expantion

[jordano]

just noticed today that the side of the van autotrail cheyenne 2000 has come away from the inner fittings about a 1/4in wide and 3foot in lengh i can pull it in but wondered how to keep it fixed is there a glue strong enough and how could i hold it there till glue sets?

[Derek Uzzell]

You might try waiting until the weather cools down and hope that the sidewall returns to its original shape.

 

If that doesn't happen, I believe you'll need to begin by pushing the sidewall back into line rather than trying to "pull it in". I'm envisaging parking the vehicle alongside a strong wall, placing a largish sturdy piece of board against the sidewall where it bulges, then using a jack (or wedges) in the space between the wall and the motorhome to push the bodywork back into line. (This technique might be used if a motorhome/caravan sidewall had delaminated.) Plainly you'd need to ensure that the surface of the sidewall would not be damaged by the board and that you jacked/wedged only enough to straighten the sidewall as over-pressure might compress the sidewall's structure.

 

Structural adhesives (eg. Sikaflex-512 Caravan) are pretty strong, but whether using adhesive alone to hold the straightened sidewall in place would depend on how much pressure proved to be necessary to straighten it.

 

Personally (whether or not it proved easy to straighten the sidewall) I would not rely on adhesive alone. As well as using adhesive, I'd add something 'mechanical' to increase the strength and area of the joint between the inner fittings and the sidewall. This "something" might be angle-brackets, wooden battens, etc. screwed and glued to the fittings and the sidewall - but there's little point trying to be specific without seeing your motorhome. (If you just used adhesive there's the possibility that, although the strength of the 'glue' might be adequate, the strength of the inner surface of the sidewall might not be.)

 

You would only remove the jack/wedges after the adhesive had completely set in the glued/screwed joint between the inner fittings and motorhome sidewall.

[lennyhb]

If the wall has delaminated there is a strong possibility it is due to water ingress, being a narrow strip it could be a water logged batten b ehind it if so you may have to remove the inner wall to repair. Before repairing it you should do or have done a thorough damp check.

 

I have repaired caravan walls, parked the caravan along side house wall and braced it with pieces of ply on the van wall braced to the house wall with battens. I used the "West System " epoxy for adhesive.

[Derek Uzzell]

From jordano's description, I don't think his problem is delamination.

 

As I understand it, a "narrow strip" is not involved - I believe he's describing a scenario where his Auto-Trail's sidewall has bowed outwards resulting in a gap abiut 3' long and up to 1/4" wide opening up between the sidewall's inner surface and the motorhome's interior 'furniture' (eg. a kitchen worktop).

 

It's quite likely that the deformation is caused by the sidewall's internal wooden structure warping and, as this may be due to water ingress, it would be wise to do as you suggest and have a damp test carried out. If damp is detected and/or or there's corroborative physical evidence that the sidewall is delaminating (eg. the outer or inner skin of the sidewall is bulging), then - as you say - some serious surgery may be needed to rectify the fault. Conversely, if the sidewall has just bowed outwards (perhaps provoked by the recent long period of hot weather), pushing it back straight and tethering it firmly to the internal furniture would be the logical approach and the one jordano was proposing in his original posting.

 

[Brian Kirby]

I think it may help if jordano could refine his description of the fault a bit, or even better, post a pic, so that we all know what is going on. At present, I'm unclear what has come away from what, and whether whatever it is, is inside or outside. Might be damp, might be heat, might be spontaneous de-bonding, might be damage. Impossible to say, for now.