Creaks and Refurbs

[naughtyrabbit]

Hi

Last year, I bought a 1995 Elddis Broadway in excellent condition but I have a couple of issues I'm hoping someone can advise me.

Firstly, it has developed a terrible creaking sound when I'm towing it - I mean it is absolutely dreadful - it sounds like the Titanic going down! Having phoned my dealers technical department they advised it might be the stabiliser's brake pads worn. So I went to their local shop to buy some more pads but the nice chap there said that unless I'd been using it constantly, the brake pads would not have worn out yet. He also said that that's what caravans do, but it didn't do that when I first had him. My boyfriend thinks the noise is coming from the pointy bit at the front (sorry, I'm really not technical...) - having read a few forums, I've seen suggestions of using sandpaper on the towing ball - do you think this is likely?

Secondly, whilst the interior is in excellent condition, I just cannot stand the decor. I'm thinking of recovering the upholstery but I'd also like to re-paper the walls (particularly the horrible flowery bathroom). Would vinyl wallpaper be okay to use?

Any tips or examples of previous refurb projects would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[Robert_374242026]

If you have the ALCO type hitch ie the colour is red then inside the front underneath the coupling there is a couple of pads, these can be sprayed with brake cleaner and likewise the ball on the car. This is quite common and cleaning both parts should cure it. Yes you can use vinyl covering providing you prepair the walls properly. I am not sure whether vinyl on vinyl will stick unless you use the proper adhesive . Hope this helps.

 

[taylor.paul]

Hi Rabbit we refurbed our bathrom using upvc cladding, its super lightweight i think less than 10 kg for the whole bathroom , and it is cheap and easy to keep clean most of all looks great and easy to install, 2 hours start to finish in bessacarr bathroom

 

[MikeyW]

Hi Rabbit

Assuming the pads are in good condition, I done the following.

With the van unhitched from the car make sure the large lever on the tow hitch (the pointy bit) is pushed down then feel where the tow ball would go and on each side you should feel a round pad/disc, these are the stabiliser pads. Using some fine wet'n'dry something like 1000 grit, available from DIY stores, give them both a light rub. Make sure you wipe them off with a clean cloth after. The tow ball needs to be shining i.e. NO paint or rust. You can do this with the same method, maybe starting with some rougher wet'n'dry first then getting finer, a bit more elbow grease required. I usually finish off with scotch brite, i.e. dish scrubbing pads, for that smooth look.

This all worked for me, the noise I had was frightening but it's a lot better now.

regards

Mike

 

[naughtyrabbit]

thanks for your helpful replies.

Am going to try sanding the pads and towball this weekend in preparation for our outing on Sunday (providing the weather's not too bad of course...) and am also going to look at the UPVC cladding option for the bathroom.

Thanks again

TR