I'm just wondering if anyone besides myself is into touring caravanning, or motorhomes?
I spent a lot of my working life away from home, staying in hotels. When it came to holidays in the UK (I like the UK), when younger I camped. Later, I moved to tourer caravanning, something I still do and still very much enjoy doing.
The difference now, to back then, is that back then I would actually tour - a few days here, a few days there. Older now and harder work, I tend to book one site for my entire holiday.
Over the years I have developed a few DIY gadgets and improvements, to make caravanning easier - happy to pass details on. My present 'van is a Bailey Pageant Monarch, which I have had for the past 10 years, which we both love. I bought this as an almost new, damaged, repairable, insurance write off and repaired myself.
I used to always use full awnings, until a few years ago, when I decided they were becoming just too heavy to manage, so I swapped to a lightweight porch awning.
A couple of years ago I discovered it had begun to suffer water ingress from a failed seal - the entire length of the hinge upon which the three front windows hinge (a common issue for the model). It was too late by the time I had spotted the ingress, to be worth doing more than a temporary fix, then a proper rebuild at a later date.
The 'later date' opportunity arrived between our two week holiday away in July and our one week holiday just a couple of weeks back this year. I have no under cover facilities to work, just my large garden, so working on the exterior was weather dependant and the weather co-operated perfectly. Front end is a single, very large composite panel, reinforced by timber framing. All of the timber from the hinge rail down to the top of the front locker was rotten, along with the interior panelling around and between the windows. Above this and luckily below, all was as new. Out of curiosity, I got a few quotes for expert repairs, varying between £1200 and £1500.
Sourcing the timber to replace the damaged framing was no problem, I got 40 foot of that cut to size at a local DIY/builders merchant. Sourcing matching replacement panelling was. I got the name of the style of panelling from Bailey, then rang potential sources all over the country. I eventually found a company which could source it, just three miles from home. Ordered and collected within a week. I then spent the following week ripping all of the damage out, reframing, repanelling and refitting windows.
Not the first one I have done. thirty years ago I had to completely reframe the entire roof of one caravan, where the rooflight seal had leaked.
I spent a lot of my working life away from home, staying in hotels. When it came to holidays in the UK (I like the UK), when younger I camped. Later, I moved to tourer caravanning, something I still do and still very much enjoy doing.
The difference now, to back then, is that back then I would actually tour - a few days here, a few days there. Older now and harder work, I tend to book one site for my entire holiday.
Over the years I have developed a few DIY gadgets and improvements, to make caravanning easier - happy to pass details on. My present 'van is a Bailey Pageant Monarch, which I have had for the past 10 years, which we both love. I bought this as an almost new, damaged, repairable, insurance write off and repaired myself.
I used to always use full awnings, until a few years ago, when I decided they were becoming just too heavy to manage, so I swapped to a lightweight porch awning.
A couple of years ago I discovered it had begun to suffer water ingress from a failed seal - the entire length of the hinge upon which the three front windows hinge (a common issue for the model). It was too late by the time I had spotted the ingress, to be worth doing more than a temporary fix, then a proper rebuild at a later date.
The 'later date' opportunity arrived between our two week holiday away in July and our one week holiday just a couple of weeks back this year. I have no under cover facilities to work, just my large garden, so working on the exterior was weather dependant and the weather co-operated perfectly. Front end is a single, very large composite panel, reinforced by timber framing. All of the timber from the hinge rail down to the top of the front locker was rotten, along with the interior panelling around and between the windows. Above this and luckily below, all was as new. Out of curiosity, I got a few quotes for expert repairs, varying between £1200 and £1500.
Sourcing the timber to replace the damaged framing was no problem, I got 40 foot of that cut to size at a local DIY/builders merchant. Sourcing matching replacement panelling was. I got the name of the style of panelling from Bailey, then rang potential sources all over the country. I eventually found a company which could source it, just three miles from home. Ordered and collected within a week. I then spent the following week ripping all of the damage out, reframing, repanelling and refitting windows.
Not the first one I have done. thirty years ago I had to completely reframe the entire roof of one caravan, where the rooflight seal had leaked.
