Damp?

[Alison0207]

We are new to caravaning & on our 2nd trip our 1989 Lunar Moonlight appears to be suffering damp-around door frame,window frame,front corner and the point at which steady/jack fits seems to have risen making to v difficult to drop the steady on that corner.We are in E Sussex.We have no under cover storage.

Is our van destined for the scrap heap?

Is a repair of this type cost prohibitive?

Is it a realistic home/DIY repair?

Where should we go to get sensible advice?

Thanks in anticipation

 

[Damian]

Alison, the problems you outline are pretty common on a van of that age.

The cause is the sealer between joins and under rails has degraded over the years and the van needs a full reseal.

You need to determine just how bad any water affected parts are, is the wood spongy? are the internal wall boards "bubbling"?

If th ewood is solid, then you can probably get away with just resealing, but if rotten, then new wood needs to be put in place first. but it is a job you can do, if you take your time and are handy with DIY tools.

Resealing means taking off all the awning rails and other cover strips, cleaning al the old mastic off, applying new mastic and replacing the parts taken off( Thats the simple explanation)

As for cost, it depends entirely on how bad the problem is, and getting a full damp check and report would be a good starting place.

 

[Alison0207]

Damien

Thanks for your comments.Is my local caravan dealer the place to get the full damp check?Don't seem to have much listed in the phone book for caravan servicing in our area.

Buying a van of this age was always a gamble-but the only way to start for us-hopefully it is repairable we have become rather fond of our vintage van!

 

[Robert_374242026]

If you are near Hurst Green the well known dealer/workshops will help you out. I will put dealers name but it might be erased by Moderater so here goes Caravan Tech.

 

[Alison0207]

If you are near Hurst Green the well known dealer/workshops will help you out. I will put dealers name but it might be erased by Moderater so here goes Caravan Tech.

Robert

Thanks for that-I will contact them I was not aware of this company.

Alison

 

[Wizard9956]

Have a look at this website for info on damp repairs .

http://hp-h.com/p/wizard41/

 

[Phil_5115351]

Hi

I stripped the front the end of my caravan at easter time to fix a rather worse than anticipated damp problem. The problem damp has generally spread further than you can see - but dont be afraid!!

If you or your parnter feel confident with a mastic gun, pins and a hammer, screwdriver, saw and a pencil then I would recommend considering doing the job yourself.

There are lots of sites if you google 'fixing damp caravan'with step by step instuctions on their own projects. I managed to fix my full front end, and half side panels for around