Re-Seal Caravan

Apr 4, 2005
845
0
0
Visit site
Hi Mark

If you go up to forum search and type in 'help-caravan resealing problems' there is a posting from Tim which you might find helpful. Good luck. Chris
 
Mar 14, 2005
363
0
0
Visit site
Hi Mark

If you go up to forum search and type in 'help-caravan resealing problems' there is a posting from Tim which you might find helpful. Good luck. Chris
Hi Mark

I don't know if I'm the Tim referred to but I just nearing the end of completely resealing my van. My van is a twin-axle Avondale Landranger (97) and nearly 7.5 metres long - so quite a big job. At it's last service I was advised that there were a couple of high damp readings and a partial reseal was advised. I was rather surprised at this particularly as one of the suspect areas had had damp repaired and been resealed a couple of years ago. As I have been recently made redundant and had lots of time but less cash I read widely on the subject and decided to have a go at the job myself. I am a easonable "hand" at DIY but not a caravan expert.

The Caravan Club have a useful article by John Wickersham which they sent me, its actually a copy of a CC magazine article from Nov 2000. I, also, asked for and received a lot of advice from other folks on this website, also, caravan talk and Uk campsite websites.

From these I gleaned the job consisted of removing awning rail, skirt rail and window rails, cleaning of old sealants from rails and van, re-fixing rails with new sealants. There are various sealants available they can be bought either as a mastic ribbon with a paper backing or in a cartridge for a mastic "gun". There is, also, a product called Silkaflex 221 which John W and others mention which has very strong adhesive properties.

I decided to stick with mastic ribbon. I bought this in 2 widths from my local caravan dealer. He had available small rolls from "W4" or large much more economical rolls of unknown make both in 2 widths. I chose the latter getting both wide and narrow ribbon for different width rails. I, also, got a few cartridges of Caravan mastic sealant (non-setting). Both of these products are white spirit based and can be cleaned off with white spirit.

I began by removing the skirt rail on ones side of the van. To do this I removed the rubber strip covering the screws and undid these. The rail then came away quite easily as the old mastic was dried out and not adhering well. I cleaned off the old mastic from rail and van with white Sp, (I used plastic scrapers and rags -beware of scratching paintwork - easily done.)washed off the white spirit with detergent and water, and the applied length of mastic ribbon to rail and then replaced it carefully on the van and screwed it in place with new STAINLESS STEEL screw which I obtained by mailorder from Screwfix. I put a blob of gun mastic on each screw to completely seal the holes. I added gun mastic to anywhere where there were small gaps not filled by the ribbon. I finished off by removing any excess mastic with white sp on a rag and washed off that area with soap and water.

I then graduated to the window rail, this involved removing the windows, not difficult they slide of horizontally, and then the awning rail. My wife and sons helped with lifting this off as it is quite long and alu easily bends. Beware of bending when puling it off the van if old mastic is still gripping it.

I took the opportunity to thorougly clean all the rails and replace the infill/capping rubber which covers the screws - the original had gone very black, mouldy and ugh!! this cost
 
Apr 4, 2005
845
0
0
Visit site
Hi Mark

I don't know if I'm the Tim referred to but I just nearing the end of completely resealing my van. My van is a twin-axle Avondale Landranger (97) and nearly 7.5 metres long - so quite a big job. At it's last service I was advised that there were a couple of high damp readings and a partial reseal was advised. I was rather surprised at this particularly as one of the suspect areas had had damp repaired and been resealed a couple of years ago. As I have been recently made redundant and had lots of time but less cash I read widely on the subject and decided to have a go at the job myself. I am a easonable "hand" at DIY but not a caravan expert.

The Caravan Club have a useful article by John Wickersham which they sent me, its actually a copy of a CC magazine article from Nov 2000. I, also, asked for and received a lot of advice from other folks on this website, also, caravan talk and Uk campsite websites.

From these I gleaned the job consisted of removing awning rail, skirt rail and window rails, cleaning of old sealants from rails and van, re-fixing rails with new sealants. There are various sealants available they can be bought either as a mastic ribbon with a paper backing or in a cartridge for a mastic "gun". There is, also, a product called Silkaflex 221 which John W and others mention which has very strong adhesive properties.

I decided to stick with mastic ribbon. I bought this in 2 widths from my local caravan dealer. He had available small rolls from "W4" or large much more economical rolls of unknown make both in 2 widths. I chose the latter getting both wide and narrow ribbon for different width rails. I, also, got a few cartridges of Caravan mastic sealant (non-setting). Both of these products are white spirit based and can be cleaned off with white spirit.

I began by removing the skirt rail on ones side of the van. To do this I removed the rubber strip covering the screws and undid these. The rail then came away quite easily as the old mastic was dried out and not adhering well. I cleaned off the old mastic from rail and van with white Sp, (I used plastic scrapers and rags -beware of scratching paintwork - easily done.)washed off the white spirit with detergent and water, and the applied length of mastic ribbon to rail and then replaced it carefully on the van and screwed it in place with new STAINLESS STEEL screw which I obtained by mailorder from Screwfix. I put a blob of gun mastic on each screw to completely seal the holes. I added gun mastic to anywhere where there were small gaps not filled by the ribbon. I finished off by removing any excess mastic with white sp on a rag and washed off that area with soap and water.

I then graduated to the window rail, this involved removing the windows, not difficult they slide of horizontally, and then the awning rail. My wife and sons helped with lifting this off as it is quite long and alu easily bends. Beware of bending when puling it off the van if old mastic is still gripping it.

I took the opportunity to thorougly clean all the rails and replace the infill/capping rubber which covers the screws - the original had gone very black, mouldy and ugh!! this cost
 
Mar 14, 2005
363
0
0
Visit site
Hi Mark

I posted this reply in the wrong places so I'm putting it here too.

I don't know if I'm the Tim referred to but I just nearing the end of completely resealing my van. My van is a twin-axle Avondale Landranger (97) and nearly 7.5 metres long - so quite a big job. At it's last service I was advised that there were a couple of high damp readings and a partial reseal was advised. I was rather surprised at this particularly as one of the suspect areas had had damp repaired and been resealed a couple of years ago. As I have been recently made redundant and had lots of time but less cash I read widely on the subject and decided to have a go at the job myself. I am a easonable "hand" at DIY but not a caravan expert.

The Caravan Club have a useful article by John Wickersham which they sent me, its actually a copy of a CC magazine article from Nov 2000. I, also, asked for and received a lot of advice from other folks on this website, also, caravan talk and Uk campsite websites.

From these I gleaned the job consisted of removing awning rail, skirt rail and window rails, cleaning of old sealants from rails and van, re-fixing rails with new sealants. There are various sealants available they can be bought either as a mastic ribbon with a paper backing or in a cartridge for a mastic "gun". There is, also, a product called Silkaflex 221 which John W and others mention which has very strong adhesive properties.

I decided to stick with mastic ribbon. I bought this in 2 widths from my local caravan dealer. He had available small rolls from "W4" or large much more economical rolls of unknown make both in 2 widths. I chose the latter getting both wide and narrow ribbon for different width rails. I, also, got a few cartridges of Caravan mastic sealant (non-setting). Both of these products are white spirit based and can be cleaned off with white spirit.

I began by removing the skirt rail on ones side of the van. To do this I removed the rubber strip covering the screws and undid these. The rail then came away quite easily as the old mastic was dried out and not adhering well. I cleaned off the old mastic from rail and van with white Sp, (I used plastic scrapers and rags -beware of scratching paintwork - easily done.)washed off the white spirit with detergent and water, and the applied length of mastic ribbon to rail and then replaced it carefully on the van and screwed it in place with new STAINLESS STEEL screw which I obtained by mailorder from Screwfix. I put a blob of gun mastic on each screw to completely seal the holes. I added gun mastic to anywhere where there were small gaps not filled by the ribbon. I finished off by removing any excess mastic with white sp on a rag and washed off that area with soap and water.

I then graduated to the window rail, this involved removing the windows, not difficult they slide of horizontally, and then the awning rail. My wife and sons helped with lifting this off as it is quite long and alu easily bends. Beware of bending when puling it off the van if old mastic is still gripping it.

I took the opportunity to thorougly clean all the rails and replace the infill/capping rubber which covers the screws - the original had gone very black, mouldy and ugh!! this cost
 
Jul 17, 2005
5
0
0
Visit site
Hi Mark

I posted this reply in the wrong places so I'm putting it here too.

I don't know if I'm the Tim referred to but I just nearing the end of completely resealing my van. My van is a twin-axle Avondale Landranger (97) and nearly 7.5 metres long - so quite a big job. At it's last service I was advised that there were a couple of high damp readings and a partial reseal was advised. I was rather surprised at this particularly as one of the suspect areas had had damp repaired and been resealed a couple of years ago. As I have been recently made redundant and had lots of time but less cash I read widely on the subject and decided to have a go at the job myself. I am a easonable "hand" at DIY but not a caravan expert.

The Caravan Club have a useful article by John Wickersham which they sent me, its actually a copy of a CC magazine article from Nov 2000. I, also, asked for and received a lot of advice from other folks on this website, also, caravan talk and Uk campsite websites.

From these I gleaned the job consisted of removing awning rail, skirt rail and window rails, cleaning of old sealants from rails and van, re-fixing rails with new sealants. There are various sealants available they can be bought either as a mastic ribbon with a paper backing or in a cartridge for a mastic "gun". There is, also, a product called Silkaflex 221 which John W and others mention which has very strong adhesive properties.

I decided to stick with mastic ribbon. I bought this in 2 widths from my local caravan dealer. He had available small rolls from "W4" or large much more economical rolls of unknown make both in 2 widths. I chose the latter getting both wide and narrow ribbon for different width rails. I, also, got a few cartridges of Caravan mastic sealant (non-setting). Both of these products are white spirit based and can be cleaned off with white spirit.

I began by removing the skirt rail on ones side of the van. To do this I removed the rubber strip covering the screws and undid these. The rail then came away quite easily as the old mastic was dried out and not adhering well. I cleaned off the old mastic from rail and van with white Sp, (I used plastic scrapers and rags -beware of scratching paintwork - easily done.)washed off the white spirit with detergent and water, and the applied length of mastic ribbon to rail and then replaced it carefully on the van and screwed it in place with new STAINLESS STEEL screw which I obtained by mailorder from Screwfix. I put a blob of gun mastic on each screw to completely seal the holes. I added gun mastic to anywhere where there were small gaps not filled by the ribbon. I finished off by removing any excess mastic with white sp on a rag and washed off that area with soap and water.

I then graduated to the window rail, this involved removing the windows, not difficult they slide of horizontally, and then the awning rail. My wife and sons helped with lifting this off as it is quite long and alu easily bends. Beware of bending when puling it off the van if old mastic is still gripping it.

I took the opportunity to thorougly clean all the rails and replace the infill/capping rubber which covers the screws - the original had gone very black, mouldy and ugh!! this cost
 
Jul 21, 2005
3
0
0
Visit site
Hi Mark

I posted this reply in the wrong places so I'm putting it here too.

I don't know if I'm the Tim referred to but I just nearing the end of completely resealing my van. My van is a twin-axle Avondale Landranger (97) and nearly 7.5 metres long - so quite a big job. At it's last service I was advised that there were a couple of high damp readings and a partial reseal was advised. I was rather surprised at this particularly as one of the suspect areas had had damp repaired and been resealed a couple of years ago. As I have been recently made redundant and had lots of time but less cash I read widely on the subject and decided to have a go at the job myself. I am a easonable "hand" at DIY but not a caravan expert.

The Caravan Club have a useful article by John Wickersham which they sent me, its actually a copy of a CC magazine article from Nov 2000. I, also, asked for and received a lot of advice from other folks on this website, also, caravan talk and Uk campsite websites.

From these I gleaned the job consisted of removing awning rail, skirt rail and window rails, cleaning of old sealants from rails and van, re-fixing rails with new sealants. There are various sealants available they can be bought either as a mastic ribbon with a paper backing or in a cartridge for a mastic "gun". There is, also, a product called Silkaflex 221 which John W and others mention which has very strong adhesive properties.

I decided to stick with mastic ribbon. I bought this in 2 widths from my local caravan dealer. He had available small rolls from "W4" or large much more economical rolls of unknown make both in 2 widths. I chose the latter getting both wide and narrow ribbon for different width rails. I, also, got a few cartridges of Caravan mastic sealant (non-setting). Both of these products are white spirit based and can be cleaned off with white spirit.

I began by removing the skirt rail on ones side of the van. To do this I removed the rubber strip covering the screws and undid these. The rail then came away quite easily as the old mastic was dried out and not adhering well. I cleaned off the old mastic from rail and van with white Sp, (I used plastic scrapers and rags -beware of scratching paintwork - easily done.)washed off the white spirit with detergent and water, and the applied length of mastic ribbon to rail and then replaced it carefully on the van and screwed it in place with new STAINLESS STEEL screw which I obtained by mailorder from Screwfix. I put a blob of gun mastic on each screw to completely seal the holes. I added gun mastic to anywhere where there were small gaps not filled by the ribbon. I finished off by removing any excess mastic with white sp on a rag and washed off that area with soap and water.

I then graduated to the window rail, this involved removing the windows, not difficult they slide of horizontally, and then the awning rail. My wife and sons helped with lifting this off as it is quite long and alu easily bends. Beware of bending when puling it off the van if old mastic is still gripping it.

I took the opportunity to thorougly clean all the rails and replace the infill/capping rubber which covers the screws - the original had gone very black, mouldy and ugh!! this cost
 
Sep 1, 2006
1
0
0
Visit site
Hi Mark

I posted this reply in the wrong places so I'm putting it here too.

I don't know if I'm the Tim referred to but I just nearing the end of completely resealing my van. My van is a twin-axle Avondale Landranger (97) and nearly 7.5 metres long - so quite a big job. At it's last service I was advised that there were a couple of high damp readings and a partial reseal was advised. I was rather surprised at this particularly as one of the suspect areas had had damp repaired and been resealed a couple of years ago. As I have been recently made redundant and had lots of time but less cash I read widely on the subject and decided to have a go at the job myself. I am a easonable "hand" at DIY but not a caravan expert.

The Caravan Club have a useful article by John Wickersham which they sent me, its actually a copy of a CC magazine article from Nov 2000. I, also, asked for and received a lot of advice from other folks on this website, also, caravan talk and Uk campsite websites.

From these I gleaned the job consisted of removing awning rail, skirt rail and window rails, cleaning of old sealants from rails and van, re-fixing rails with new sealants. There are various sealants available they can be bought either as a mastic ribbon with a paper backing or in a cartridge for a mastic "gun". There is, also, a product called Silkaflex 221 which John W and others mention which has very strong adhesive properties.

I decided to stick with mastic ribbon. I bought this in 2 widths from my local caravan dealer. He had available small rolls from "W4" or large much more economical rolls of unknown make both in 2 widths. I chose the latter getting both wide and narrow ribbon for different width rails. I, also, got a few cartridges of Caravan mastic sealant (non-setting). Both of these products are white spirit based and can be cleaned off with white spirit.

I began by removing the skirt rail on ones side of the van. To do this I removed the rubber strip covering the screws and undid these. The rail then came away quite easily as the old mastic was dried out and not adhering well. I cleaned off the old mastic from rail and van with white Sp, (I used plastic scrapers and rags -beware of scratching paintwork - easily done.)washed off the white spirit with detergent and water, and the applied length of mastic ribbon to rail and then replaced it carefully on the van and screwed it in place with new STAINLESS STEEL screw which I obtained by mailorder from Screwfix. I put a blob of gun mastic on each screw to completely seal the holes. I added gun mastic to anywhere where there were small gaps not filled by the ribbon. I finished off by removing any excess mastic with white sp on a rag and washed off that area with soap and water.

I then graduated to the window rail, this involved removing the windows, not difficult they slide of horizontally, and then the awning rail. My wife and sons helped with lifting this off as it is quite long and alu easily bends. Beware of bending when puling it off the van if old mastic is still gripping it.

I took the opportunity to thorougly clean all the rails and replace the infill/capping rubber which covers the screws - the original had gone very black, mouldy and ugh!! this cost
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts