I had this little drip of water in my Avan and it partially destroyed some timberwork.
I could not figure out where the leak was coming from so, I put a small bucket under
it until I could work it out properly.
An Avan like mine does not leak in this area but, This one did.
Last year in Batemans Bay, I stayed a week in a caravan Park and went through a pretty bad storm.
Bad enough to tie the roof down.
When parking up to come home for the weekend, I noticed a gap under one of the dome windows.
Emergency repair by a dash to Bunnings and sealed it all off with Gaffa tape.
Got home and decided to address the issue as these sort of things can destroy a van real quick.
Took the tape off and had a close look.
Window frame was parting company from it's mountings.
Got a thin steel under it and, TWANG. Bloody whole window popped out. ]
Crap... These things are up to $2500.00 each. O
The original sealer had gone hard and was losing it's grip on reallity hence the persistant leak.
Took the whole bloody lot out after that and re sealed with Sikaflex Marine Sealant/Adhesive.
This stuff is not cheap but, I guarantee that you would destroy the van by lifting by a window and the thing is not going to go any where.
Cheaper than replacing the wholevan though. O
Manufacturer's often run a small bead of foam around the outside to stop the sealant oozing out from under where it is supposed to go.
I will put a photo up shortly showing how I taped it off.
Man, I have to repaint those aluminium frames. LOL
You can see the fine bead of Sikaflex iff you look hard enough.
Not on how crusty the frames are. :8
In this case,
Remove one screw and go down to Bunnings and get a few packet(s) of stainless screws.
One size larger as they will have rusted the holes a bit bigger.
Plus, Some of that door foam seal no wider than 5 mm. 4 packets of it.
Undo the old rusty ones and pull the windows out.
You may have to run a thin knife behind them but do not scratch the metal surfaces behind. Grab an old butter knife. LOL
They will be sealed with a sticky black goop called Mastic.
Let it dry out for about a month dodging rain drops. Clean the black stuff off with metho.
Wear Gloves or you will have black hands for a month.
Use some thin Doorstop Foam around the outside edge part of the frame and apply a reasonably generous amount of above mentioned sealant.
At leat 5 mm high, This stuff is also rather runny so a hot day is called for.
Flip them back in real quick after applying the Sikaflex in a zig zag manner arond the window frames while they are lying flat.
Screw them back in.
After you have successfully glued and screwed them back in, Dose the whole lot with water. High humidity sets it off big time.
While you are at it, Remove every single thing like vents and such and do the same but,
The big Vents behind the fridge, Just foam them and screw them on. If you seal them with Sikaflex, You won't get them off without a real challenge. LOL
They will never, ever, leak again.
I assure you. :Y: :Y:
erfect: