Problem - the awning carrier has become detached.

[LostinWales]

Brit made van like mine . Cost cutting wherever they can . Some of the wiring in my swift is well underrated for the job . It’s all about saving pennies wherever they can .

The cost control is an essential part of the business - you have to stay competitive. However, it is a skilled job, and the proposed replacement product or deletions must be carefully investigated for effect on performance, warranty and legal requirements. I have done loads of this work in the last 30 years.

 

[LostinWales]

Today, cleaned the actual awning mechanism, got rid of 16 years of mouldy and moss, and generally lubricated all.
As it was obvious part of the root cause of the issue was the failure of the top sealing, I refitted the moulding only, and pushed it up to maixmise the surface area of the top seal. This left a 6-8mm area on the bottom seal face that was scarred where I had sawn through the mastic sealant to get it off.
I put masking tape close to the top face to put a boundary on the seal when I apply the CT-1, and a tape boundary on the bottom face where the line of original paint was. I then painted the scarred area with white touch up to match the Mercedes Arctic White.
When this has dried tomorrow morning, I will reapply the masking tape to the moulding bottom edge of the seal to create a mastic boundary.
Tomorrow evening, my son and I will apply the CT-1 with 2 guns and then put the moulding back up with out the mechanism in place, as this will allow the moulding to be pressed home to the slight changing contours of the van side wall until the adhesive has grabbed all the way round. We will have to continually go round the area pressing home the moulding to ensure a seal

 

[LostinWales]

Quick update - My son and I have now stuck the moulding back into the recess and peeled away the masking tape.
We used 2 guns to apply the CT-1 adhesive, as I thought we may be short of time to put the moulding in and get it set before it started to go off. As it turned out, no need to worry, plenty of time, and the adhesive grab took around 10 minutes.
The lip on the moulding is very deep and concave, in my view unecessarily deep. This means that we used 4 full tubes of adhesive, around £63. Most of that was wasted in the deep recess. It also meant that the flow rate through the sealnt gun nozzle was slow, and needed a steady hand to prevent too much or not enough in the moulding. Also, the constant squeezing of 4 tubes worth of adhesive meant that my hand and muscle was aching by the end.
I used small amounts of thinners on blue paper roll to remove the excess adhesive, being careful not to get the thinners near the adhesive joint. Used each piece for one pass only to avoid putting adhesive back onto the moulding! Worked very well.

There were a couple of areas where the Gelcoat of the moulding had chipped or cracked. I repaired these minor issues with Isopon Gelcoat Filler in white, and used wet and dry 60 grade to rub them back smooth. Virtually invisible in detail, and actually invisible now it is 9ft up in the air!

I also washed the awning canopy on the garden lawn with a mixture of CIF Black Mould Cleaner and Aldi Tent and Awning Cleaner. This was very effective and got rid of 100% of the red/black mould areas in seconds, and 95% of the other ingrained stains/dirt build up where the awning is rolled most of its life. Used a water fed micro mitt with extendable handle to rub it all gently.
So, I will put the awning mechanism back into place tonight, having allowed 24 hours for the adhesive to seal.

 

[PP Bear]

As a follow on with the possibility of any damp on my mounting bracket’s, both the front and back read let’s than 1% on the damp meter, so pleased with that result.