Van of enormous power Mk 4

[Joeboy]

Hows the dehumidifier going, is it pulling much from the fabric of the camper?

Moxi

Found one dampish corner in the van. No mould, just a bit moist. Dried it yesterday and it's fine today. One cam on the rear window there wasn't closed and the Southcoast had that load of raIn the other week. So far in 3 days we've pulled less than 1ltr. Thats with the gaffertaped window too.

The van smells dry, I can see the beauty of the monocoque habitation build. Bondrite gear arrives this afternoon so I'll have a crack at the window removal and repair tomorrow. Bricking it tbh!

[Joeboy]

Got my first Fibreglass repair completed. Just waiting on a 150mm SCOTLAND sticker as not paying for a pro, finish, match and paint job.

As found


Now


As found, N/S rear bumper.


Ongoing repair


A few wee bits of body related marks on the Habitation and surface corrosion on the van cab. Getting them done and my eye is not snagging as much today. Can see the nice rounded shape clearer. I'm interested to see how much we can bring this van back towards mint just with time spent on it. Fibreglass kit and paint products are under £60 so far. The battery powertools have made this easy.

Edit- just ordered an Atari logo sticker for the bonnet. I HAD to!

[Joeboy]

The o/s/r window was just about fully split. A 1 mtr length and only a couple of cm's were holding it in place on the outer pane. The inner pane was badly burst too.








I am reliably Informed that a new built window incl freight both ways will cost about a grand.

Didn't fancy that, not sure why?

Got in touch with Bondrite in North of England and bought WC102 (water thin, high wicking) and WC105 (viscous in consistently, good for overlay). I thought I had about a 40% chance of it working. Thought it worth a go..

Im glad to say that these products are incredible. From a broke, no integrity unit it's now solid, although scarred up.

Away to find some Frankenstein stitch decals. I can't emphasise how good these products are. £60 v's a grand..

https://bondrite.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOoq ... I7i2LJJp9P

[Fintray]

Wonder if it would be possible to make a former from say 18mm MDF and heat form an acrylic sheet to form a new outer pane?

[Joeboy]

Wonder if it would be possible to make a former from say 18mm MDF and heat form an acrylic sheet to form a new outer pane?

Likely could, it would be better than a grand! Single glazed right enough but why not eh?

Jim's under the floor, piping away.

Sorry, I moved the post to van thread. There are only a couple of companies do these windows to the original dg standard and only one who is rated.

[Fintray]

I was thinking that it could be made "double glazed" by bonding on a flat inner pane.

Say hello to Jim from me!

I don't know why it ended up in the ASHP thread as I replied under the van one???

[Joeboy]

Anecdote time. I did the outer pane first with multiple applications of the high wick adhesive. When I did the inner pane (it was a pig as the flex was hugely reduced) I felt the change in air as I sealed up the last section of the break. Not imagination, a definite negate of cold. I didn't expect that.

Couldn't source a window via scrapyards either. Very glad this worked.

I will indeed say hi to Jim. He's under the floor at the moment.

[NoraBatty]

find a thermo or vacuum forming company who will do a 1 off job with an mdf template as Fintray suggests, but make sure you bevel the mould and mount it on a base plate so the acrylic doesnt get sucked around it.
No tooling on their part to make it expensive as it only need them to supply the acrylic and have a heated box with a hoover attached.

[Joeboy]

find a thermo or vacuum forming company who will do a 1 off job with an mdf template as Fintray suggests, but make sure you bevel the mould and mount it on a base plate so the acrylic doesnt get sucked around it.
No tooling on their part to make it expensive as it only need them to supply the acrylic and have a heated box with a hoover attached.

I will bear this in mind if it fractures in wind buffeting during travels. Looking at 3 day cure time and full cure in 3 weeks on the repairs today.

Edit- two hours later and I am struggling to see the viscous overlap I did. This stuff is really excellent.

[Joeboy]

The window was very solid last night. The chemical overlay on surface has faded hugely in curing. 3 days apparently for initial cure on the spec sheet then a total of 3 weeks until cure complete. It'll get 2 days and then be storm tested!

City plumbing have a few bifacial panels on at the moment. White van roof and raised luggage rack, seems to be a good combo for one. 15.2p per W for the JA 440.