Sealing Carawagon rooflights

Workshop and Technical tips & tricks.
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RMS
Posts: 2239
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:02 am
Location: Near Wakefield, UK, in God's own Country!

Sealing Carawagon rooflights

Post by RMS » Tue Dec 24, 2013 2:00 pm

Hi guys,

Prompted by Kevan's question about sealing his rooflights, I thought I'd share my tip.

The roof lights on later Carawagons are fitted using traditional windscreen rubber and filler strip. Unfortunately, even though I replaced the rubber with new when I restored my roof, they still leaked!

Not wanting to resort to what one or two other members do - throwing a tarp over when it rains :whistle: I thought I'd try to find a better solution.

I remember using something called "Seek & Seal" back in the 70s to seal a windscreen which always seemed to leak (Fiat 500!)
However, my searches have come up blank so it looks like that product is no longer available, but I did find THIS STUFF which is very similar.
Using a syringe and a blunt needle, I injected it all around the seal and that seems to have done the trick :gold:

It looks like milky water, but sets clear, and seeps into any gaps it can find.
It's easier to do the rooflights with the roof down so the fluid doesn't run down the glass.

I've also used it to seal several roof rivets where the water seems to seep through :cheers:

Hope that helps some of you.

Cheers,
Robin.
1967 109" Carawagon 200TDi
1972 109" SW Carawagon 2.5NA
1958 109" Carawagon 2.25P (project)
1972 109" Carawagon 200 or 300TDi (project)
1974 Dormobile 2.25D (project)
(Robin on S2C forum)
Calum
Posts: 163
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:44 pm

Re: Sealing Carawagon rooflights

Post by Calum » Tue Dec 24, 2013 11:03 pm

The earlier windows like Kevan's (and mine) are aluminium frames just like the side windows in the body sides (by Moydon Ltd) I will be re-sealing mine with sikaflex which will hopefully do the job. The windows themselves are Perspex/Makralon (or at least they are on mine!) I am just about to refit them, but time will tell how well they seal with the Sikaflex. The original stuff seemed to be the same cream-coloured sealant/putty tape around the side windows and the hardtop woodwork and angle 'frame' around the roof opening. This had all gone hard and crumbly with age.

:cheers:
Caber
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Dec 24, 2013 8:33 am
Info: Long term Carawagon owner

Re: Sealing Carawagon rooflights

Post by Caber » Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:09 am

Tried sikaflex as a post install fix. It reacts with Perspex causing it to craze so probably not the right stuff. Mine originally had rubberised canvas sealing strips which were perished. I put new Perspex into the frames with flexible acrylic sealant that looked and smelt like silicone. It lasted a year before it started leaking so sikaflex was applied as it looked like the frames were not coming out easily, the sealant did a good job of sticking the frames to the roof. I probably need to try and get them out and replace the Perspex again but really lost as to how to seal them

Caber
Calum
Posts: 163
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:44 pm

Re: Sealing Carawagon rooflights

Post by Calum » Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:49 am

I think the perspex was sealed into the aluminium with a 'square' rubber U channel on mine, but it looked very thin indeed. COH Baines will probably have a suitable replacement
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