Mega damp in rear corners

[SimonB73]

Hi

I've bought an Elddis Crusader Hurricane 2 berth 2005 that has some damp issues. It came at a really good price because of said damp issues. Or so I thought!

I now realise the damp underneath in the rear corners is much worse than it initially appeared. The guy I bought it off said it had been sitting out in the rain for days and when I was under it feeling around it seemed completely dry.

I think that was a lie cause it's sat outside our house a couple of days in the rain and the rear corners are like a sponge underneath!

I expected to be replacing the boards at the corners cause the wood was soft but now it looks like I need to seal it up top first. I've had a fair few issues with different vans over the years but not this one so I'm not totally sure how to go about fixing it.

I'm assuming the water is coming in through the rail near the back of the roof so I thought I'd remove that, apply some new sealant, and screw the rail back on. Sealant I was going to use is Sikaflex 522.

I'm hoping this ingress hasn't been going on so long that the timber frame is affected. That's assuming it has a timber frame I know nothing about this van at this stage.

The rest of the floor is dry and solid and I can't find any sign of water actually getting inside the van. It's just the corners of the underbelly. However, if I start doing the corners underneath and find that the rot is bad then I guess I'll need to remove the whole rear panel? Is that how you get access to those parts of the frame?

Anyone know of any resources on this sort of thing that might help me get it sorted? Id like to get ahead of the game here just in case I find its the worst case scenario in there.

Cheers

 

[toad a caravan]

I've put a post on awning reseal under the "vintage section" it shows the method I removed,cleaned and refit mine.One problem that can show itself is that rain water running down the awning rail collects on the underneath corners where the end panels marry up to the caravan floor and collects.. It's a simple fix to stop it...Gary good luck

 

[GaryB]

When repairing damp, always expect it to be twice as bad as you imagined plus a bit more! A friend found some corrosion on the outer skin of his 2014 Elddis, stripping it out revealed the true horrors. He took his time and repaired a section at a time and it looked great afterwards, the thing that was surprising was just how little sealant had been used at the factory.

I've also removed and resealed awning rails in the past, it's straightforward BUT ensure you have help as it's tricky to manhandle an awning rail without bending it (or dropping it and getting grit and muck in the fresh sealant!).

 

[toad a caravan]

I used panel pins

 

[toad a caravan]

 

[Hutch]

View attachment 7887

Yes I normally get it on my jeans as well.