Delamination and fitting a shower

[Netti_374307085]

Hi all,

Complete novice here so I hope you won't mind the inevitable many and silly questions from me.

I am on a very limited budget as far as caravan purchase goes and also I don't actually want to spend too much money as I know how many dings I put in my first car!

So most of the caravans I have looked at all need one or 2 jobs doing on them. The latest one I am looking at is a mid-80s ABI Quartz. It has hot water which is an absolute must for me and also twin dinnettes which again is a definite requirement. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a shower in the bathroom which I really need as well. If I am on my own, which mostly, I will be, then I can't leave the dog on her own to use the site showers. The bathroom actually looks like a "wet room" and has hot and cold water taps already fitted. I am wondering if it is possible to change the taps to include a shower mixer hose instead of the single mixer tap? Or is there another way I could have a shower in the bathroom? Can anyone advise?

Finally, the caravan has some delamination of the floor near the kitchen area. I have seen this repaired in the magazine and also seen DIY kits for sale. Can this be sucessfully cured DIY and is it something a novice could attempt? If not, any ideas how much it would be for a dealer to do? Will it affect the structural stability of the caravan while towing? We need to get it home around 100 miles.

Many thanks for any help,

Netti

 

[PaulHull]

You don't mention how much you are spending on your van. My friends have just bought a van (can't remember that make or model!) but it has a shower and hot running water and is a twin dinette and they paid 1500 quid.

If you're paying a few hundred quid for a van then expect to do some work on it (ours was 500 quid and needed a small damp problem fixing) but if you are paying a couple of grand then shop around - caravans are ten a penny! You shouldn't need to cuy and repair.

Another thought - do you live near anywhere that was flooded last summer? I live in Hull (and it was very badly flooded) and people were housed in tourers in their gardens while their houses were dried out and repaired. A lot of people were then offered their temporary home at a knocked down price and are now selling them cheap to make a few quid. Maybe worth looking into!

Hope this helps

 

[Damian]

Netti, firstly regarding the shower, if as you say the bathroom looks like a wet room, is there a drain in the floor anywhere?

If there is, then the mixer tap is probably a shower head as well, and if it is, it should pull upwards to release it from its resting position and should have a hose attached to it, so that it can be used as a shower.

The floor delamination is repairable DIY as follows:

TOOLS REQUIRED

Stanley Knife with several new blades

Scraper.

Claw hammer

Dustpan and Brush or vacuum cleaner

Several clean used gun tubes

Floor Chemical (A7510 Adhesive, Apollo Chemicals)

Carpet door cover strip if carpet cut across doorway.

Method.

1. Remove floor covering if possible.

2. Start furthest away from door

3. Mark floor at 9 inch centres in diamond pattern across affected area.

4. Check floor for stringers.

5. Avoid holes closer than 6 inches to side furniture.

6 Drill 8mm on marked points JUST through first ply layer. NOT full depth of floor sandwich.

7.Press Phillips screwdriver through each hole and wriggle about to break up polystyrene as much as possible.

8. Clean up debris on floor, use scraper if needed to remove old carpet backing.

Ensure area to be treated is as clean as possible.

9. Remove ALL tools from van.

10. Use suitable number of empty cartridges.

11. Cut Nozzle at 90 degrees to provide a 7mm nozzle end.

12. Put Duck Tape over nozzle end to provide temp seal.

13. Wear mask and goggles, mix suitable quantity of chemicals.

14.Fill tubes to approx

 

[ThePlotter]

I bought an Ace (ABI) Quartz new in 1986 and was like a sponge it leaked and soaked it up and had to have inside panels changed three times in the three years I had it,it needed doing again when I sold it.It appears that in 1986 a lot of vans had the same problem due to faulty mastic on the joints so if 1986 (it will be a green colour) beware.

For the delamination Apollo Chemicals are at Amington Industrial Estate,Tamworth,Staffs (you will get contact details off Yell)

 

[GrahamSouthBrum]

Hi Damian,

A very comprehensive instruction list.

I have never done this job but read instructions in one of the mags, they said when the glue is inserted place heavy weights on the floor to help bonding

 

[Netti_374307085]

Thanks so much for that Damian, that's very helpful to know for future about the delamination. The bathroom did have a drain in the floor but it was only a standard mixer tap, a metal pipe in fact. I wonder if it had been changed from a shower already?

Thanks for the warning as well The Plotter. Most of the vans I'm looking at are around this age so that's very good to know. Luckily I haven't gone for this van. It was an Ebay van and the seller seemed in quite a hurry to shift it. When I asked to view prior to completing the sale, they didn't reply and it disappeared from Ebay. Made me quite suspicious and it had already had a damp repair in the rear back panel.

Must admit, my bugdet is really limiting. Initially it was around the 500 quid mark, but I can now go up to 6-700 now. With an extra hundred every month thereafter that I've been saving since the start of the year, but ideally I would like to make use of the next bank holiday, since it looks very very doubtful I will have a caravan in time for this one.

Thanks to everyone for your comments.

Netti

 

[Damian]

Hi Damian,

A very comprehensive instruction list.

I have never done this job but read instructions in one of the mags, they said when the glue is inserted place heavy weights on the floor to help bonding

Hello Graham,

I know some people say to put weights on the floor, but if you do that, you may end up with a concave floor.

Usually it is the top layer of foam which has deteriorated, and allowing the glue to fill that gap, without pressure from above keeps the floor level.

It is also suggested to put under floor support, but this only acts on the under skin and lower foam, so does not actually do anything to keep the top level, level.