Curtains and Seat Covers 2010

Work hasn't stopped on Rusty in 2010.

Following a successful summer in 2009, we decided to do some more work on Rusty's interior.

Ordered some custom made curtains from a chap on Ebay, and recovered the seats using Ikea throws, that were easy to sew with a sewing machine. The throws are sewn into long sock shapes and simply pulled over the existing covers to form a protective and soft cover.

For anyone looking to rennovate an interior , Ikea is an ideal place to get throws and cushions. The TV was a welcome addition for the kids (£30 from Ebay), there is a fitted DVD player in one of the drawers (mini DVD from Tesco Teknica range).

Carpet & Finishing 2009

With all the hard work it was time to get 'Rusty' on the road and ready for our first trip. A carpet remenant and a sharp stanley knife finished the job in 30 mins. The carpet is secured using double sided tape and can be easily removed.

Rear Light Clusters

While working on the inside, I’d noticed that the rear lower panel, that houses the rear lights and number plate had been ‘taped up’. I decided (wish I hadn’t) to have a little look underneath. Here’s what I found.

Both corners were like this, and the light clusters smashed beyond repair. Off to Halfords for some P38 compound and wire mesh body repair kits.
Using the ‘try it bit by bit’ method I managed to build up a new corner out of the P38, and after an initial sand down, found it didn’t look too bad.

A bit more careful sanding and some Fiat Punto off white car spray it was ready for the new light cluster (bought from the nice people at Premier Towing centre).

Bingo, a new corner where once there was nowt
Even the lights worked!! Amazing what you can do in two nights (one hour per corner.).

Kitchen Part 2

The van was previously used for storage and most of the drawers and cupboards had scratches to the existing panels. I bought a few rolls of lighter coloured Fablon and set about covering each panel. Long and boring but the end result was much better, especially after some new handles were added.

Also added some fablon treadplate effect to the back of the sink finished off the kitchen area.

General Sealing

Most of the damage to the caravan was due to a number of water ingress points.

The most obvious was the skylights that needed to be replaced. This is a fairly easy job but needs time and a secure way of accessing the skylight opennings.
Undoing the fittings from the inside got me started.

1) Remove all screens, covers and attachments from the skylight
2) Undo the retaining screws from the inside of the openning cut into the caravan roof.
3) Being careful not to climb or put weight onto the roof of the van (I parked the van next to my garage, so used the roof, that I know is secure to stand on). Remove the top skylight assembly. This is attached by mastic and can be freed by using a sharp knife blade.
4) Clean all residual mastic using white spirit from the roof, and the replacement skylight (if bought from a breakers as mine were).
5) Using M4 Mastic on a roll prepare the edge of the openning to recieve the replacement skylight fixture.
6) Fit the skylight into the openning making sure to press firmly to ensure good adhesion on all sides and corners.
7) Replace the inside fittings from inside the caravan and tighten retaining screws in turn until even pressure is applied.
8) Add a bead of Silkaflex round the outside of the fixture on the roof to ensure a good water tight seal.

Unfortunately no photos this time, but links on the UK Campsite Fixed it club helped me along. My advice is to pick a dry couple of days or undertake this under some kind of cover.

To ensure other good seals, I refitted and resealed the awning rails on both sides. After removing and replacing I realised this was also a major source of water ingress. Again refer to the UK Campsite Fixed it club for full details of awning rail replacement.

The Floor

I’d spent many hours looking into ‘delamination’ before revealing the full extent of the damage to the floor areas under the leaking skylight. Once I lifter the tiles I realised a rotting floor is what I had. So it was similar to the bathroom, strip the rotten and replace. You can see the supports under the top layer of floor ply. The blue is the insulating material. I did have to remove the kitchen unit again to get at the full extent of the floor rot.

A new sheet of marine ply was glued (using Evostick) and screwed into place. Then replaced the kitchen unit again once all dry.

The Bathroom

This photo is on it's side but you can see the extent of the damage due to water ingress via the rail on the outside of the van.

To get the bathroom window sorted, which involved a complete strip back to the aluminium skin (carefully) removing the boarding and the insulation. This revealed a large amount of water had been coming in from the rails on the outside (another job loomed). Once the rails had been replaced with new mastic and screws, over a couple of weeks I checked there was no water coming in,

then used Unibond to stick new battening where the old rotten wood once was. Then is was a case of plywood shaped to fit the ‘hole’ and new wallpaper, a daunting job that was surprisingly straightforward as I took my time.(and rested between stages).

I then added new taps, new corner sink (bought from Ebay.) a new shower head from a breakers , 12v spotlight, and a new storage cabinet bought from a supermarket. Onto the next job.