Autotrail leaking again! (1 Viewer)

[raysalaugh]

Checking inside the van this weekend and noticed a wet patch on the panel in the dinette, about a foot below the window. I will need to remove this cloth covered panel to find where the water is getting in. However it appears the panel is held in place by button like fasteners which I don't know how to remove without damaging/destroying. Does anyone know how to remove these cloth covered buttons?

Thanks

Ray

 

[Stewart J]

They are a cloth covered pin, I use a blunt table knife with a thin flat (6 inch metal rule) piece of plastic or similar under it, twist knife against this to protect the trim. This will ease the pin out, under the wide head of this fabric covered pin you'll find a phillips type woodscrew which fixes the panel. :thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

most likely place it is getting in is around the window frame....there really is nowhere else unless the outer skin is punctured.

I had to reseal the ktchen window on our old Kontiki.

Not a difficult job to remove and reseal the window....just time and patience to seperate the frame from the outer skin.

I used a sharpened wall paper scraper carefully pushed in around the frame once the visible excess sealant had been cut away.

It was leaking in at the top and running around the inside of the frame to the bottom.

Took longer to clean off the old sealant than to remove and replace the frame.

If the wooden batten along the bottom of the opening has rotted you need to carefully dig/gouge it out, cut a new piece and glue back in with epoxy resin (araldite rapid ) using a couple of stout pieces of wood and some G clamps to pull the inner and outer skins tight to the new batten until cured.

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[TheBig1]

if you go to B&Q or similar they sell sets of prybars and trim removers. a bit like small crowbars with a screwdriver handle.

use these to ease the corner pins out as often its only outer ones that are fitted through into the wall. as for the leak, remove clean up and refit the window with new mastic strip. a mornings work to fix if you caught it early but takes ages to dry out. dont use heat or it will warp the wall

 

[Steve and Denise]

Damp

On the last Autotrail we had, there was a similar problem and when I looked the small drain on the outside frame at the bottom had been fitted upside down a very simple fix I turned it round and no more water, hope yours is as straight forward

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Do make sure the surfaces are very very clean otherwis the mastic will not stick and you will get a repeat of the problem.


Peter

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[Terry]

WHY NOT SAVE YOURSELF A LOAD OF HASSLE and simply mask up window and bodywork(about 1/8 inch) then seal around the window that way you know it's not leaking and you are not trusting just the rubber seal
terry

 

[scotjimland]

WHY NOT SAVE YOURSELF A LOAD OF HASSLE and simply mask up window and bodywork(about 1/8 inch) then seal around the window that way you know it's not leaking and you are not trusting just the rubber seal
terry

With all due respect Terry, I think that's a bodge..

It may be less hassle, but only a temporary fix at best ..

better do the job properly as described by pappajohn.

 

[Terry]

With all due respect Terry, I think that's a bodge..

It may be less hassle, but only a temporary fix at best ..

better do the job properly as described by pappajohn.

Not a bodge at all Jim I found out that the rubber seals perish yrs ago causing the windows to leak --Now I dry fit the windows then take them back out and put a line of Sikaflex type adhesive around the inner edge of the window so that you have both the rubber seal and Sikaflex and then I mask it all up and go around the window to the van --this stops any very small amounts of water getting between the window and van and letting it freeze/expand - NEVER had one leak yet :thumb:
Provided you mask it up properly you are hard pushed to see it
terry
BTW the rubber seals are only G/TEED for one year We always used to think it very strange that company's Gteed windows etc for 10 yrs yet they use rubber seals and locks/hinges that are only Gt FOR A YR

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[Terry]

Just read PPJs and even his window had sealant around it --lot's of converters don't use sealant simply the rubber --then they wonder why there vans leak
terry