club " members websites to see how they repaired their caravans . Once you get started feel free to ask any questions and i'm sure you'll get a reply .

atb

Wizard