found some damp (2 Viewers)

freelanderuk

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i noticed a couple of small marks on the skin of the van near the toilet cassette door and realized that they were small corrosion marks, i open the door and removed the inner cover to find rotted wood

the marks can be seen on this photo
IMG_0023_zps8b09e0c5.jpg


i then removed the thetford locker door to find that some of the non setting mastic had dried up and cracked allowing water to penetrate in to the wooden frame, the wood was not to damp as we have had a fairly dry spell in Lincolnshire just lately, started to remove the timber that was rotted ( then remembered the camera )

IMG_0022_zps0cdbd937.jpg

IMG_0020_zps69cc383a.jpg

IMG_0021_zpsed9f3e11.jpg


removed all the bad timber frame back to good wood and treated with ronseal wet rot timber hardner , you paint this on and it soaks in to the wood and hardens over 6 hours , i even used a syringe with a long 4inch tube to inject the treatment ether side
of the timber i could not get to

IMG_0027_zpsad549e1d.jpg

IMG_0028_zps2298edb3.jpg

IMG_0029_zps13091e12.jpg

IMG_0026_zps40f537e3.jpg


i will leave the treatment to work over night then another coat in the morning and the treat some new wood and replace the frame and new non setting mastic on the door frame and back together :Smile:

there was no smell of damp or any damp patches in the van so if i had not seen these small marks i hazard to guess how much longer it would have been leaking
 

old-mo

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Looks like you were real lucky to have caught it when you did... :thumb:

Just out of curiosity, how old is the van.. ?

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GJH

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We've just had a similar experience with our van. There was a damp patch at the rear offside corner which we have had fixed professionally.

Luckily Dave Newell spotted it when he fitted our rear view camera and we were able to get it fixed before it was too serious. It could have been a long time before I spotted it as it was hidden from normal view by the locker floor covering and not obvious.
 
Oct 3, 2012
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Well spotted and good repair, I am amazed that in this day of age that these things are still made with timber, surely some sort of composite / plastic or even aluminium would be a more suitable material?

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Tootles

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Noticed that in the same location of our Hymer, the bottom ply was slightly rotten. Sides are OK, as are the door seals, and so I have put it down to years of sliding an unwiped cassette into its holder.
Nice repair though, thanks for the piccies.
 

jonandshell

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Well spotted and well sorted!

I bet you have a full history of hab services and damp checks too!:winky:
 

Tootles

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We've just had a similar experience with our van. There was a damp patch at the rear offside corner which we have had fixed professionally.

Luckily Dave Newell spotted it when he fitted our rear view camera and we were able to get it fixed before it was too serious. It could have been a long time before I spotted it as it was hidden from normal view by the locker floor covering and not obvious.

Just out of interest, how did they fix that?? I have a dose of the rear end sponge myself, but it down to years of spray kickback. I was thinking of cutting it out, replacing the bad flooring, then plating over from the outside.
 

pappajohn

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Well spotted and good repair, I am amazed that in this day of age that these things are still made with timber, surely some sort of composite / plastic or even aluminium would be a more suitable material?
soft white pine will always be cheaper than plastic or aluminium extrusions, so the converter will always use it.

you should see some timber in American motorhomes.
if it cant be seen then any old bits of packing case/pallet and reclaimed sterling board (chipboard) sheeting is used
 

GJH

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Just out of interest, how did they fix that?? I have a dose of the rear end sponge myself, but it down to years of spray kickback. I was thinking of cutting it out, replacing the bad flooring, then plating over from the outside.

The work sheet lists
  • Remove & reseal rear corner moulding
  • Remove & reseal rear bumper
  • Remove rear floor as required (inner & outer skins)
  • Replace timber work as required
  • Renew inner & outer floor skin as required

The workshop foreman reckoned ingress was probably through screws holding the rear bumper on, where the sealing had gone. Apparently the bumper is screwed through into the floor.

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Oct 3, 2012
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soft white pine will always be cheaper than plastic or aluminium extrusions, so the converter will always use it.

you should see some timber in American motorhomes.
if it cant be seen then any old bits of packing case/pallet and reclaimed sterling board (chipboard) sheeting is used

It always comes down to cost! But for how much a motorhome costs they should use better materials but thats a whole different debate:RollEyes:
 

Wildge

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The work sheet lists
  • Remove & reseal rear corner moulding
  • Remove & reseal rear bumper
  • Remove rear floor as required (inner & outer skins)
  • Replace timber work as required
  • Renew inner & outer floor skin as required
The workshop foreman reckoned ingress was probably through screws holding the rear bumper on, where the sealing had gone. Apparently the bumper is screwed through into the floor.

Did Dave do it or are you at liberty to mention the firm. We have had our van supposedly treated and it would be nice to have a second opinion.
Thanks Bill
 

JJ

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Thank you Chris for this informative and useful thread.

Will be very interesting to many.

freelanderuk ROCKS.


JJ :Cool:

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GJH

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Did Dave do it or are you at liberty to mention the firm. We have had our van supposedly treated and it would be nice to have a second opinion.
Thanks Bill

No, it isn't the sort of work Dave does. He did recommend a firm in Cannock but that is a long way from us. We had the work done locally at Teesside Caravans. We had experience of their approach when they did the assessment of the damage to our Autoquest after it had been "Asda-d".
 

Tootles

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The work sheet lists
  • Remove & reseal rear corner moulding
  • Remove & reseal rear bumper
  • Remove rear floor as required (inner & outer skins)
  • Replace timber work as required
  • Renew inner & outer floor skin as required

The workshop foreman reckoned ingress was probably through screws holding the rear bumper on, where the sealing had gone. Apparently the bumper is screwed through into the floor.

I like that Graham! A man who keeps stuff!! I was thinking something like........Take out the rear locker floor, jigsaw back into firm stuff, replace with same thickness, held in place by 'T' bar alloy strip, replace locker panels, then alloy tread-plate underneath, covering the join, and attach to rear bumper support, side timbers, and existing/new floor with a few of Screwfix best.

As required, of coarse.........That makes the bill bigger!:cry:
 

GJH

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[HI]I like that Graham! A man who keeps stuff!![/HI] I was thinking something like........Take out the rear locker floor, jigsaw back into firm stuff, replace with same thickness, held in place by 'T' bar alloy strip, replace locker panels, then alloy tread-plate underneath, covering the join, and attach to rear bumper support, side timbers, and existing/new floor with a few of Screwfix best.

As required, of coarse.........That makes the bill bigger!:cry:

Not long - we only got the van back on Monday ::bigsmile:

As it happens, the bill came in on estimate - which indicates they know what they are doing with "as required" ::bigsmile:

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Last edited:

sedge

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As the person who used to have to type husband Mk 1's car bodywork estimates, the 'as required' bit wasn't so he could make more money. He knew within a certain parameter how much 'something' he would need to use and his price reflected that range - but he couldn't say eg exactly '1.4 litres of paint' or '0.8 L of thinners' - so the price would include (say) 1.5 L paint and 1L thinners - if it used double that, then he'd done it wrong and it was his fault, so couldn't charge Mr Customer for his cock up.

Same with welding for MOTs etc - usually charged on how many hours it ought to take - which included gas, welding rods and however much flux as it took ! (Plus the wear and tear on T shirts, overalls and underpants, as he did set fire to em a few times!)
 

Tootles

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Er, what the hell is a Mk1 husband?? Is it girlie talk?? "Hi Ethel, hows the Mk1"? "Oh, got rid of him. Paint was flaking, his vinyl roof kept slipping off at traffic lights, and he was mis-firing on a long pull. Took him to the garage, turns out he had a bent con-rod. I always suspected his timing was out. Bought a Mk2, much younger model, and boy, can he go! Just have to show him my right foot and WHOOSH"!
"Yes love, know what you mean. Mine kept leaving skid marks. Put him in the paper under 'used but abused', should have seen his face when they towed him away".

:ROFLMAO:
 

Terry

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Hi Chris now what you need to do is mask up all your locker doors and windows,seal them with a Polyimer type sealant then you can see if the seals failing --don't trust the non detting stuff too much it dries out,same as runner seals move::bigsmile:
terry

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freelanderuk

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the ronseal wet rot hardener has done a great job on the timber i treated, it soaked right in to the wood and has cured and left glass fiber resin like finish,it has also hardened the timber, i have cut the new timbers to replace the rotten ones and used the same treatment on them , i will bed on not setting mastic and a couple of stainless screws to secure ,
more photos to follow
 
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freelanderuk

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the repair is finished and door back on and sealed

you can see here in this photo the finish the ronseal leave on the wood it really like glass fiber resin

.

the new timber was treated with the same stuff

file2_zps19fa4821.jpg


file4_zps79668018.jpg


the door back in and sealed

file5_zpscbd1a6e3.jpg

file6_zps5b24d96d.jpg


just going to mix a bit of gel coat filler for the holes

cost of repair
£9.98 for ronseal, £5.40 for non setting mastic,£2.40 for timber, i had the white spirit and gell coat filler , so less than £20 and about 3 hours of my time not including drying time for the ronseal
 

haganap

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well done Chris,,, I have carried out a few jobs the same on my vans over the years, always bloody lockers. I like the wet rot from ronseal, does the job although others tell me it won't. I actually drilled tiny holes and like you injected in with a syringe, 24 hours later it was better than new. :thumb:

It's interesting reading this that two other owners with a Burstner and a Hymer have posted they have damp and yet not one comment about the superior German models. :winky:

If I posted my bessie had a bit of damp people would be saying what do you expect when you buy British. :RollEyes:


Just one other small observation,
Why are you wearing pink trainers :ROFLMAO:

Thanks for the photos, a great bit of info for other funsters. :thumb:
 

Richard B

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Your series of photos were exactly as I found this problem on my 630S this week, although the lower rail on mine was far worse. I only got an incling after I had the carpets replaced recently and to the right of the toilet caseing behing the raised section a small gap needed covering. Poking my fingers inside I felt damp and further investigation outside revealed serious problems like you found. I was surprised that very little non hardening mastic was revealed on removing the door frame,it almost fell off when the screws were removed, in fact it was green with algi under the frame. I guess poor installation. I only hope that the same is not on the other cut out sections for lockers/gasbox etc. I dread to think but checking is now a must. By the way mine is a 2001.

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Oct 20, 2013
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Had the same thing with our boat. One rotten bit of wood led to another and we practically re-built the boat. Only thing left untouched was the GRP hull and the roof.
 

rikfos

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A fantastic repair job.

How much would that have cost if done by a professional repairer ?
 

haganap

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A fantastic repair job.

How much would that have cost if done by a professional repairer ?

I would reckon you would be looking at about 3-4 hundred if you whisked it in to local stealer

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