At the end of the first year, in time for the MOT (our first) there were three items of welding that required addressing: rear offside wheel arch; offside outer cill (key part of the interior floor repair) and internally a rather bad case of floor rot, due to a poorly designed side wall vent by Autosleeper (covered in detail later).
When we purchased the van we knew that at some point we would need to spend some money getting welding done but we had hoped not quite so soon. Anyone who buys and old camper, or any other classic vehicle, knows this, but then that's all part of the fun/pleasure of owning a slice of history. Did I get that right? fun!
The following are the critical (identified so far):
and the follow 'non' critical (but would be sensible to address at the same time)
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Description of damaged: Peppered with rust holes and likely to have been like this at last MOT(!) and all covered with underseal!
Remedial work: Removed all factory underseal/paint, cleaned back and treated with rust killer.
Offside cill rot problem.
fixing the problem: As part of the interior floor rot problem this whole cill and part of the side panel was cut out and new welded in. Doing this resolved two problems 1) removed the cill rot, and 2) gave the floor something to be welded to (using the internal lip of the new panel).
How? All supplies and welding work was done Air Cooled Workshop, Ninfield
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Description of damage: A strip approx 400mm long by 30mm wide in top area of wheel arch adjacent to the joint with outer wheel flair on arch and side panel. This all manifested itself by showing as a nasty rust stain down the front edge of the wing and along the depression between the panels.
Remedial work: Cleaned all underseal (damage aggravated due to damp held under this I suspect - wonderful stuff underseal!) well back from damaged area removing all loose rust. Treated with rust killer and once dry placed a strip of ali tape to form temp seal (this worked really well as it was done back in Sept06 and held up well till the Air Cooled Workshop did the repair).
rot under ali foil, seen peeled back .
fixing the problem: Given three panels (inner wheel arch, side panel and outer wheel arch) all come together at the point of the rot a whole new outer wing complete with partial inner wheel arch was fitted.
How? All welding work was done Air Cooled Workshop, Ninfield
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Description of damage: floor rotted by approx 30mm 250mm (see picture) and further minor holes down joint with side panel from rear wheel arch to front door pillar. Source of problem was the 'lousy' design of the side vent by Autosleeper. I calculated the problem had been there from the day the van left the factory, so... I guess the level of damage was really not bad, still cost me though! The whole vent saga is to be the subject of another section in the future.
Remedial work: Units removed, carpet and chipboard (water sodden) stripped back/removed. All loose rot removed area cleaned up and treated with rust treatment.
plenty of rot hidden under the carpet!
Note: the soaked chipboard flooring and carpet pealed back (bottom right. The blue/green plastic (M&S bag!) on the top left is the vent hole (cause of the water ingress and a section on how I dealt with this will follow).
fixing the problem: The rot falls along the line of the side panel seam. As noted elsewhere the side panel was cut away (from outer cill to the body molding line (seen half way up the picture)) as part of replacing the offside outer cill. A stainless steel channel was used for the repair. Finished with white smooth 'Hammerite' to protect the internal surfaces.
...and after
this was the resulting repair.
How? All welding work was done Air Cooled Workshop, Ninfield
So...
That the root of the problem sorted, now to put it all back together!
top of pagewelding - Air Cooled Workshop, Ninfield.
Call Nigel or Sandra on 07817478059
Not only did the Air Cooled Workshop do the repair but... Did a dam good job, sealing all internal surfaces with Hammerite (see last picture, above), underseal was applied as necessary, plus they preped and re sprayed the whole offside rear lower quarter of the van, and for how much? Less than £300 YES £300.