Day two.

More electrical work, gas plumbing done, another cupboard fitted and splashback fitted.

The kitchen upgrade

It's going, slowly but its going.

Kitchen progress

Cooker hood up and connected, sockets going in, gas being re plumbed tomorrow.

Another day in paradise

The last day of a three day course in London has arrived, heads up to QA for making it interesting. Also worthy of a mention are FCC for being on time and not providing a too shabby service.

And here we are

A change is as good as a rest

So, I'm sat here in McDonald's in the city of London, having devoured my tasty beverage, tried the cappuccino, its rank.
Thinking to myself the people who flood through these doors every day are like ships passing in the night, blissfully unaware of each others existence, strange how insular people can become.

Still nothing

Thinking the only way I am going to be able to afford to repair the caravan is to buy the plywood from a builders merchant.

Sorry

I'm rubbish I know, no money = no plywood therefore no progress.

Nothing happening here.

Sorry, again, no spare money means no plywood for caravan repairs...
Bummer...

Built to last?

What on earth... I have removed every screw I can find and still it won't come down.

Work, work and more work.

Oh joy, even more damp.
I'll end up with a completely new caravan at this rate.

Jobs past present and future pt3

Need to replace awning rail trim and trim above window frames.

Jobs past present and future pt2

Door frame removed resealed and refitted.

Jobs past present and future

Grab handles resealed.

Sneaky link to the best site i have found so far

Wizards Caravan Repair

What a site, a wealth of information and photos...
[note to self - must do better]

Sorry for the delay

Apologies for the brief interruption in mind dumping, normal service will return this weekend, with photos of the progress so far.

More Sealing

Today was a good day for working on the caravan, the weather was lovely and warm. I removed the upper half of the door followed by the lower half, then removed the frame from the caravan.
Cleaned the inside of the frame with white spirit and applied sealant all around the frame, cleaned the outside of the caravan and reapplied the frame to the caravan, rescrewed the frame back on, reattached the door and adjusted to make sure it opens and closes well.
Next job is the trims...

3rd and final roof vent

I took down the 3rd and final roof vent this evening, god bless the light evenings, with some trepidation as every vent i have removed so far has exposed damp.
Luckily this time, dry as a bone, thank god for that, i will re-seal it anyway but at least i don't have any extra damp to deal with.

Wallboards

Having pulled some of the old damp wallboard down i thought i had better find out how much replacement wallboard would cost. The best price i have found so far is £22 a sheet (7x4) delivery is £20 for 3 sheets.

Bit of a wobble

Every now and then, i look at the amount of work required to restore our caravan to it's previous glory and i get despondent. There is no denying a fair bit of work is involved and to get a caravan repair place to do it would clearly cost considerably more than the caravan is worth, by comparison, i could do it myself for not much more than £150 and make it a nice tidy livable caravan.
It's that final fact that spurs me on, the fact that i can do it, it maybe time consuming but at least i know it will be done properly.
I had the same feelings about my car and they proved well as now it is a nice reliable runner.

Outside Views

A quick update on the caravan renovation, now removed and resealed two of the three roof vents, both had previously been leaking. I am using Hodgsons seamseal CV, I am told its as good as Sikaflex. The dehumidifier is running 24/7 removing moisture.

Caravan Cancer

We recently bought an older model of caravan, a Swift Danette 1990. It was purchased as a 'work in progress'.
It has had damp in the past and has been resealed albeit badly.
This blog will track the repairs as I tackle them.