Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[James_N]

Just had this reply from the Carlight owners club:

[admin]

Hi James

Wow what a nice and useful reply you received. I hear from quite a few people who contact different clubs (car clubs usually) and hear diddly squat back again, so to receive such a lengthy and informative reply is definitely a welcome change!

coming back from N Wales today I spotted an old fibreglass caravan in someone's garden, looked 1950s at a guess

Rick

[cornish_lass]

Hi James

Well looks as if some of us survived Christmas, just the new year to go and then look forward to some 'hard' work!!!

I am really pleased that you have received a reply from Carlight owners club, and can concur with Rick's comments about a lack of reply from others. For myself I have written countless emails to companies and clubs requesting information, to no avail. Interesting to hear that Carlight are now only going to build 'specials'. Wonder how much they will be?

One thing though, about the cover, a really good suggestion about trying to save any more water coming in, but if you do follow that course, it may be worth trying to put something on the roof and under the cover to ensure that there is some all-round ventilation as you want to decrease the damp, not increase it. When I covered mine I used large plastic bread baskets, about 2' x 3', these were not solid but had fairly open sides. Therefore any air which managed to get underneath the cover (tarp) was distributed over the top as well. If you strap the tarp down well they shouldn't move much, in fact mine haven't moved at all. I was really lucky to get a cover from a shop in Cornwall called Trago for only £10, so not a large outlay. This covers the entire van and has preserved the wood very well. Biggest problem I was concerned about was more damp coming as a result of the wood heating up and cooling down under the tarp, but fortunately under inspection, this doesn't seem to be a problem

Good luck

Cornish Lass

[admin]

On the subject of covering things, the 30s Austin I bought a while back had been tarped up outside since the 1960s and hadn't suffered particularly even over all that time. I put this down to it having 2 sheets over it.

Normally damp would have formed under a single cover, and sweated against the car's bodywork, with predictable results. However I think with 2 sheets, the damp formed between the 2 layers, and kept off the bodywork. So if you do go down this route, maybe using 2 covers would be an idea? and like Cornish says, perhaps put something under the cover to keep it off the surface of the 'van and maintain some airflow

Rick

[Uncle Joe]

From my experience, the best way to go is the way that Cornish Lass has suggested, space a tarp away from the bodywork to allow air to circulate. One thing that I would add though is to put a tarp under the vehicle as well. More moisture rises from the ground than you would expect!

I must have a think about the double cover idea though...it does sound interesting.

[buzzy bee]

Hi

Not really the same thing but reminded me of this, if you do a double sheeting idea and then leave a fair air gap between sheets this has great insulation properties, and if you do this in the summer it keeps the shaded area less like a sauna. I supose it will work the same way for moisture?!? Comes from my camping days, hehe

Cheers

Dave

[James_N]

This is the caravan cover i ordered:

http://www.towsure.com/default.asp?c=CC13&x=6&y=6

[James_N]

Well having not really done much till now, a good friend came over and we got "investigating" mainly out of boredem

There was a patch at the front of the van inside that had been previously covered, see here: http://www.jnolan.co.uk/Pictures/carlight/7.jpg bottom right corner.

We decieded we wanted to know just how bad things were behind this patch of wood, so we managed to lever it off. This is what we found:







Thats pretty knackered.

We have a good 6 hours tomorrow too so what we are going to do, is try and remove the rest of the inner panel that we have started (working around the cocktail cabinet because its so well glued in, theres no way to get it out without destroying it, and i want to keep the cabinet as its an origional feature), so remove the rest of that panel, and go shopping for some replacement plywood (its only really thin plywood, so it shouldnt be a problem) at B&Q or Wickes or something

Getting a match for the fablon stuff thats on the top of the plywood shouldnt be too much of a problem either, so thats the plan for tomorrow.

Just thought id post a bit of update.

[admin]

Hi James, thanks for the update and pics, interesting! hopefully the rot isn't too extensive and has been caught fairly early - best of luck with the work!

Rick

[James_N]

Thanks admin

More Progress Made Today - All working from the inside:

OK so the morning started by finishing off the right hand side of the caravan inside. Removing all the excess wood and crap:


Once that was done, it was onto the left hand side, and this is the mess that we were greeted with. The upper beam and the beam that can accross below the window, were soaking, and pretty dam rotten.


So it was decieded, out with the windows, as this was obviously the point of ingress in this particular area. The other idea behind taking the windows out, was that we could reseal them in twice as good as they were before:


One window out! Pretty scary given the state of the sky at this time, but we risked it!


Once that was done, the old soaked beams were removed, as well as the rest of the panel on the left hand side:


Birdseye View of the destruction - Inside:


And outside!


As this is a respectable forum, i wont post the caption that we came decieded goes with this picture, needless to say, the wood is somewhat second hand


After the rotten beams / panels and insulation had been removed, it was off shopping in the tank


And returned with:


The shopping list consisted of:

- 2 x All Purpose White Silicon
- 1 Skeleton Gun to apply Silicon
- Various Screws / Nails
- 1 Handsaw
- 6 Metre long Redwood P.S.E Softwood (for the beams)
- 1 Sheet of Brazilian Hardwood Plywood (2440 x 1220 x 3.66mm)
- 1 Polystyrene Sheet (2400 x 1200 x 50mm) (was supposed to be 25mm but
they only had 50mm, so we got that for same price as the 25mm sheet)

Grand Total For Shopping List = £53

Bargain I thought, so it was back to base to get measuring and fitting:


Once these had been measured and cut, they were clamped to the fibreglass outer shell, while small holes were drilled from the outside to allow the beams to be screwed onto the fibreglass outer body:


Half an hour later, The new beams were screwed into place:




With the new beams in place, it was time to get the windows back in (the main objective of the day!). Much sealing was done here, both on the outside AND the inside. Hopefully the buggers wont leak now:


Windows In!:


Now the windows were back in, it was time to think about insulation and get that cut to size! It didnt have to be exact, but as near as we could get (after all, no-one sees the insulation!).

(We did fill the rest in with polysterene also!)

With the insulation in, it was time to cut the plywood. This did matter because obviously, this will be on show. It took 2 attempts to cut, because the first one was a bit...off Half an hour later and a few nails though, and this was the result:


Much swearing was done here, because, even if you cut along the lines EXACTLY, there was still small gaps, but this looks pretty good i think. The only VERY small gap, is on the bottom right hand side, and this will be covered by the cushions that you sit on, and is not noticeable at all. The bit at the top right isnt a gap, its just the shadow of the shelf above (which was just plonked on the top to show how it would look when finished!)

The bit of wood that was disgarded after the first attempt at fitting, was then tried on the other side, and very nearly fitted, but it just wasnt right enough, but we will sort the right hand side out another day. The bit of wood has just been propped up in the next few pictures, again to give a vision of what its like when finished:





We need to cut some plywood to size for the little section above the shelf you can see in the above pictures. This will be done in due course.

You may also notice by now that the lights were working. These all run off 12 volt, and it just so happens we had a half knackered car battery to hand, with just enough power in to test all the lights and make sure everything was iin order - Thankfully, everything worked! Even the electronic waterpump that pumps water into the kitchen sink

And really, thats how things stand now. I dont think thats bad really for 2 days work between 2 os us, although it has to be said, my mate has done 90% of the hard work. Being disabled gives me a fair excuse to leave most of the hard labour to a few mates but its coming along nicely, and much faster than i imagined.

All that remains now is to finish off the front area (on the right hand side), cut some plywood to shape for the bit above the shelf, then start on the kitchen area doing pretty much the same as the front! I should also say, that we are going to try and get some fablon type stuff to apply to the plywood, to try and replicate the finish on the origional panels.

This probably wont be tacked for a few weeks now, as my mates back at work tomorrow, and im back at work next week, but as soon as we are both off, normal service will be resumed Pretty pleased given that i was thinking about putting it on ebay last week seems i might get a holiday out of it at some stage now. Also, leaving it a few weeks now, we will see just how watertight the front is. It should be pretty tight now we hope.

So there we are, thats all the updates for npw. I know its a lot of reading, but i thought if im gonna post a "blog" of progress, may as well make it a good one.

Comments / Opinions welcome on everything we have done so far.

[admin]

Hi James

Top stuff, glad you decided to plug ahead with it rather than selling it on. If you end up with a characterful usable van it'll have been well worthwhile! don't often see those vans out and about, so definitely worth the effort!!

cheers, Rick

[buzzy bee]

Hi

The van looks good, and your job looks good! I think if I worked on a caravan with comfy seats in, I may just find myself having a nap!

I agree with rick, Although I have worked in agricultural engineering restoring the pickup is completely different. I find just getting stuck in is the best bet, I get stuck but soon figure it out and if not ask people on here who are allways happy to help!

Keep the reports of work coming!

Cheers

Dave

[James_N]

I have to be honest, im probably more of a defeatist than i should be. Im glad that i decieded to keep it and plod on with it. Although my mate has done a fair bit of the work, i really feel like we have accomplished something, and i think taking the vann on holiday for the first time, will have MUCH more satisfaction knowing what we have done to it, rather than if I would of just gone and bought a ready to go van.

No doubt in the coming days, i'll slowly pottter about, doing various little jobs that i can do

Thanks all for the comments

James

[James_N]

Purchased today some Fablon to apply to the new plywood to replicate the finish on the origional panels:


Near perfect match

[cornish_lass]

Hi James

Never mind the van.... what a top bloke, Guiness drinker hey, can't get better than that

Seriously, looks like you have done a good job there, and to think it was almost 'goodnight Vienna' for her a couple of months ago. Obviously makes a difference when the sun shines, the call of the van increases doesn't it

Have started on mine again recently, was progressing quite well, until my hip went out whilst I was carrying some leaded glass windows down a flight of stairs Think the expression is "crash, bang, bol****s" Back to the drawing board again

Keep up the good work

Cornish Lass