More sunshine

Day 2
Found I have acquired  a six-pack of bruises from extreme leaning over the ladder. 2 on my hip bones, 2 on my upper thighs and 2 just above the knees - no picture of that sorry sight!

A sunny start, first I go to the hardware store to get some replacement screws and a new screwdriver!

Next I loosen all the screws down the centre rail, then one by one replace them with new ones. Pick up the Sikaflex 221 and bulk out the mastic to ensure it seals. I work down the length af few times, doing a bit on each run before the penny drops; this sealant is not right, it is starting to set. I had googled it and found it was 'flexible', but this is not enough, it needs to be non-setting.
At least the sun is shining, but I go about undoing my work and picking out the duff sealant before it dries. Quick call to the caravan dealer, 'Whitford's', confirms my suspicion, so I break for lunch and head over there to get the right stuff.
Catch the weather forecast over lunch and they promise showers in the next few hours, just when I wanted some luck...
Anyway, I get the rights stuff, jam it in, tighten the screws just enough before the heavens open. The excess sealant is squeezed out, just as it should be.

Do a quick dash down each side wiping the sealant close but am out of time.

Hunker down out of the rain. Later it stops, and  I find evidence of a small leak, the rain is gone at least an hour before I venture back onto the roof to mop up and add a bit more sealant. I take the interruption to rip out the fridge and sink, they can go up to the dump - an early decision vindicated  when I see the state of them (below).

The big push

Finally some time off work, and good weather!
Plan this week is to get the roof completely sealed and the front panel replaced with the aluminium composite I ordered at about Christmas.
First morning, I take the centre rail off entirelly and clean up all the old mastic with white spirit, then meths..

The paint I have ordered for the job has arrived, and I toy with idea of painting before reattaching the rail. Decide against. I don't have all the panels ready, and it'll rain again for sure!
I use a roll of standard width mastic, and realise too late how sticky it is/ how tricky it is to get the rail in the right place first time! End up wasting some....

With the awkward angles leaning from the side, I find it hard to generate enough force to tighten the screws enough. But the mastic is non-setting, I'll buy some more  screws and try again tomorrow.

More rain

Disappointed with the weather, constant rain is making it really hard to get the roof watertight. I make limited progress with the wood, cutting another key piece of ply but slow going.

I take the opportunity to remove the old electrics box at the front, and this allows the wood around the base of the front wall to be fixed.

All this time without a secure roof has made the roof sag a bit where the wood is missing at the front. 

Above is a makeshift fix to return it to level. Can't secure the aluminium until all the wood is in place and I can get outside in the dry to fix it...

Rainy weekend

This is how I left it last time, all the wood is attached to the ceiling except around the front.

First task is to attach a wooden batten straight across, then I will cut a piece of marine plywood to meet the roof.

I spend most of the morning figuring out how to get a piece of 8' x 4' plywood here. After cutting it in half at the builders yard myself, I load it into Alan's car, and get up here. Then 'aww' damaged his leather upholstery in pulling the wood out of the car 😤.

The first cut of plywood (described above) is quite easy, but it is raining.

The next one, to replace the rotton curvy piece down the front of the van is harder. I use wallpaper to make a template, and cut this at home where I can get out of the rain and brace the wood more easily.

The only other tasks I attempt given the weather are trying to secure the door closer better as it still lets in water (this is temporary, I will have to buy a better lock). And getting the remaining old ceiling plywood out from the connection between the roof and wall on the left side, this is painstaking and still not complete.

And on...

Only one day at the caravan last weekend, it was warm, but drizzly. This is better, but as I planned to get a lot of the roof  finished, 'unfortunate'.


I stripped of the rest of the awning rail, and cleaned it up with white spirit and meths. Peeled back the aluminium to expose the staples in the cross-struts that remain, and do my best to hack out the ceiling ply that was sandwiched between. This section was harder because it was dry so not crumbly. Despite the rain, this went OK, all new wood in except at the very front where the centre rail is rotten anyway. No pics of the finished wood.

After a strenuous battle, managed to get the heater off the floor. It was bolted through, with some sort of huge filter under the caravan. Spent time crawling under the van on a tarpaulin in the rain with a collection of spanners and wrenches. The filter was attached with very rusty wing nuts, these broke when I tried to get them off! This meant that although I could loosen the heater from the floor, it wouldn't come off because of the filter. In the end I used a saw to hack through half of the heater and break the entire road thing.

It is still leaking around the door frame. I realise this is because the door has a little slack when closed, I try a heath robinson fix with a piece of plastic to hold it more tightly, don't expect it to work. I'll come back and take this on next time (along with the rotten wood a the front and installation of marine plywood in place of all the rotten stuff around the front panel).

The roof again...

Good progress last weekend - finally some good weather! So I am moving on to the other side. The first job is to remove the 2 floor to ceiling partitions along the side wall. I also saw through the top if of the partition closing the toilet room after removing the door. I try to get the heater off the floor but fail, so apart from the kitchen units, the floor is mostly clear now.

I like the patterned ply, and hope to be able to reuse some of this. While the weather is good, exposing the roof wood on this side reveals the roof window her is also leaking badly. You can see how wet the wood is in the picture below.

 The cabinet below is from the toilet partition wall taken out. This is OK, I will clean this up, replace the mirror and fixings. It might be one of the few things I save. Particularly pleased with the unopened toothpaste complete with a thick layer of dust - maybe keep it for the first trip? Visible in second picture below.

Remove the rear section of awning rail as on tother side. Quite slow going clearing off the old sealant on the outside. Then removing screws/ nails and peeling back the aluminium takes the rest of the day. I remove some wooden side struts easily with a wood saw and a little tension.

I roughly replace the dodgy roof window with duct tape and cover for overnight.

The roof continued

This weekend (20/21 Jan) I wanted to complete the left hand (damaged) side of the roof. I ordered and received from Rainbow Conversions 2 new roof lights/ windows and they have arrived. Recap - I am replacing all the cross struts (20x28mm) with 25x45mm softwood to support double insulation depth.

Saturday morning is bright and cold so I get started. Pleased to find that despite the cold, the wood at the front end (that I worked on last time) has dried out nicely. First step is to remove the rest of the awning rail. This is straightforward and the same as the front half which I did last time. Then I clean off the sealant and turn down the aluminium sheeting to access the wooden frame. Some of this wood is very wet. I start to knock out the remnants of the ceiling ply sandwiched by the frame, this is also wet and difficult to get out.

The first 2 cross struts are easy, after that I have to work harder as this involves the surround of the bad roof window, I also have to remove the ceiling panelling on the opposite side a bit to get access to the centre rail. This reveals some hidden damp on the other side, probably from the second roof window. I try to pull out the cabinet reaching to the ceiling on the right. This is only partially successful as I can't get the heater off the floor, it must be bolted through - save that one for another day. I leave for the day with quite a few woods not in place, and the old window resting in place with a bit of duct tape, and the tarpaulin pulled over the whole lot.

It's really cold on Sunday morning, never mind - at least it's dry. I crack on installing the missing wood cross struts, slowed a bit by picking out the wet ceiling ply. Now it is snowing lightly, great... The new window frame is in place by lunchtime. Then cleaning off the old sealant on the roof, it's hard to get off! Succeed after quite a bit of effort with a blade, white spirit then meths. It is good to get the new roof window in, this is the first thing really fixed, and it looks quite good (sorry for lack of pics, it was very dull). I only hope the sealant works, I used a mastic strip, there was no warning about using it in he cold but it really was not very gooey, more like dry Blutac. I bash the aluminium back a bit, but allow it some space to air, cover the whole length of the old  awning rail with duct tape and the tarpaulin is back on by dusk.

I will have to do something about the damaged centre rail at the very front. Despite drying out, it is too rotten for repair I think. It will have to go, so I have to plan how to support this front section, I think I will span a wood entirely across the 2m width, and sacrifice a bit of height just at the front.

Next time...