Dreaded Damp!!!

JFD

JFD

Joined
Apr 9, 2015
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Location
Crawley Down, West Sussex, UK
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35,784
MH
Pilote Aventura G730
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since 2014!
Hi, all,

We have just discovered quite a lot of damp and rotting wood in our Rapido 746f garage! We are not sure of the extent, but it may also go up the walls in the rear near side corner. We need help!

Does anyone have any recommendations for where we could take our pride and joy to be cured? We are near to Gatwick, so somewhere in the South East would be preferable but, as we have a trip to Italy planned, starting on the 26th April, time is of the essence, although the trip could (probably will have to) be postponed.

Meanwhile, I am going to walk the doggies, and find a field to weep in!!

Any help/recommendations gratefully received.

Thanks in advance.
 
You have my sympathy. We had a similar problem a few years ago a few weeks before we were due to set off for Croatia. It was picked up at the habitation check and they put in a temporary repair so we could go ahead with our trip. We then got it repaired at the excellent AM engineering in Warrington several months later. I can't help with places in the south east but I'm sure someone on here will be able to. If you find someone fairly local they will be able to advise on whether its a safety issue or if you can get it sorted later. Good luck.
 
If I were you I’d still go on holiday. The hot sun /weather will help to dry it out anyway.
We found out , when we sold our last motorhome, that it had damp in the gas locker. We’d had hab checks every year. They don’t check the doors in the garage and gas locker, we were told.
Why they don’t , I don’t know ?
It makes you feel sick to the stomach when you realise you’ve damp.
Especially when you have a buyer with cash there , walking around prodding every available surface with a beeping damp detector. Then when they found something, we felt I’ll.
We honestly never knew.
We reduced it accordingly for the buyer to fix it. It wasn’t a big job and seemingly it was down to the door seals.
We’ve now got a nice metal PVC so hopefully we won’t have the same problem again.

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Ivory55 said:
Instead of rushing in to something why not go on holiday it can not get much worse and get it sorted properly when you get home.
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I agree, go find some sun and fun. It isn't going to get that much worse over the course of a month or so. The better weather will help dry it out.
 
What's the end result with damp anyway? My old thing is riddled with it and I just ignore it. It's over in the UK for an MOT at the moment but will be taking it back to the dry weather of Alicante as soon as I get a chance. Hopefully squeeze a few more years out of her yet.
 
first thing to do is not panic. It's common. every van I have had over the years has had a little damp in the lockers. It normally occurs due to badly fitting locker doors or broken seals. Some pictures might help to get you some more help in how to tackle it but don't lose heart, it's so common yet so annoying.
 
Thanks for all your suggestions and sympathy. I tried John’s cross as my first option, but they seem to have lost all their workshop staff, so have a very long queue of work waiting to do. We have also tried the Motorhome and Caravan centre, but they only have one service bay, and are pretty full up, too. I have a call out to Marquis at Gomshall (used to be Michael Jordan’s), and we will see what they can do.

Having investigated the damp, it’s not really something we could go on holiday with - you can see the road from the garage with the doors shut! We will have to bite this particular bullet, and postpone the holiday, unless we can find somewhere to help quickly.

Any suggestions as to where could possibly fix this at such short notice would be very gratefully received!
 
If you can see the road this damp has been present for some time and needs careful investigation although I would still go on holiday. I would try Caravans Rapido at Wokingham 011879 1023. They know Rapido's inside out.

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you could try Les Bateman Motors. Rochford Essex. 01702 548661
 
Anyone who does not have a busy workshop at this time of year is not i suspect anyone you want to do business with
 
Having looked underneath as well, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of support past the actual chassis, so I don’t think we will be taking it on holiday before it’s fixed!

It’s booked in to Les Bateman’s (thanks cranky), who think they may be able to sort us out in time for the holiday. Fingers crossed!!,
 
Oh yes, it’s damp alright! And it looks like it’s been there a while, but has had some mastic painted over it underneath!

I do wonder if it was there when we bought it a couple of years ago!!

Such is life......

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When it’s fixed is it worth fitting some big mudflaps behind rear wheels to stop it spraying water up there in future. The big spray suppression flaps used on hgv trailers.
 
Such is life......[/QUOTE]


I agree, it’s annoying but this is wood/plastic and polystyrene, it can be fixed.
 
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How are things progressing JFD?
 
Paul Bateman has it all under control - everything is stripped out, and the extent and causes of the damp identified (gap around door, cracked water filter, and loose plumbing on the fresh water drain). He is hoping to have it back to us in time for our Italian holiday, so fingers crossed.

Have to say I am mightily impressed by the Les Bateman organisation so far: Emails keeping us posted, with pictures; concern over the state of the original floor strength, so an extra aluminium frame will supplement the new wood floor. Really professional.(y)

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JFD said:
Oh yes, it’s damp alright! And it looks like it’s been there a while, but has had some mastic painted over it underneath!

I do wonder if it was there when we bought it a couple of years ago!!

Such is life......
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Yes but euro means German....the french ones are still pretend :p
 
Glad it's getting sorted. Fingers crossed for your trip.
 
iandsm said:
If you can see the road this damp has been present for some time and needs careful investigation although I would still go on holiday. I would try Caravans Rapido at Wokingham 011879 1023. They know Rapido's inside out.
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Reminds me. Years ago I bought my wife a mini. One day she called me at work and said the car wouldn’t start. Got home, looked in the boot. Big hole. Battery on the road.:)
 
G-RMPS said:
Reminds me. Years ago I bought my wife a mini. One day she called me at work and said the car wouldn’t start. Got home, looked in the boot. Big hole. Battery on the road.:)
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One of my fellow apprentices, back in the 70's bought a new socket set, put it in his mini's boot and drove to work. He went to get the set out of the car at lunch time, but it had slid around in the boot and the set's metal case had welded itself to the battery terminals ! :eek:
 
amkirman said:
Are you sure it’s damp, according to the euro owners its only British vans that suffer with damp.
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Not anymore... Swift have cracked it.. they now install submersible pumps in the bilges :ROFLMAO:

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Good to read you got it sorted, Best described as a motorhomers nightmare. Over the past years I’ve spoken to a few people who highly rate a company called Caravan Tec based at Hurst Green who carry out that type of work.
 
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Hi, all,

Paul Bateman and his guys at Les Bateman Motors have well and truly sorted our damp problem, so we can get down to holidaying! We had to shorten the trip by a week at the start, as there were quite a few issues discovered when sorting out the new floor. I’ll take a couple of pictures and post them here later.

I really do rate Les Bateman as a repair organisation - they kept us informed as the work progressed, with pictures and descriptions of what they found, and intended to do to repair the damage - really first class!
 
Our Rapido has no damp I'm glad to say.But I agree with you about floor support,there's no support from the end of the chassis to the rear of the van,Rapido must think it's OK or I'm sure they wouldn't have built them like that.Who knows.
 
JFD said:
Hi, all,

Paul Bateman and his guys at Les Bateman Motors have well and truly sorted our damp problem, so we can get down to holidaying! We had to shorten the trip by a week at the start, as there were quite a few issues discovered when sorting out the new floor. I’ll take a couple of pictures and post them here later.

I really do rate Les Bateman as a repair organisation - they kept us informed as the work progressed, with pictures and descriptions of what they found, and intended to do to repair the damage - really first class!
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Hi! Very old post I know but we have recently bought a motorhome only to find out later that we likely have damp in the garage floor (although still feels firm at the moment!) Could I be really cheely please and ask roughly what you paid for your repair? Thanks so much
 
MH1234 said:
Hi! Very old post I know but we have recently bought a motorhome only to find out later that we likely have damp in the garage floor (although still feels firm at the moment!) Could I be really cheely please and ask roughly what you paid for your repair? Thanks so much
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Prices can vary widely depending on extent of damp, construction of floor and walls and who you go to for the repair. It's the man hours that'll cost the biggest chunk.

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