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Contents: 1. URGENT ATTENTION Luton Water Ingress 2. Another Damp Repair to the Luton Feb2011 3. Information from Michael Thomas
All Autohomes Wanderers' even similarly constructed Motorhomes, if more than 4 years old should be urgently checked in the Luton area for water ingress. If this leakage is caught in time then, a carpenter assured me, the timbers will dry out and expensive remedial work will not be necessary.
This can be checked by pulling back the 'carpet'covering below the mattresses. In each front corner. This material, while glued in position, can be easily pulled back to inspect. Any black spots should be suspicious and checked with a damp meter. If the timber support looks black then you have water ingress and the trims on the exterior of the Luton should be removed and resealed.
I re-secured the internal covering material with carpet spray glue.
The renovation and removal of trims can easily be done by the confident DIY man. On my Motorhome the seal was similar to plumbers putty and was falling out like sand!
The procedure is to remove the beading trim around the Luton exterior.
Any rusted screws discard them and purchase non rusting stainless steel screws. Where the screws have rusted, squeeze some sealant into the hole, or drill new holes and new screws. The old holes should be sealed with the usual sealants.
Clean off the surface as much of the old sealant as possible. I used a sharp edged ice scraper. This then did not remove any paint work.
Ensure the area is cleaned of any water residues.
While the trim is on the floor, place the sealant on it, then replace the trim on the Luton. Help might be needed for this. I manage by screwing the centre portion into an original screw hole, which then hung and allowed me to complete the rest.
Before placing the trim back in position, try and push a hole into the seal with a bradawl, in each screw position, to enable easy screwing in when in position.
At the front top corners, each side, you will find the Aluminium roof covering has been bent over the top and down to the front cross trim. Where this bend is, on the sidewall, you might find, as I did, that this bend is wrinkled and protrudes outwards. Try and hammer it gently, until it's as flat as possible, it will never be completely flat. this will ensure the seal leaves as little room as possible for water ingress.
This method of over the edge construction goes a long way to ensure water flows away from the interior.
On my Motorhome I found the 5 screws on the bottom front of the Luton, each side, had no timber supports behind them. This meant the screws were held by the GRP Luton covering only. This would account for the water ingress. The screws were not secured properly and allowing the Luton panel to expand then allowing water to get in.
I fitted in each of the 5 positions, a plastic plug, which expanded in the screw hole and behind the GRP panel, allowing the screws to be tightened and securing the trim. To do this meant enlarging the screw holes to accomodate the plugs. [ I do not now recommend this method. I have since opened up this corner and fitted Plywood blocks to ensure screws can be secured instead of using the Firbreglass bodywork. ]
[ Feb 2011. Since having done the described work, my van has been through a repair shop 3 times for the same fault. I am now doing the work myself again
When doing all this work it is a good idea to inspect the wall panels for pin hole corrosion, which can happen sometimes in Aluminium panels.
When the trim is tightened up the sealant will expand out. This can be cut off with a belt knife. Do not press to hard or you will cut into the aluminium panel. It is only 1mm thick, ONE mm thick!
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Trim with Sealant ready for Assembly |
Luton Showing area with poor assembly of trim at the lower left in the picture |
Luton Showing wrinkled Panel over roof, top left. |
Repair completed waiting for Profile beading. |
Replacing Trim Beading Profile |
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Showing Trim Non & Supported Areas in the Luton |
Typical Water Ingress Damage, in the Luton |
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Since carrying out the above repair I found it was not secure enough due to the coachbuilder's construction methods. I had to have the work done professionally by a Motorhome repair workshop. This was because I did not have a garage to enable the damp to be dried out before a repair. |
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Having completed the side Luton trims it was time to check the two front trims.
I was surprised to find the trims had been given a much improved sealant and were in much better condition.
Having taken them off and confirmed their condition I had to re-install them using the same methods as above on the side trims.
Note the grab rope near ladder, for safety while up the ladder. Just because this was an DIY repair, safety proceedures were followed while using the ladder. A neighbour lasted a week in hospital when he fell off his ladder!
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Bottom Trim being removed. Note safety grab rope. |
Removing old sealant |
close up of the 3" Securing screw for the Luton |
3" Securing screw for the Luton |
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Side view of Bottom Trim being removed. Note safety grab rope. |
Top trim being prepared for renovation. |
Repairs complete |
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Damp Repair |
Damp Repair |
Damp timbers removed |
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Trim in position. |
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Keeping the corners dry during repairs |
Damp Repair Complete off side. |
Damp repair completed near side |
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Patch panels for the Luton |
Patch Panel Showing the inside beaded over |
Patch panel glued on the off side |
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New Decals being fitted Tel; 01792 785070
Unit 2, Minster Court,
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Patch panel glued on the near side |
Patch panel glued on the near side
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Michael Thomas was kind enough to send me information on how he repaired his Luton on a Autohomes Merlin
Thanks for your review on Autohomes Wanderer it was very interesting.
I have an Autohomes Merlin 1997 on a petrol VW chassis but the faults and poor build are just the same. My layout is a rear lounge like yours but slightly shorter having two seats down each side. I have modified the luton area for storage only as there are just the two of us, like you we could not get up there easily with the ladder provided.
I am writing this because your Wanderer has the same fibre glass section above the cab as my Merlin. I recently found I had water within the fibre glass section over the cab, I parked on the drive with the rear wheels up on ramps as I was working on the rear end. It rained quite a bit overnight and when I ran the camper off the ramps the next morning there was a noise like a water fall above my head !! No water entered the cab but poured out behind the side door sills.
I removed the aluminium trims on both sides ( not a easy job ) and found the mastic was drying up but the main problem was where the side and front alli skin meet the fibre glass. The two vertical surfaces and the fibre glass all come together on that corner and there is no real seal. On examination the water had entered there and rotted the wood so the short screws no longer held the surfaces together plus the mastic had died. The inner corner of the luton had rotted which I had just thought was condensation due to air circulation in corners. There was also a leak along the two horizontal seams above the fibreglass. Long stainless screws and new mastic and it's all back together. It was a self draining leak so if I'd not been up on ramps I would have not found it !!
regards Michael Thomas
Hello Brian,
Good web site with lots of information; well done. I had only come across your artical on the Wanderer.
Very interesting set of pictures, looks just like mine except side panels are flatter without the pebble effect. One difference is that when I replaced the trims I put the mastic all over the seams on the van not on the alli trim, building up a thick bead and forcing it between the overlapping surfaces. My reasoning being that if I plastered the sealer all over the joint areas that is where it's really needed. The down side to this is it's messy when you screw the trim back as it squeezes out over the panels, but I am sure it's where it needs to be.
One side I cleaned straight away with scraper and white spirit the other side due to the cold wet weather I had to leave for 3-4 days. When I cleaned this side I found the mastic had formed a very thin skin which helped with the removal, much easier job. By gently pushing and lifting the bead it ended up on the top of the scraper without all the 'stringy' bits. A clean with white spirit and it hardly notices.
I used CARAFAX IDL99 non-drying bedding mastic and for cleaning the surfaces a kitchen sponge washup soaked in white spirit. The green scouring side does a good job on old stubborn bits of mastic and green algae . Careful you don't go too much or the paint will disappear !
I also used 40mm stainless steel screws (Turbo Ultra) from screwfix, the heads where too large a diameter to fit well in the alli trim so I reduced them on the workshop bench grinder. These screws have a self cutting point which bit into the fibre glass very well. I had to drill new fixing points around that red area on your pictures. The screws are only holding the alli trim so don't need to be very tight only keeping the mastic in place.
I wanted to check where the water was getting in so I only did the side trims first, it still leaked. I removed the two front horizontal trims and used the gaffer tape to seal top and bottom as a temporary measure, no more leaks. Left it for a few days and all was ok, so refitted the front trims same method as before, no leaks. The area is still drying and with a hole in the corner on the inside where the wood used to be there is an air draft which is helping to dry it out completely. I've also drilled vent holes on the inside of the other front corner as I could not see the extent of the damp there, but just playing safe.
The plastic trim that covers the screw heads on the alli trim is a right pain to fit (very sore fingers and thumbs), have you found a quick painless method of fitting it ?
Interesting note about drain holes in the underside of the fibre glass luton moulding, we are not alone with this problem; (that maybe condensation forming and running down inside).
regards Michael
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Additions to Motorhome pages:-
