tasman Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 I have just found on the internet a product called Eternabond sealing tape which the blurb claims will make a superb job of sealing the joins on a motorhome roof. Has anyone used or had experience of this product? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Not heard of it before, but i can't imagine it doing anything for your motorhomes appearance, looking like its held together with gaffer tape! Must surely be for temporary repairs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Probably lift off at the first hard frost. Temporary only as said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4cls Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 'Captain Tolly's creeping crack cure!' , works on my boat and is better than a mile of tape stuck all over, unless you are gift wrapping you van? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwaviation Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Looks very good.. http://www.lancastriaroofing.co.uk/downloads/Eternabond_2011.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 What a wonderful title 'Captain Tolly's creeping crack cure!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WA Michael Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Due to my vans constant leaking roof, caused by flat roof/beading at edges/lack of sealant, I'm going to try a product called EPDM. It is a two pack rubber which is applied with a squeegy, after putting some around joins and hatches. It is very expensive but I've had it with sikafllex and other stuff, they can't keep water out if the ponding is deeper than any rubber seals. If anyone has ever used this product please contact me as I don't want an irremoveable glop on the roof. If the blurb is correct the rubber is a continuous skin from just over the edge to the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arjxh56 Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 I have used similar 3M sealing tape for various external applications and its magic suff.. But i would not want to put this over the seals of my van. it would look rather dodgy and if not applied perfectly, sealing air/water out completely in all directions, i think it could actually make things worse? I have used it more as a long lasting waterproof fixing tape. I have also tried creeping crack cure on other applications and its good stuff, but again i would not want to rely on this to seal my van roof. It would be interesting to see if anyone else has used it in this manner and successfully stopped ingress on a long term basis? The above mentioned rubber stuff i have no experience of at all.. It would be interesting to see how that turns out. In the past i have had rubber repairs to flat roof outbuildings, all of which have been short term fixes, but a friend recently had a complete rubber compound roof put on a porch and it came with a very long life expectancy. Maybe a latex condom for campervans will be the next big invention? The way some manufacturers build their products it would be a gift from god for them!!!! :-D :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
globebuster Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 EPDM is a very diverse material, but I don't think I'd cover a camper roof with it. Not sure I understand the problem you've had with Sika or any other decent PU sealant for that matter. If the seals you refer to are those around the joint profiles, extrusions and mouldings, you need to consider how you applied the Sika in the first place. If you have ponding, why not park on a bit of an angle? Out of interest - what sort of van are we talking here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasman Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 Thanks for all the input on this, it seems to be a very touchy subject. After all the years of building caravans and motorhomes its a complete mystery to me why manufactuters seem unable to build vehicles that do not need this sort of constant attention. Mine is a 2006 Pilote Explorateur A class. The seal I seem to having a problem with is the joint between the roof and the front panel, it runs across the vehicle from one side to the other. the joint has some sort of sealant on it but the two panels are flush and it appears that the only way to to make a long lasting seal would be to use some sort of flexible material which overlaps both surfaces. Whatever you use is going to be visible so neatly applied tape wouldn't be so bad. I have used white duct tape as a temporary fix and to be honest it doesn't look that bad, but it is a temp fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 HiSure why not try the Eternabond sealing tape, I have got back a few reports telling me it's a good product,,,"it does what it says on the tin" I am told. I have no experience myself in using, so unable to recommend.Regards,Brendan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 tasman - 2013-10-23 4:29 PM ....The seal I seem to having a problem with is the joint between the roof and the front panel, it runs across the vehicle from one side to the other. the joint has some sort of sealant on it but the two panels are flush and it appears that the only way to to make a long lasting seal would be to use some sort of flexible material which overlaps both surfaces. Tas'.... We've got a similar seam on the roof of our van..and as I wasn't all that confident in it(especially as it lay where water would sometimes "pool")what I did was to "cap" it with a length bevelled edge flat upvc moulding(approx. 75mm x 4mm)bonded on using a "generous" beads of Sika'512... (..this moulding was less than a fiver for about 6-7', from a local upvc building produtc/double glazing sections supplier). I did however leave it about an 1" short of either end because on our roof, if it had've gone all the way across it would've kept any laying water "captive".. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 tasman - 2013-10-23 4:29 PM Thanks for all the input on this, it seems to be a very touchy subject. After all the years of building caravans and motorhomes its a complete mystery to me why manufactuters seem unable to build vehicles that do not need this sort of constant attention. Mine is a 2006 Pilote Explorateur A class. The seal I seem to having a problem with is the joint between the roof and the front panel, it runs across the vehicle from one side to the other. the joint has some sort of sealant on it but the two panels are flush and it appears that the only way to to make a long lasting seal would be to use some sort of flexible material which overlaps both surfaces. Whatever you use is going to be visible so neatly applied tape wouldn't be so bad. I have used white duct tape as a temporary fix and to be honest it doesn't look that bad, but it is a temp fix. Could you post a pic of the joint, as it would be helpful? If I am getting the right mental picture, it sounds as though both roof and front panels have been brought together over a supporting rib of some kind, and should be bonded/sealed onto the rib to give a waterproof joint. If the bond has failed, the panels (or one panel or other) will get sucked up by the vehicle slipstream as you drive. Before you could prevent the joint from leaking, you would need to stabilise the panels to prevent that movement. However, the stabilisation would need to be flexible to a degree, as the van body will flex in use, as well as expanding and contracting with heat/cold, and the joint must accommodate those movements. Clamping one panel down rigidly may well throw all the movement onto the other panel, inducing that to let go prematurely. There is a Pilote club. Have you tried contacting/joining them and asking if anyone else has experiance of similar problems? They are a generally well made van, with a good reputation for sound construction, so yours may be one that didn't get finished properly during construction. Hayes Leisure are the UK long-standing Pilote dealers, here: Hayes Leisure, Telephone 0121 526 3433, Walsall Road, Darlaston, West Midlands, WS10 9SS. It may be worth contacting them to see if they have experience of this problem. I gather they have good contacts with the factory, so may be able to get more information from them even if they have no experience themselves. It sounds a bit tricky to fix, and do properly, and it would be a shame to de-value a good van with an obvious repair that would inevitably put lots of "amber lights" on if selling/trading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Brian Kirby - 2013-10-24 7:04 PM Could you post a pic of the joint, as it would be helpful? If I am getting the right mental picture, it sounds as though both roof and front panels have been brought together over a supporting rib of some kind, and should be bonded/sealed onto the rib to give a waterproof joint. If the bond has failed, the panels (or one panel or other) will get sucked up by the vehicle slipstream as you drive. Bri'...I know when I did ours( a "budget" Chausson) and I chamfered out some of the old sealant, before re-beading it,it looked very much as if the two grp roof sections had integral vertical fixing "flanges"( the faces of which were presumably/hopefully smothered in sealant before fixing them both together?) I know our previous Compass 120 had a really nasty looking roof seam between low profile and main roof...and as that was covered by a "lumpy" moulding(screwed on!?),I expect that may've had "raw edge" roof sections.... (..in fact we saw an Elddis/Compass overcab model(the "square" overcab..140?)a couple of weekends ago, whilst down in Bristol..and as it approached you could see the overcab seam had come apart and the rear/top panel had lifted an good inch, exposing a "raw edge".. 8-) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 pepe63 - 2013-10-25 1:34 PM (..in fact we saw an Elddis/Compass overcab model(the "square" overcab..140?)a couple of weekends ago, whilst down in Bristol..and as it approached you could see the overcab seam had come apart and the rear/top panel had lifted an good inch, exposing a "raw edge".. 8-) ) Yes, not the best feature of an Elddis: 2 dissimilar materials butt-jointed together with sealant and an aluminium strip. The joint relies entirely on sealant for waterproofing, a situation which is not at all uncommon in the motorhome world. I'd better get in quick before Lenny comes along and condemns all British-built vans. This picture is from a factory tour of a German manufacturer building a £85000 van and it looks like a very similar system.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Yeah,that's the kind of seam we had on our Compass...only a slightly narrower strip,with only one row of fixing..it looked like a length of bl**dy carpet edging! (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasman Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 Hi everyboy, it looks like I've opened a real can of worms here! Brian- I'm not to good at the picture thing but I think you've got the idea where it is. Currently the joint has white duck tape over it and although this is temporary in my opinion doesn't look too unsightly so a similar more permanent solution could be the answer. I am a member of the Pilote Owners Association and actually bought the van from Hayes leisure 12 months ago. I think they said that they had done/checked all the seams as part of their pre-sales process also they are in the Midlands and I'm in deepest Essex so ,getting them to look at it is not very practical for me. I'm a fairly handy sort of bloke and am sure I can make a good job of this given the right materials. The info given by everyone so far has been very useful in helping make up ,my mind as to how to proceed but it is clear that there are very many ways of skinning this particular cat. Any further suggestions will be gratefully received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Oops! :$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Hi Tas'... Hopefully I have just posted a couple of snaps?.. which should give a better Idea of what the strip I fitted to ours looks like... (..it does look a bit grotty in the photo though,as at the moment the roof is covered with leaves and crud.. :$ ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Steve928 - 2013-10-25 3:10 PM I'd better get in quick before Lenny comes along and condemns all British-built vans. This picture is from a factory tour of a German manufacturer building a £85000 van and it looks like a very similar system.. Are but a German manufacturer won't skimp on the sealant. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasman Posted October 28, 2013 Author Share Posted October 28, 2013 Looks cleaner than the usual smear of lumpy sealant often seen and quite easy to neatly seal along the edges of the bead in future if required ! This method is beginning to look favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 tasman - 2013-10-28 1:03 PM ...and quite easy to neatly seal along the edges of the bead in future if required ! Well, those were my thoughts when first did it... At least it gives a decent enough "edge" to re-bead to, if need be... ;-) (..and it has been on for about 18months now?...maybe more? and I haven't needed to "do" anything to it since fitting). Just found this(March 2012): http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Sikaflex-512-/26941/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 To 're-bead' an edge fills me with horror. To do the job correctly the whole beading strip would need to be removed and cleaned of all old material before adding new sealant to the underside of the beading AND filling the actual gap (also cleaned) in the joint. Water by capillary action will find its way into any area if not sealed accurately. Last nights weather would apply pressure to the outside thereby adding to any water seepage. My guess is that no one has actually seen UNDER any beading so I cannot comment further other than state what should be done if re-sealing is needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 Will85 - 2013-10-28 1:23 PM To 're-bead' an edge fills me with horror.... ..Then in that case......BOO!.... (lol) Don't let it keep you awake at night..I don't. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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