I would take the skylights out clean them and the surrounding hole and reseal them with the use of a sealant gun and plenty of sealant. Campervans number 1 enemy is water ingress it rots and rusts everything not to mention the black mould that accompanies it. Considering it has been out in the rain like this for many years I am quite surprised that it actually passed the mot. Wish you the best with your endeavour's to resurrect this once proud little home on wheels.
@@SocksWithSandals How about getting a tarp to put over the roof whilst you sort out the leaks. Then just take it off whenever you want to test your fixes, just a thought...might give the old girl a bit of time to dry out.
You could use some black jack ..bitumin paint to stop any leaks....its only £20 a tin..... Just paint it around the edges of the sky lights...to stop the leaks... You need some help from your friends?
Tim it might be worth going to a proper roofing place and buying a big tin of liquid plastic and coat the whole roof and the upstands. That will seal the whole roof. They do various colours. Coming from a Roofer of 20 years. Hope you get it sorted
You need to remove the skylight completly from the roof.then remove all old sealant from the roof and skylight before resealing it and refitting the skylight.i had the same problem and stickoflix worked for me.good luck.👍
It's not the appearance from helicopters that I'm worried about it's that I cannot make a bird in that place while a saucepan full of rain gets through every night.
@@SocksWithSandals you definitely have the right attitude just keep going and trying the best way you can and have a positive outlook, it's what's needed
Might be an idea to park the mh on bricks or timber at the front to ensure the waterpooling on the roof runs off , now that it starts and can be moved ,
You could make a feature and put some hanging baskets filled with ferns under the drips. For the roof i would stick Astro Turf on it so in the summer you could sun bath naked in relative privacy ! Just hope nobody flying a drone nearby. Yours faithfully Robin from leicester aged 53
I completely sealed my skylights all 3 of them I had same problem my Talbot express 33 years old and completely painted the roof with a fiberglass flexible paint so it moves with the van when I'm moving and doesn't crank I painted it with just flat roof paint at first but soon as van moved it cracked I had to strip it all off and paint it with fiberglass flexibility paint 5yars ago not leaked since I can get the name of it if you want
Hi Tim. You could always remove the skylights completely and get some aluminium chequer plate that is around 100mm minmum larger than the hole all around and glue it over the hole. I repaired some holes a few years ago by doing something similar. Just an idea. Take care.
Best to extend ladders so higher than the camper if they can go to that height , if they will go a few feet higher you can get up and down easier , don't know if anyone has already said this as not read other comments .
Use flash band from B&Q. Ensure you also apply flash band primer prior to sticking the flash band down. Ideal for what you need it for, should last you 5 years or more. I've used it on my fibre glass shed roof on my skylight and seams, worked a treat.😅
Preparation is key. Take interior skylight plastic surround off clean it. I would take the ceiling down, you will find a wooden frame around the skylight it will most probably be rotten. You will have to rebuild this Then take sky light off clean it and I don’t mean a quick wipe with some tissue it must be spotless. Put it all back together and repeat for all skylights,window frames and anywhere there’s a join in the body work. That’s a lot of work, I would try and find one of the old fiberglass BT Luton boxes a lot have been made in to trailers. You could strike lucky and find one kitted out. They’re a bit shorter than your van but that would leave room for a large veranda to store your bike. Anyway you do it is going to be a lot of work. Lots of new caravans leek. Every bump you go over compromises the joints. Good luck.
Hope you get it sorted soon and hope you get some dry weather..winters fast approaching and that’s one headache you could do without having leaky sky lights
It certainly has kept me busy attempting to get this old girl back on the road, but at least it makes for better content than being stuck in a broken down Pack it in, Stan.
@@SocksWithSandals be well worth it buddy can’t wait to see the finished product..yeah don’t buy of one of those again ay lol..again it makes for interesting content I’ve certainly enjoyed it mate
You need to check the roof for corrosion pin holes and either fill them with good Metal filler or fibreglass over them. If you don’t get the rot out and replace with good wood like the side in the door way the whole van will become dangerous n drop in bits. You seem a decent guy but this restoration is probably too much for you to do properly
The problem with coachbuilt vans that have been leaking for a long while is that the softwood frame that supports what in most cases is a GRP outer skin, in many cases is likely to be rotted. When driving as the GRP is not supported, its often going to crack. Torch on felt might work for a while, but if the timber frame is bad, long term things dont look great.
If it lasts another year or two, that is two years' rent and bills that I have saved. If I were to buy a new van every few months I would still be quids in compared to housing. The long-term prospects of vanlife in any van are preferable to the alternative.
@SocksWithSandals Yes, I can see that. Something that probably would seal the roof is rubberised roof sealant. Brush it on, and it drys to leave a flexible waterproof coating. It's sold by Southcoast Fibreglass Supplies Fareham. Good chance of that working.
disastrous, practice makes perfect spend more time on prep & clean area before applying sealant, the door requires a new piece of wood in place then you can reassemble the broken bottom door area ,im guessing you had alot of rain so the areas to address are obvious and no more found so persevere with the areas and if i was you really do a good job as a dry van is paramount for your health, with these issues resolved the rest will be a breeze ,lol,also yer not seeing much sun as solar didnt top up the batteries but its improving to get a good ignition to raise the spirits, you have tragically devalued the van putting a welsh flag on it 🤣,also puts stress on the bodywork which at mo not a good idea lol im not sure if you'd get anymore for it with the english flag 🤔 on that note all the best on getting these issues resolved ,i see you've had lots of suggestions all on similar lines so follow the advice and all will be ok touch wood cheers sam
My first thought was to comment on the funny side and so I will 🙂 If the England flag was made in England (or indeed anywhere in the UK) then you could wash it and reuse multiple times, much like the old nappies 🤣 Slap a bit of disinfectant on and it will beat Izal apart from the eventual decomposition 🤣🤣 Having read the comments, I see that you are open to sensible suggestions at this point. My suggestion is to disconnect all electrics to avoid any problems if you cut through any wiring in the ceiling. Use a jigsaw or similar to cut a square hole about 6" larger than the rooflight. Replace the rotten battened frame underneath and reinstall using caravan mastic tape. Your roof is flexible and will distort for many reasons. Heat, cold and vibration will all play a part but if you reseal with thick and wide 'caravan mastic tape' you will solve the problem 👍 Mastic tape is immensely sticky and flexible and will solve your problem. You can also buy caravan mastic in tubes but that is only useful for small gaps 👍
@@SocksWithSandals Yes but you wouldn't biz on the Welsh flag, or would you 🤣I thought you would remember Izal, It's that greaseproof bog roll that used to be everywhere in '60's and '70's and it was shit🤣
for the step you're going to need to put an new piece of wood in, get yourself a couple of tubes of the original Green gripfill solvent based it's cheap a couple of quid in Toolstation pick yourself up a new gun while you're there! The gripfill will stick very well to the new wood the aluminium edging and the fiberglass just try and get everything as dry as possible it's sets like stone avoid getting it on your fingers it'll be there even longer than the gutter sealant!
I have used Cromapol fibreglass paint on my motorhome roof it's extremely good at sealing around openings. It's a good idea to thoroughly clean the area first buddy and also use some sandpaper to create a key on the fiberglass so that everything bonds nicely. If you really want to go belt some braces the best way to fix a fiberglass roof is to use fiberglass you can buy a kit cheaply with everything you need and it's not particularly difficult to do but you do need to give it a coat of Cromapol paint afterwards to protect the fresh fiberglass from ultraviolet. good luck. 100mm flahband from toolstation is good stuf too
I've reduced a badly leaking skylight down to a very occasional leak using flash band, someone suggested a few coats of varnish over that which may help
Hi mate, Try 'Sikaflex 522' (seen someone else metion stikaflex, think they mean Sikaflex as above, though there may also be a stikaflex or whatever). It's used by boaty making people originally, but van builders use it these days now too- boats and vans have to be pretty flexible to accommodate all the movement as opposed to houses/guttering which doesn't move too much, though i appreciate yours hasnt been too move'y for a while! I used it in my conversion and it's great compared to normal cheap sealants etc. you'd use for houses. Obviously as has been suggested - best to rip them out fully and clean all the old sh1t off properly for a perfect seal, but i can tell you'd rather just smash a load of stuff on top and hope that that works. I reckon this stuff may be your best option to try just bashing a load on top of your existing stuff. Buy a couple of (expensive) tubes and try it on one area and see how it goes? Get it off ebay, normal shops don't sell it. I'm far, far away- otherwise I'd buy you a couple and pop over and put it on for ya. And just buy another £5 gun for the tubes, most are fine, occasionally you just get unlucky and its a crap one that breaks straight away, as you've unfortunately experienced. Good luck to you, Sir
