washing caravan and water ingress

[Dave_5103700]

We bought a 1994 swift challenger recently and my husband checked it thoroughly for damp with a damp test meter. He found a very small patch by the door. A week later we had the van serviced and damp was found coming in from both awning rails and around a window. This suprised us as we had found none! We went back around the van with our meter and low and behold found the damp. This definately was not present when we bought the van. The night before the service we had washed the van very thoroughly and my husband had left a running hose on the roof for some time. Could this have been the cause for the water ingress? We have been advised to get the rails taken off and re bedded this winter, the rest of the van sealed and then dried out with a de humidifier. Is this sensible? Has anyone else had this happen to them? We are assuming that due to the age of the van the seals have deteriorated and they could not cope with the torrent of water which we flooded them in.

 

[rayc]

Dave, would it be true to say you subjected the van to more than it would normally be expected to handle during heavy rain, either static or whilst towed?

Did you personally see or feel the damp or is it only that the meter indicated it was there?

I am suspicious of meters but do not wish to dismiss what it is indicating, but I would be interested to know what the readings are now and what they are nominally during both dry and wet spells of weather.

 

[Dave_5103700]

Hi Ray. Yes, looking back i think we did a bit of overkill with the washing. Hose was left running on roof for 20 mins now we think about it. This is much much more than it would ever be subjected to normally. There is no smell of damp and walls are not spongy (except area around door which we were aware of). Our plan is to dry the caravan out this summer then re test for damp. Do you think it would be still wise to get van resealed this winter?

 

[rayc]

Dave,I guess I am from the school of thought that if it isn't broke don't fix it.

If the van has got no leaks after 12 years then I would leave alone and only fix what was causing a problem. I know I may be burying my head in the sand and that there is a general recommendation that vans are resealed regularly, but I have never met anyone in 20 years of caravanning who did it unless they had to.It is messy and if done comercially it is expensive.I also have a distrust that if you got it resealed by a dealer how good a warrenty you would get against future water ingress. If you did it yourself of course then at least you'd know what you had done. It's your choice of course, but unless there is a large sentimental value in the van I would put my money towards a replacement in due course.

 

[UKHunk]

If you are intersted in a front end rebuid on your van just ask as i have done it twice and in the process of doing a third this winter,I dont believe that there is a dry van out there as you cannot say that a new one doesnt leak as it takes up to four years for wood to rot,last weekend i looked at over 30 at a dealer and found at least 15 with water ingress,A meter is useless use something else,