Water Ingress (1 Viewer)

gypsylady

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Jun 24, 2008
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We have found water in the rear wall of our Carioca 656.

Have already decided to remove bunk beds and are now looking for the point of entry.

After pulling off the 'wet' sections of board and finding struts that are crumbling with the rot we are looking at an extensive repair and this is on a 2006 model. So we are a bit suspicious of all the extras we were offered when we bought this van. :cry:

Has anyone any knowledge of a clear sealant that could be painted along the exterior joints to save us removing the external trim? We were hoping for a fairly fluid compound that would flow into the joints and help create a seal.

Cheers :thumb: for any help you can offer.

June & Dave
 

rainbow chasers

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Oct 30, 2009
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There is a thing called creeping crack cure - but it sounds bad enough to warrant doing properly. It isn't hard to do, just messy. I would suspect your first suspect will be the roof light!!

Usually the culprit as these are often forgotten the sealer goes, and all the water runds to the corners of the van. Sounds like yours has been like it for quite some time, or may have been flood damaged in the past??

I am surprised it is that bad on a van of that age! I know CI's were not the best on build quality and age rapidly but nevertheless, should not leak like that!! If timbers are rotted enough to fall apart as you suggest, it would have been leaking for years!

One thing i will add quickly - use ONLY NON DRYING BEDDING SEALER. and stay well AWAY from silicone sealers ans these will make it worse.

It is a little messy, but not hard to do - I do our hire vans every 3 years, edging, windows out the lot - it really isn't hard!
 

haganap

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Dec 5, 2007
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I'm an oldbie MH number 9
I had the same van only a year older. we had a terrible water ingress problem and seeing as you have removed the bunk beds it may be the same as our was.

The Locker doors, Water is renowned for coming in those locker doors if they are not fitted properly. The water then works it's way to the back of the van, and starts finding its way in to the rear panel. So you could do what I did, Get in the garage, get your hose out and run some water around the locker doors to see how tightly they are sealed. Next would be the possibility of the windows you have in the Bunk beds. Window seals are renowned for leaking and if not noticed can certainly cause some damage.
How far up the rear wall has the ingress come? If the rear struts are damaged (mine were too) then to do the job properly would probably mean taking the board off and replacing it all. I used Oleary's for some near matched wall board to do mine, I cut the struts out to where they were good and then replaced them from that point.

The only issue with a fix in the way you describe is that if it does not work (and I suspect it wont) you will still have ingress and it will get worse and worse.

I really don't think it's an easy job, but bare in mind I am not particualy a DIY person. The one thing for sure is that I carried my repair out over 5 years ago and I can still see the mess left behind. :Blush: messy aint the word.
personally I would seek out a professional to do it for you, not cheap but a better option. They wanted about £1000 to repair mine at the time. I done it for about £100 but hours and hours of work.
My van, although I don't own it anymore, is still on the road :thumb:

Good luck and keep us posted, we love a good DIY story, and if you need any further help, there will be plenty of offers, Pictures help though. :thumb:

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madbluemad

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Jan 26, 2008
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Sorry to hear about your problems. I had damp from a leaking water joint that coudnt be seen. I took it to the garage, they stripped out the floor in the kitchen and bathroom and renewed the lot.
Cant remember how much it cost but they did a great job. I woudnt have dared touch it because I,m hopeless at DIY. If I look at it, it breaks.:RollEyes:

I'm also surprised to hear about the reliability of the CI. I see lots of them about and always thought they ere ok.

Good Luck
Jim
 

656

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I had the same problem in my 656. It turned out to be the high level brake light seal. I used Silkaflex on it to seal the bloody thing. As to the damp, I removed the affected panel and replaced it with 2.5mm exterior ply from B&Q and covered it in a simular wall papre. Job done!!! fortunately ther battens in the back wall were not rotted away, just damp. I left the are uncovered for a few weeks and they dried out ok. I check the area regularly now with a damp meter just to be sure. I also had the problem with the garage doors but sealing around the trim with Silkaflex stopped that. Another thing you may want to do is fit slats under the matress of the top bunk as that gets damp with use as there is no air circulation under it. I also fitted a camping mat under the slats, just to be sure. PM me if you need any more info.
 

haganap

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I'm an oldbie MH number 9
I had the same problem in my 656. It turned out to be the high level brake light seal. I used Silkaflex on it to seal the bloody thing. As to the damp, I removed the affected panel and replaced it with 2.5mm exterior ply from B&Q and covered it in a simular wall papre. Job done!!! fortunately ther battens in the back wall were not rotted away, just damp. I left the are uncovered for a few weeks and they dried out ok. I check the area regularly now with a damp meter just to be sure. I also had the problem with the garage doors but sealing around the trim with Silkaflex stopped that. Another thing you may want to do is fit slats under the matress of the top bunk as that gets damp with use as there is no air circulation under it. I also fitted a camping mat under the slats, just to be sure. PM me if you need any more info.

Weird isn't it,

3 CI owners, all with the same model, all had the same or similar problem. Yet I loved my CI and would reccomend one. :thumb:

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656

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Weird isn't it,

3 CI owners, all with the same model, all had the same or similar problem. Yet I loved my CI and would reccomend one. :thumb:

At Newbury this year, a Motorhomer with another club came and asked me how to setup the Dinette bed in the 656 he had just bought from a dealer. I went to his van and showed him. Looking at the top bunk, I noticed the same problem with damp. I told him of the fix and suggested he took it back to the dealer. I think Fun members have discovered a CI problem!!! We have had ours since new - 2006, and we also love it.
 

Terry

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Dec 27, 2007
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Hi June & Dave after reading all the posts on this you need to get some sealant like caraseal (O'Learys do there own brand of seal-cheaper)
http://www.olearymotorhomes.co.uk/
you would be better ringing and telling them the problem for advise as to which seal/what for :thumb:
You then need to seal all the joints,windows and doors -you can remove the internal blinds part undoing the window holding screws-push out a bit -then seal all around pushing back in and re doing the inner screws so that it pulls tight and oozes out the sealant.This can be removed with a scraper etc, and cleaned off with a petrol or solvent soaked paper towel.If you like you can simply mask off the windows etc, and seal around them not bothering to ease them off.Paul (hagnap) has already described what you need to do on the inside :thumb:
terry
PS windows come with a rubber seal attached to them but locker doors etc don't-they usually fit them with a sealing tape-a bit like putty on a roll- this may well have dried out hence letting in water
 
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gypsylady

gypsylady

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Jun 24, 2008
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Thanks everyone.

I knew we would get help on this site, everyone is so reliable.

The damp is coming in towards the top of the van. We were suspecting the top brake light also, as in manufacture a largish hole was made in order to fit it instead of a small hole for wiring which would be much easier to seal.

Also suspect the edge joints at the top at the rear of the van.

TBH we bought the van at 1 year old and noticed some irregular bubbling at the top inside when we bought it. Should have sounded alarm bells at the time. We have our suspicions of a rear bump with previous owners.

I'll post some pictures when I can get inside again, we've had a convector heater running for 3 days to help dry out the remaining woods.

June

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gypsylady

gypsylady

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Well. It's taken some time and research, but the baby is almost back to normal.

Or, I should say, better than normal.

Maybe other 'Homers should take note.

My OH stripped out the bunks from the rear of our van, Then started on the boarding. (The whole rear wall has been stripped back to the insulation and lats.)

A panel of pockets up in the top bunk were screwed through 2.5mm ply and into the polystyrene insulation material. The supports for the top bunk were only just located in the wall strut and this was split.

Lots of the supporting screws have split the internal lats.

The factory fitted ladders had no re-inforcing on the THIN skin of the motorhome, The bike rack also just came through the thin skin, the polystyrene, and 2.5mm ply. When I pushed on the outside brackets of the bike rack we could see the wall buckling (and that was without the bouncing weight of bikes or the back box that we've been carrying round.)

There are no lats round the windows, so window blinds are fastened into 2.5mm ply and polystyrene.

The water ingress was caused by a badly fitted rear brake light so our van has been 'leaking' since it was manufactured.

Our 'baby' will be staying with us for a long time now. At least we know how the rear end is built, and have confidence that we've improved on the original build. Any replacement van would need to be totally stripped again for our own peace of mind.

June
 

hilldweller

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Well. It's taken some time and research, but the baby is almost back to normal.
June

Correction - better than normal.

What disgraceful build quality.

Well done, I hope you've stuck two fingers in the direction of those who said you couldn't.
 

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