Avondale Landranger 6400 damp repair

Avondale Landranger 6400 water ingress repair

(Photographs with explanations follow this essay)

We just bought this caravan after two years of looking for a decent second hand private buy, alas, it appears, the market is flooded with scam artists, out and out thieves and lying Ba****ds.
That statement includes every dealer we contacted about advertised caravans in the style/format/layout of Avondale’s Landranger.

My problem is the wife, she can’t stand being near me, in bed, as I snore like a buzz saw, so we needed a van with an end to close off so she can have a nap while I drink Carling Black Label till I pass out, at least till the recession is over and I get some work in.
Anyway on with my tale of woe!

After searching Eslay, Autostealer and various other locations I came across this 1995 A. L. In a North East stealership, located County Durham, so, a quick call to confirm it was still available and if there were any items included and we were on our way.

Supposedly there was an awning to fit the van, second hand waste hog, water barrel etc, etc.
All bloody lies, no awning, only new barrels for waste/water etc., What I didn’t expect though was this dealer had removed the water pump and anything else that should have been included, down to the corner steady handle and even the face off stereo, leaving the unit completely useless, to me or anyone else for that matter, it’s now in the bin and I’ll fit a new player when I finish this project.

The van itself looked bloody great, but, inspecting the rear panels and noticing they had been replaced and that these too were badly stained I knew I needed to do a bit of DIY. I just wasn’t quite ready for the amount in store.
The first two weeks after towing to the site we chose were spent lounging, drinking and generally enjoying the ambiance of having another caravan. Then three weeks into the kid’s summer holidays my boy decided he wanted to see his mates back home and I set to work on the repairs.
Now, this is quite a luxury touring caravan, top of the range for the year, so I don’t want to wreck it, but, trying to gently dismantle a van that was originally built from the inside out, is, to say the least, a bloody nightmare.

The bed system was a doddle but I needed in the top corners of the overhead lockers and try as I might could I dismantle these, could I hell.
I satisfied myself with the removal of the bases of the lockers, at least I had access to the areas needed, even if I have constantly banged my stupid head all through the job on the cupboard doors and fascia’s which seem to be attached from outside.
Maybe this is punishment for buying a damper in the first place, but I’m a sucker for punishment, so on with the show.
With the rear ready to have the boards ripped off I set about the bodge of the previous owner, thankfully it was only hardboard and came out pretty easily, well, the damp stuff did, the remainder, sadly, had been liberally coated in silicone sealant, grunge and glue of some description and needed to be eased away from the polystyrene cladding and construction laths at around an inch at a time.

A real P.I.T.A.

Finally two days plus down the line I had revealed the damage, only it wasn’t just the rear panel, I could tell it had travelled down the side lathing of the rear, so set about this too. Thankfully, the rot had spread only half way along each side of the rear bedroom area of the van, one bottom half of the window frame on the right side and the two lower laths on the left side, thankfully I’d caught it soon enough.

The Repairs are underway
At the time of this project the van is sited as I don’t have a drive or space to park close enough to the house for mains electricity and promises of awning delivery from two companies didn’t materialize after deducting funds from my credit card. Phone calls confirmed they didn’t have the size in stock although both web pages listed them as available.

Payments cancelled. The wife hit Ebay and got the correct size, colour etc for a single bid of £150, for what turned out to be a £750 awning.

The only real deal we’ve had with this van, and, only half an hour’s drive from my front door. Up to this point the van was unusable with the fittings piled up throughout the isle.
Taking my 13 year old son with me we returned to the site and set about awning erection for the first time.

To say I needed awning Viagra would be an understatement, as three hours later with a truly pissed son we had finally sussed out the poles configuration, but by now it was blowing a gale and persisting down with Britain’s best summer rain, what a drag. Awning up, the boy and I downed a well earned can of Carling Black Label, emptied the van of fittings, made the bed and crashed big style at 11.30.

Next day more of the same good luck with the garbage weather, peeing down and hurricane winds I did the forty minute dash to Catterick Caravans for a storm strap and some guy ropes for the awning. My return was greeted with parts of said awning peeling from the rail in the wind, screwdriver and hammer in hand I pushed the awning back into the rail and tapped the rail tight onto the awning.

Eureka!

Guy ropes on, more pegs in, it’s now in place forever, or, at least till the end of the season, but as far as I’m concerned this was another wasted day and I’m trying to get finished for the looming bank holiday weekend so the wife, daughter and son’s best mate could spend the holiday with me at the van.

Three days to go till wifey pickup, the weather continued in the same vein, the son though, was enjoying himself as the sites gigolo with young ladies calling at 8.30 in the morning to experience his charms, all of which are exposed on the site’s pool table, I learn later.

Finally, I get a start and set about replacing the rotten timberwork, I’ve bought roofing spars 25mm thick by 50 or so for the framework at the back of the van, 3 lengths 14 foot long cut in half at the timber merchants, plus a few lengths(5) of 21mm square and three sheets of 3.4mm plywood for the cladding.

First off the roof spars are a lot heavier than the original parts and will only fit in certain points on the back of this van, but will give added strength, these are treated when bought and also soaked in Cuprinol wood preserver by me, as are the 21mm struts. I first chisel out every bit of rotten wood, not only that, I chisel back an extra foot of decent stuff just to make sure, I then treat with Cuprinol any timbers still exposed and finally a coat of wood hardener, Cuprinol again.
The fan heater is left on blasting the back end of the van overnight with the door closed, roof vent open, day one is just about done in so I hit the Carling and watch a bit TV before falling into a coma for 6 hours.

The timbers that support the awning rail uprights are replaced with the heavy duty wood, I also replace three cross-members with the same, a pretty sturdy framework, but.

The weight on the rear fibre glass panel of this model has caused it to sag inwards slightly, not noticeable to the eye but the window framework is stressing and the pouring rain is running down the inside of the window, tomorrow’s job is to reseal the window rail. It was going to be the next outdoor job but now it’s a necessity, I pray for sunshine to the Carling god that night before slumping unconscious.

Next day rain again but forecast to brighten in the afternoon. I set about finishing the framework and that along the sides where the water had rotted the wood.

As my joinery skills are not the best I use B n Q’s angle brackets instead of the original fastenings, staples. Mine, I suspect are stronger but will add about another four ounces of weight to the van, along with the roofing spars, possibly a total twenty five pounds extra weight, which, if I had a Nissan Micra might be worrying, but as my tow vehicle is a monster truck I don’t give a damn, I’m a petrol head with a gas guzzler, pay the exorbitant fuel taxes so can drive what I like, sod the tree huggers.

Anyway I finish the woodwork off as the rain lets up, make lunch and begin operating on the window rail
I have it removed with the window hanging off it in about twenty minutes. It would have been nice to leave the window in situ as I clean the rail and van but this wasn’t possible as the last owner had liberally smothered the rail top and bottom with silicone sealant, even along the bit the window slips into, the outcome was the window had to leave the van too.
Not wishing to tempt the rain god while the van rear was a large hole, I got stuck into getting this gunk and the old mastic off. The mastic fell away in no time using White spirit and a screwdriver, the silicone was scraped and peeled for about an hour till the rail shone. The window now removed was propping up the side of the van as the first squall hit.

Time was running out I had to get this lot back together, so in the downpour in shorts and tee shirt I set about the gunk on the van with a scraper incorporating a Stanley knife blade, carefully. This peeled away the crap in no time at all, about twenty minutes, total.

The rain stopped.

Back to the rail I affixed the W4 mastic sealant strip. Onto the van, Tea Towel out, dry off the wet, white spirit on another towel I cleaned off the mucky marks till it looked like new again. Methylated spirit on the other end of the same towel another swift rub down to remove WS residue and go for the rail, with showers imminent I’m up the ladder and position the rail, pressing it on hard, as far as I can reach I descend the steps, grab new stainless steel screws and driver and ascend the ladder at the far end of the rail and bang home the first screw. Back up the original end and drive home the other end screw. Then along the rail screwing home the rail and mastic for a good seal.

Rain starts again. Teaming down.

Pick up the window, slot it in its groove, and, the bloody mastic that’s popped out the bottom of the rail is too proud so the window wont slide back in.

I then remember the fixed it club member who did the same and had to remove and clean the whole job to put the window back on the rail BEFORE fitting. Yes that’s correct, you heard it right, BEFORE! BEFORE! BEFORE!

Never mind, if you do happen to make this same cock-up and don’t want to be covered in brand new mastic during, after, and if, you can haul the rail from the van again, there is a workaround.

Remember it’s still peeing it down and this gaping hole needs closing so I start thinking.

I’m getting pissed off and my new framework is starting to attract rain, so I attack the mastic with a decorator’s filling scraper, first trying to plaster the protruding mastic to the side of the van under the rail, two or three goes and it starts to get messy. I think again.

What will prevent it sticking to the window hanger.

The Carling god shines his light on my idiot brain and I come to the conclusion I need lubricant.

Ideal for the job, I first pour some vegetable oil, (frying pan variety) on my scraper, one swipe all along the offending mastic and hey presto, its plastered to the van under the rail and not to the scraper.

At this point I must insist that veg oil is the way to go, the mineral variety will not wash off without Gunk and will make a bloody mess of your shiny pride n joy.

Now the window.

I pour oil into my hand, rub hands together and run them over the length of the window top.
The moment of truth has arrived, it’s pissing down, blowing a gale and I’m sicker than the proverbial parrot.
Placing the window into position in its slot I give it a little shove, in it goes, easily.
I slide it all the way home, no sticking, stopping or other problems, get inside and lock the job up, fan heater on full blast again I head back into the crap to screw the window stops in place. Job done and it’s a goodun.

Heating on I settle in front of the plasma and pay homage to the Carling god for the remainder of the evening, conking out totally inebriated somewhere around 1 AM.

Day three, the last lap.

Well I thought it was, but it wasn’t to be. I spent most of the day on final preparation for the ply boarding to be fitted, chiselling straight edges where I would join the boarding as whole boards were out of the question due to the curved shape of the rear and the fact that the sides were not being totally replaced.
Another hitch at this stage was the polystyrene insulation. My configuration of the framework was not exactly the same as the original build and I’d also bought 25 mm poly boarding, the original was 21mm and so it was a case of reusing some of the old insulation as well as the new. The old was used to patch up the sides and the remainder in the rear where there was no room for the thicker grade poly, I finally finished the patchwork quilted polystyrene at 1am, and was due to pick up the family the following evening/afternoon.

It didn’t happen.

The wife was good about it and said just pick her up when the job was finished, on the Saturday. Some hope of that.

By Friday’s end I had two curved boards in place, above the rear window, I’d slashed the backs of these with a Stanley knife to accomplish the curve but still slightly springy the pinkgrip/evostick instant grab adhesive and some other shit just weren’t doing what it said on the tin, also shoring these up were a pain, so, drilled and screwed into place I decided to do it my way.

Now I’ve nothing against these products but the best glue I’ve ever used is Evostick impact adhesive or Araldite, both are solvent based though and unsuitable for the job.
Not wanting to decimate the Brazilian rain forest just to shore up the caravan till this glue decides to set and having no cash left till I pick up the missus, I’ve gone the screw route.
I’ve also ditched the £3.68 a tube evogripnonailpinkslip brands and settled on good old Super PVA straight from the pot, from Unibond, and guess what, it sticks ply sheets to polystyrene insulation without any problems.

I’m still using the screw it together method but removing the screws to fill the holes 4 hours later the PVA glued boards have yet to spring apart. This stuff cost £12.99 at B n Q and has been sufficient to glue poly to outer skin and poly to the plywood inner walls, I’ve also gone through six tubes of the more expensive stuff with not too impressive results. So unless my application methods have been the fault and some bright spark can point out the error of my ways then go PVA all the way.

I cut the boards for the rear and realized I’d need another sheet of ply if I were to complete the job in four bits, this would be wasting too much for my liking so one side was going in, in three sections, two smaller, out of sight, and the larger section where the wall would be on show.
The opposite wall/bulkhead with the Carver heater and water pump intake would be a one piece section for strength
I told the missus the job would be done by lunchtime and I’d pick her up by two but it was slow going, drilling, screwing, cutting, so I was nowhere near finished when I set off for home at 12.30PM, for the hour and a half drive home.

Home at 2.10 I rushed everyone into the truck and set off for my boy’s mate, warning the wife not to gab with his mother as I needed to get a few bits finished off.

Back at the caravan with the awning looking like someone had chucked a grenade into a building site blowing up the acetylene store along with the joinery dept I looked to the wife and asked if anything was the matter.

The wife stood in shock, and nothing I do shocks this lady but this sight had. I assured her the job would be complete by beddy byes as only a couple of cuts and trims remained.

Not that she believed a word, and the nectar of the God of Carling BL had run out so there was nothing for it but work.

I toiled till 10 pm and though the walls were all now in place I couldn’t reinstall the fittings so the bed room could be made up. Inflating my Intex double air bed in the unfinished bedchamber, with some scrap ply to keep it off the water pump and Carver heater we hit the hay, my eighteen year old daughter, wife and I in the front double, the two lads in the airbed.

I awoke lonely, the wife just clambering back beside me and no sign of our Mem.

I neglected to inform you all that before hitting the hay the previous evening the Wife, god bless her little cotton socks, had pulled from her magic handbag, a bottle of the finest Glen Livet single malt, and I, had supped a fair quantity, which had induced a comatose state, similar to unconsciousness, whereupon I snored my head off and both wife and daughter, unable to rouse me from my slumber, retired to spend the night in the car.

I now have the Intex airbed in the awning, all to myself and according to the wife my slumbers in the well ventilated space of the awning produces a lot less decibel content, although she can still hear me, its liveable, or sleepable if you prefer.


The (almost) Famous final scene
To get through the rest of the weekend I installed the fixtures that make up the rear double bed the following night, after filling in my joinery gaps with cheap but good wood filler from Wilkinson’s. The beds went back perfectly, a little tighter perhaps but I put this down to the slightly thicker ply.

Although my day job is as a Pro- Photographer, due to the horrendous weather conditions and my shear frustration of making a complete bollocks of the job I neglected to shoot the window rail saga and the rebuild of the rear but I will post all other images with explanations, besides who wants to look a complete prick online anyway.

Hopefully I am now on the last lap, tomorrow I begin the sanding/feathering in of the boarding, I have returned the wife and daughter home but the boys want to continue living the dream, let’s hope they like filler dust in their food as my first rub off will be with the 3 inch angle grinder, with Aldi’s own sanding diskette, this should take down the rough edges rapid fire and hopefully leave me with a final rub down by hand with very smooth sandpaper.

Tomorrow arrives, complete with rain, kids out grinder at the ready, 11000 rpm, rip it out Harry.

Using Aldi’s Alloy oxide grinding disks for wood and light metals I completed the filler sanding task in around an hour, the easiest job so far on this project, I tested my technique on an out of view area and found a very light touch of the disk provided a near perfect finish, good enough for wallpaper or the Fablon I’ve decided on using.

In a former life I’ve worked as a concrete finisher and plastered my own house walls on occasion, a steady hand and gliding motion is essential for a really smooth finish, a similar technique needs to be adopted when using the grinder as a slight change in pressure will gouge a trough which needs filling and sanding again.

Be warned, if you’re a little on the shaky side rub down by hand for the best finish.

With this job out of the way I vacuumed every inch of the bed room area, a lot of dust is created using the grinder so if you want to keep your lungs in good order wear a dust mask.

My lungs are coated with a special protective layer courtesy of John Player, it’s called Tar and is totally impervious to dust, 40 a day and no dust mask has a hope in hell of competing on a protection level.

Without any hindrance from goggles, mask, forensic suit I’m on the next task. I’ve sealed the ply with a 5 parts water to 1 part Super PVA, hoping this will assist the Fablon operation, the fan heater is quick-drying as I type.

I’m now off to Asda for some sustenance for the kids and a case of CBL to celebrate this, the famous final scene. I mean, how hard can it be applying sticky back plastic, they’ve been at it on bog roll middles for years on Blue Peter.

Sticky back plastic(Fablon)

Well, by the time I’d done two strips of the wide variety I could happily have assassinated each and every Blue Peter presenter who have appeared on the show over the last forty years or so, it is though, marvellous stuff once you get the hang(ing) of it.

It’s a better idea than using wallpaper, which would have been really messy, and though I had my moments of bitterness during application, it’s overall appearance at the end of this job puts the whole show in the professional arena,(IMO) The best thing about it though, if you get plain stuff, is there’s no pattern to match, I tried to get a plain vinyl wallpaper but for some reason only the nutters who buy it could tell you where, it’s also expensive.

So is Fablon by the way, but, at least you can patch it up anyway you like, and, for thirty quid, I reckon it’s money well spent.
I have cut my own edging strips, also those which hide little gaps, its well tucked in to the window seals and I don’t have air pockets due to a tiling grout tool which incorporates a rubber edge that I found fantastic for applying just enough pressure for smoothing it out..

Anyway, that’s the job done, it looks good, is as good as it gets as I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to visual effects, I hope this little saga helps anyone who has a little or large job to do on a damp caravan.
I’m off to pick up my friends for the weekend and hunt Valerie Singleton and John Noakes, but I’m going to leave Connie and the Blonde babe Kate, as I just love good looking women, se la vie.

ITEMS REQUIRED FOR THE REPAIR
Srewdrivers-hammer-wood chisel-cold chisel-sealant gun-spanners for removing the grab handles-Stanley knife and new blades, hacksaw blade for clean cut polystyrene sheet
From a local timber merchant not B & Q or other DIY centre, “Google”, timber merchant, in your area
Plywood sheets 3, of 3.4mm =£8 each
Roofing lath roughly 2 by 1 inch (50mm x 25mm) 14foot long = £6
21 x 21mm softwood 9 foot long =£3 each
All prices are within £1, both in the Harrogate and Sunderland merchants so will be similarly priced elsewhere, Harrogate is cheap for nothing.
Builders merchants for adhesives and screws
Stainless steel screws, box of 100 25mm = £9
Pinkgrip solvent free = £2.50 a sealant gun type tube, tried 2 tubes, this was the best of the bunch.
Super PVA = £12, Completed the job, straight from the tub, no issues, best of the lot overall
From B & Q for convenience and a mate works there so got 20% discount
Polystyrene sheet = £2 or 3 quid can’t remember really, but cheap
Evogrip sol free, 3 tubes = £3.68 each, worked but not great for the price
B & Q’s own brand, two squeezy type tubes = £2 each roughly, large air pocket in each tube so only ¾ full and pretty crap at sticking the wood to poly, kept popping off. Rubbish.
Ryobi jig saw = £49, decent tool, easy to operate
Packet of hardened crosshead screws 25mm = £3.50
Wilkinson’s
2 tubs of wood filler = £3 each, only used one went rock hard, sanded well, good product.
Aldi
Box of sanding attachments for grinder = £3, reduced to £1.99, good product
Set of F-clamps, 5 of, varied sizes = £15, excellent tool/product, in fact everything I get from this cheapo store is top quality
Focus
50 pack of inch and ¼ hardened screws = £2.69
Fablon = £10 a roll, 3 of. Pretty expensive and only 2 ¼ metres long per roll.
Total cost of repair =£138 Plus £49 less 20% for the jigsaw
Total time spent = 2 weeks less 3 days travelling back n forth

Anyone reasonably DIY competent could do this job on a van, I’m 55, have arthritic knees and apart from being an OK painter/decorator (home only) I hate DIY but hate paying dealers a grand for something which can be done in your spare time and probably in a lot less time than it took me. Get yer tools out.I’m also continuing on the van, all rails, weather permitting will be resealed before winter, hope this has helped anyone thinking about tackling their own damp problems.