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Terrontress

Hello everyone. This is my first post on this part of the board but I have been lurking with delight for several weeks.

I have just come into ownership of my first motorhome. It's a 1980 Transit 4 berth.

I drove it back from Germany with little hassle and took it down to Donabate beach on Saturday and did not notice the height restrictor and the bit above the cab took a thump. The onlookers had a great laugh and I was made to feel like a complete idiot.

It seems to have hit on the top right corner, bent the frame, made some small punctures in the aluminium, broken the plywood inside and the corner seals have come apart.

Firstly, does anyone have any recommendations in fixing this in terms of working with camper vans or know any experts?.

Secondly, I am yet to pay VRT on the van. Would it be clever to bring it to the VRT office unfixed, thereby reducing its worth and the VRT payable.

The van cost me €2,200 plus about €800 in insurance, registration, ferries, petrol to get home so I don't want any extremely expensive remedies.

Thanks in advance,

TT

peasant

Welcome, congrats on the "new" motorhome and *BUM-MER* on the damage.

Most important thing at the moment is: keep the water out! Plastic sheeting, tons of duct tape, whatever it takes, but seal that thing up.
Then get it VRT'd (shouldn't delay that for too long anyway and you might actually get a better rate)

As for the repair ...normally I'd suggest ringing up a few motorhome dealers in the hope that one of them might actually know what to do (which isn't guaranteed), but in light of the actual value of your yoke, you could always try and do it yourself, as the dealer certainly won't be cheap.

Do you know anybody who's a good woodworker? That would be a great help.

A motorhome of that vintage is built on a wooden framework, with aluminium cladding outside, styrofoam as insulation and plywood on the inside.
The bang most certainly broke the structural wooden beam that's behind the alcove (the bit above the cab) and gives it stability. A good woodworker could cut out the damaged section and put in a new bit for you ,stuff in some styrofoam, clad it in plywood and the inside is done.

The outside would be a bit more tricky. First of all, the damaged edge profile needs to come off, so that you can get at things. Depending on the state of it, you will either be able to hammer and bend it back into shape (hopefully) or you will have to get a new section which will be a bit tricky for a van that age.

Then the sheet metal (alu) will need to be made whole again. These sheets come in big sections, sometimes the whole side is made out of one sheet, which makes it very expensive and labour intensive to replace.

So I would suggest a "workable" rather than "beautiful" repair. Get a bit of aluminium in the right size, pop-rivet it on and seal it with automotive bonder.
Never, ever use silicone on a motorhome. It will eat into the alu and it will shrink and shrivel over time, losing all sealing capacity.
Your friendly motor factor will sell you automotive grade sealant/glue either from Wuerth or Sikaflex that bonds and seals and is permanently elastic, apply that generously to all the edges of your alu patch,around the rivet holes and a bit in the middle BEFORE you put the patch on, put in the rivets and tigthen them up, watch the excess bonding material ooze out and straighten it off at the edges with your finger (which you dipped in soapy water)

The most difficult bit will be to get the edge profile back on again and to get it to seal. Take a good look at how it was put on in the first place while peeling it off, so that you can replicate that again later when you put it back.
Once again, genereous amounts of automotive bonder/sealant are advised when putting it together.

Any small hole will let in water and soak the wood underneath and rot it over time, so it really has to be absolutley sealed all around.

I've never done this myself on a curved alcove (only a tiny bit near the bottom rear corner on my yoke), it is difficult and fiddely, but it can be done.

Try and find a dry shed or garage for a few days to do it, as it will most likely take a bit longer than one day to get it right (and you do not want to expose a half opened camper to the elements)

I wish you the best of luck with the repair and many more crease-free miles with your motorhome.

Any chance of a piccie?

Terrontress

This is the van prior to the mishap!



It's not a bad van, all in all.

A bit heavy on the juice but other than that, fine.

peasant

Looks very nice and very well kept for its age !

And the other good news is ...

The edge profile on the alkove is not the type I thought it would be.
Even if the old one is destroyed, it looks to me like you could just use aluminium angle profiles or strong rubber profiles as a replacement.
As long as you bond and seal them on well enough, you should be grand.

Actually, judging by the picture, I'd almost say that the edges were professionally re-done at some stage ...which I would think is a good sign.