Damaged awning rail

[GerryL_5040882]

We scrapped the caravan along one of the paypoints on a French Autoroute , I dont want to go through the insurance anymore.

The awning rail was crushed and bent.

Only the alloy part of the rail is damaged.

Has anyone out there ever replaced the rail themselves?

Ours is a 2004 Swift Challenger 550 LSE.

P.S. France was brill , i would recommend it to anyone!!

Cheers,

Gerry L

 

[MONKEY1]

Gerry,

Fairly simple repair, just read up on it !!

A really good book to have is the "Caravan Manual" it details this repair very well.

ISBN: 1 85960 333 5

List price:

 

[CliveV]

Yes - replacing the rail is no problem. Only thing I would say is cleanliness is next to Godliness when refitting.

Clean off all the old sealant - You may be surprised at how little there is in places and how much in others - and use the proper sealant when fitting the new rail.

 

[GerryL_5040882]

Yes - replacing the rail is no problem. Only thing I would say is cleanliness is next to Godliness when refitting.

Clean off all the old sealant - You may be surprised at how little there is in places and how much in others - and use the proper sealant when fitting the new rail.

Thanks for the replies chaps,

As it happens the van is going up to "AB Caravans" in two weeks

for a damage repair insurance job thats been going on for 14 months now. I called the chap and he said" might have one laying round the yard" , that`ll do thinks me. He also said to get one from Swift would take between 6 and 8 weeks.

 

[PaulCopaul]

use white spirit to breakdown the sealant,gently scrape away with a spatula,make sure all is clean before fitting new rail and sealant(put plenty on)and use a good quality stainless steel screw,dont be tempted to re-use the old ones they will not be upto the job

its hard work and takes a long time which is why a dealer will charge about

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Thanks for the replies chaps,

As it happens the van is going up to "AB Caravans" in two weeks

for a damage repair insurance job thats been going on for 14 months now. I called the chap and he said" might have one laying round the yard" , that`ll do thinks me. He also said to get one from Swift would take between 6 and 8 weeks.

You need the correctly shaped part from Swift

My first van in 1967!! had no awning rail as standard and I fitted one myself by bending a straight one a bit at a time.

Modern vans have sharper corners so you need the correct part.

I was working in Berlin at the time and remember having fun asking "Have you any awning rail" in German !!!