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Not quite boating - repairing a caravan roof ...


Odana

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Hi folks. The replacement for my wee office boat sold last year is an elderly caravan which has developed some nasty leaks - looking at the roof it has been taped up many times and the roof is in bad shape. I am loathe to spend several hundred squid on rubberised liquid roof sealant for a caravan worth less than that and which will never move. Has anyone experience of using things like Flashband, bitumen, or Evercryl on this kind of plastic (I really don't know what it's made of, but dates from late 80s). Or even fiberglass? I'm after a cheap fix to keep me going a few years - I very much doubt the roof will support my weight so anything will have to be applied from stepladders alongside. And scrubbing and sanding the roof will be pretty hard too. It doesn't have to look pretty, just keep me dry. At present I've got a couple of tarps on. 

 

Any suggestions for bodging, much appreciated, as this week's storms have drowned my newly-built desk!

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EPDM roofing membrane from your local builder's merchant.  It's about 40 quid a metre length from a 4.5 metre roll or about 25 quid a metre length on a 3 metre roll, so it depend how big your caravan is.

 

20 year guarantee for flat roofing, one single piece of fancy rubber.  Think of it as a really good tarp!

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Late 80s it's likely to be aluminium sheeting.

 

It's likely to be leaking from the seams. Often these are screwed into a timber frame on a van of that age. The frame is now likely to be rotten. So a 'proper repair' is likely to be unaffordable.

 

You could try covering it with a heavy duty pvc sheet.

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20 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

EPDM roofing membrane from your local builder's merchant.  It's about 40 quid a metre length from a 4.5 metre roll or about 25 quid a metre length on a 3 metre roll, so it depend how big your caravan is.

 

20 year guarantee for flat roofing, one single piece of fancy rubber.  Think of it as a really good tarp!

Interesting! I'll look at that - a quick google seems like you can cut it to shape too (but I don't care if it has to go over the skylights). How do you stick the stuff down? 6.5m x 2.5m is taking me up to what I paid for the van (ouch), but if that's my best bet...

 

Though the caravan was touring each weekend till this summer with my neighbours, I think the prolonged hot dry weather caused cracks that broke some of the many bodged repairs it has had in its life.

I'm not expecting it to live forever so I'm treating this as a learning experience. In case CRT boot it off the site, and because I only need one for a few years till the latest round of study is done, I am loathe to spend huge amounts. 

 

(am I allowed to say on a boating forum though, that a caravan makes an ace office/guest room? I really miss my little patchwork springer-effect Pip but the space in here is awesome!) 

Edited by Odana
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25 minutes ago, Odana said:

 6.5m x 2.5m is taking me up to what I paid for the van (ouch), but if that's my best bet...

In that case, buy a roll of the EPDM seam jointing tape, and tape the caravan roof edges with loads of the adhesive!   That's about £4 a metre for the 3" tape which should give a decent overlap on a caravan edge seam.

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I've used a very old roll of flashband ( > 15 yrs I think) onto perforated steel sheet and it worked very well. Applied with the help of a heat gun to soften it and a wallpaper edge roller to settle it in. Try it on a small test area to see if it bonds.

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2 hours ago, matty40s said:

I'm pretty sure that theres a rubberised stuff which doesnt cost the planet, one of our guys is a re-enactment land army guy who has a 40's caravan which he did recently, he is in Monday so I will ask him.

That's probably the EPDM roofing stuff - its a fancy rubber sheet that is UV stable for 20+ years.  I have seen it used to great effect on woodentop or GRP top boats that are notorious for leaking, and it just works.

 

You can even paint it (with special paint) if you want - but that's not likely to be an issue on an old caravan.

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If the problem is definitely leaking seams, and the material between the seams is in good order, then Sylglas waterproof tape like this might work.

 

https://www.bes.co.uk/waterproof-tape-75-mm-x-4-m?ref=gs&photo=true&gclid=CjwKCAjw85zdBRB6EiwAov3RivaSp9Ox3zqghssmrCGmN6EjDx-RBjVeyBSIP6L5gGYaFVcHcFGTmxoCXKYQAvD_BwE

It is messy to work with, but smoothed down onto a number of things, even if as rough as roofing felt, it really sticks and stays put for years.

However, if you can't climb on top, this will only work if you are somehow able to reach far enough over to cover all the affected seams.  If you can't actually lay it smoothly over anything that needs sealing, and flatten it down, then it's not a good suggestion.  This will be the same however for just about any other solution other than something that can cover the lot, but is only secured at the edges.  If you go that route it will need to be well secured, or the whole lot is likely to go "walkies" in high winds.

Edited by alan_fincher
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1 hour ago, MoominPapa said:

 Does it have a mural of Lemmy on the outside, per chance?

 

MP.

 

It does indeed. But that's hidden. I have the giant fish and octopus mural on show, and the witch of course!!

 

Thanks all. The seams are suspect but there is a great patch of old tape on what ought to be a flat bit too.  I'll go the warm bitumen and roofing felt route - looking like £50 and a lot of mess next weekend should sort things out. 

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12 hours ago, Odana said:

It does indeed. But that's hidden. I have the giant fish and octopus mural on show, and the witch of course!!

 

Thanks all. The seams are suspect but there is a great patch of old tape on what ought to be a flat bit too.  I'll go the warm bitumen and roofing felt route - looking like £50 and a lot of mess next weekend should sort things out. 

Go for torch on felt its not messy and sticks really well.

Neil

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Just be very very careful if using hot bitumen or torch-on felt on a caravan roof - you won't be able to stand on the roof to apply it in the usual way, and it can cause horrific injuries if it splashes on you.

 

Most builder's merchants sell cold bitumen adhesives, which are not quite as good but are many times safer if you are working at full arm stretch.

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The council might do it with proper hot tar. If so they'd turn up with the proper gear. An Aveling steam roller towing a big tar boiler a tool wagon plus a tea break, snoozing van.. But you know what council workers are like these days !!, you'd have to make it easier for them by digging a trench and lowering the caravan into it with the roof level with the ground,''easily done if a ramp with an easy grade is made down into the trench to send the caravan down'' to save them climbing up and simpler for the steam roller to roller it afterwards.

Edited by bizzard
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3 hours ago, bizzard said:

The council might do it with proper hot tar. If so they'd turn up with the proper gear. An Aveling steam roller towing a big tar boiler a tool wagon plus a tea break, snoozing van.. But you know what council workers are like these days !!, you'd have to make it easier for them by digging a trench and lowering the caravan into it with the roof level with the ground,''easily done if a ramp with an easy grade is made down into the trench to send the caravan down'' to save them climbing up and simpler for the steam roller to roller it afterwards.

Shall I just push it into a shallow bit of the canal Biz? That'd work, surely. And it would cool the hot tar. (Not doing anything with flames- just warmed normal bitumen rolled over. That roof is definitely not safe to stand on!!)

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Not sure if it was B&Q or one of the other Trade paint store as it was a few years back but I bought an extending handle gismo with a wooden roller on the end about 1/3the size length wise as a rolling pin& much the same dia it was for pressing the joins down on heavy embossed wallpaper worked well for smoothing out graphic vynal strips on my camping car should work flattening out seam jointing

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