Korapop Sealant

[hallii]

I am about to reseal a couple of joints on my Hymer 522.

 

I had a small leak which I dealt with temporarily by using some soft caravan sealant.

 

I think someone has done this job and may know the answer ro my questions?

 

Before I open the Korapop can you tell me if it is a setting or none setting sealant?

 

If it is setting will I be able to pull the plastic cover/finishing strip off and reuse it?

 

H

[Hughmer]

May I assume Hymer have supplied this stuff for this specific use, because like Sikaflex, - Korapop comes in different formulations.

 

If it's Hymer supplied for joint sealing then it is "setting" and goes off very hard, almost like the tread of a tyre.

 

My experience was renewing the whole length of the gutters - both sides. A job I will never attempt again. Digging the old stuff out took wifey and me 3 days per side. And it makes your hands ache holding a knife/chisel/ old saw blade!

 

Fresh from the tube Korapop is very sticky. Blanket and another word come to mind. But it's workable for 30 minutes or so before it skins and can take several hours to cure. Beware - if you pull out the cover strip after it's gone into the Kpop (I guess its "T" section ...?) all the goo comes too and it'll be all over your fingers.. Mucky business!

 

Make sure you gun enough stuff into the gap so that when you push home the T strip it displaces enough goo to "just" squeeze out under the flange of the strip. That way you won't have too much cleaning up to do (White spirit works but it does spread the goo around) .

 

If you don't have enough goo in the joint, - the under side of the T flange wont stick to the bodywork and you really want that gap sealed too!

 

OH and masking tape. Line it up (with the T strip in situ) before gunning Kpop. Push the T into kpop and then its best to NOT touch the cover strip again.

 

Pull the tape away and carefully wipe any surplus Kpop. If you put any pressure on the T strip it's likely to slide sideways in the channel and leave goo on the bodywork.

 

Good luck

if you want a chat about the job PM your phone to me

 

[hallii]

Thanks Hughmer, a pretty comprehensive description.

 

Yes, it is the Hymer stuff. I will not look forward to getting the old stuff out then! It should be just the one seam so not so bad.

 

I will start tommorrow.

 

H

[Hughmer]

I've just re read your OP. Am I right in thinking you want to remove the cover strip that is currently in-situ and reuse it?

 

If so I'm afraid it won't work, because you will irreparably damage it when digging it out. In fact you'll probably have to cut it off before you can start digging out the old KPOP

 

You MUST buy some new stuff. The T Section comes in different widths so measure and specify the right one.

 

Brownhills can supply. It comes by the metre.

 

If there's a vague chance you might want to do the second side, I'd order enough to do both. carriage for 2 lots separately is more than 2x weight on one order AND you won't get any shade variation between batches

[hallii]

Well, I tried to pull the strip out and failed miserably. So I adopted a different plan.

 

The original sealant is still sound apart from one small area, so rather than rip everything off and get new strip I carefully prised the top part open and found there is no sealant under the top part. So I carefully filled the the top part of the "T" each side and decided that would do for me! There was one area where a join is made with another seam and that was, I think, the problem. I have gunged everything up and now will wait and see. It is raining as I write.

 

The stuff certainly grips , I think I will sell the van before it all need stripping out!

 

H

[Brian Kirby]

Hope it works Geoff. I don't think there should be any problem with the new bonding to the old and, as you say, these modified polyurethane sealants are very tough.

 

I think you could have had grounds to claim under warranty since, even if the warranty has expired, as you found the original sealant to have a gap in it, it was clearly a manufacturing defect that you could not have found earlier. Hymer may, or may not, have played along.

 

However, since a dealer would probably only have done as you did, possibly with less care, the end result would be the same. Just keep an eye on it.

 

If you closed the sealant tube after finishing, you should find it remains usable for several months. If the closure is on the end of the nozzle so much the better, as you should then be able to remove the nozzle to void any within it that has cured, and then screw it back on use what is in the tube.