We bought our 1st motorhome, a low mileage Fiat Burstner T625 Harmony privately in April last year. Have now found floor rot at the rear.

[maisie50]

We have never used the shower, but on inspection underneath recently, we discovered that the shower must have leaked for some time before our purchase and there is rot starting at the nearside rear of the van ( shower area) and travelled across towards the offside.
The rearmost wooden cross member is rotted and where it joins the floor there is also rot.
Has anyone experienced this, and can suggest solutions ? Is it something that has to be done by a dealer? If so do you have personal recommendations please ?

No1. Below Shows nearside rear corner of the van, wiring bundle is from DIY tow bar fitted and removed by previous owner.

No2 shows rear crossmember

No.3 is close up of rot

 

[Westbarn1]

Hi, if you search on here I believe there have been previous reports of this sort of damage on Burstners

 

[VXman]

What age is the vehicle?

 

[GJH]

We used to have a t625 Harmony and rot was found in the floor of the locker at the rear offside corner when we had a rear view camera fitted.
It wasn't the shower though but something connected to the rear bumper (can't remember exactly as it's over 10 years ago).
On that basis I wonder whether your problem is something to do with the fitting and removal of the towbar, rather than the shower.
We had our problem fixed at a local (Teesside) company as it wasn't a job I wanted to undertake myself.

 

[maisie50]

Hi, if you search on here I believe there have been previous reports of this sort of damage on Burstners

Saw that but believe it was floor delaminating under the floor covering and much more recently built than ours (which was 2005) but thank you anyway for responding.

What age is the vehicle?

It is 2005, thank you for asking.

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[maisie50]

We used to have a t625 Harmony and rot was found in the floor of the locker at the rear offside corner when we had a rear view camera fitted.
It wasn't the shower though but something connected to the rear bumper (can't remember exactly as it's over 10 years ago).
On that basis I wonder whether your problem is something to do with the fitting and removal of the towbar, rather than the shower.
We had our problem fixed at a local (Teesside) company as it wasn't a job I wanted to undertake myself.

Thank you for responding and putting that potential cause forward… of course I think we naturally thought of the shower because it clearly originated on that side, but until stripping out can be certain. Suspect it’ll be too big a job for us too ( bit long in the tooth) and a very good lesson learnt, sad to say.

The van only had 14000 miles on it ( at 17 years old) so looked very clean. Had 2 prev owners and the second we bought it from. He’d bought it from a local ( to him) dealer Glossop Caravans, in October 2019 and used it about 4 times. They’d moved house in the meantime so couldn’t find comprehensive paperwork, but MOT was new and was done at Glossop Caravans, and we were able to check that the MOTs had no ‘out of the ordinary’ mileages recorded, on DVLA website.

 

[mackeellan]

Seems to me that a shower is used intermittently so if anything got wet it would soon dry again, until it got wet the next time. Perhaps you should look to see if any water is creeping to that area. Try filling the shower basin and release a whole lot of water at once to see any wetness. After that do the ssme to the hand basins/bowls. The pipework to the waste tank sometimes comes apart as they are often a push fit. You can guess how I'm familwith this! Good luck

 

[maisie50]

Seems to me that a shower is used intermittently so if anything got wet it would soon dry again, until it got wet the next time. Perhaps you should look to see if any water is creeping to that area. Try filling the shower basin and release a whole lot of water at once to see any wetness. After that do the ssme to the hand basins/bowls. The pipework to the waste tank sometimes comes apart as they are often a push fit. You can guess how I'm familwith this! Good luck

Thank you so much for responding, we can certainly try your suggestions, and can definitely guess how you are familiar with something like this.
The floor has seemed relatively dry since we discovered the problem, as we have never used the shower. Of course road water can soak the underside, regardless.
We’re thinking this was done over time and before April last year tbh but the damage is fairly bad as you can see, so the rear floor pan has now to be repaired/ replaced, just hoping someone has experienced this and can advise whether the only option is replace, with all that goes with it.
GJH encountered a similar problem on an older Burstner over 10 years ago, discovered when they went to have a reversing camera fitted. It had been something to do with external fitting, and wondered if the DIY tow bar had something to do with the initial ingress.

 

[Swifter]

That wood appears to be dry now . I think the shower is leaking . As suggested above try putting some water through the shower tray and see if you can spot anything.

 

[denisejoe]

We had a similar problem with a Burster T615. Ours was 2004 one. The whole of the back under the bed and across to under the shower needed to be replaced - it was quite an expensive job and took quite a while; IIRC it was about £1600. We had it done at Johns Cross Motorhomes, unfortunately they have now closed down.

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[maisie50]

Hi, if you search on here I believe there have been previous reports of this sort of damage on Burstners

We had a similar problem with a Burster T615. Ours was 2004 one. The whole of the back under the bed and across to under the shower needed to be replaced - it was quite an expensive job and took quite a while; IIRC it was about £1600. We had it done at Johns Cross Motorhomes, unfortunately they have now closed down.

Thank you for that, was the repair done some time ago? as we’ve been dreading all sorts of frightening figures tbh
Did you ever identify the root cause?
Thanks for responding

 

[maisie50]

That wood appears to be dry now . I think the shower is leaking . As suggested above try putting some water through the shower tray and see if you can spot anything.

Thank you for replying, we agree it seems dry now, thinking shower too as we’ve never used it and not experienced damp or wetness in the bathroom. The shower has panels of plastic screening affixed to three sides, and thought that when it was used regularly, the water may have leaked behind that, so not obvious internally.
However some of the wood is now unstable even though dry, so really don’t know if there is anything that could be done to strengthen/ stabilise it …

 

[DJL220]

In my previous van 2006 Bessacarr I had all sorts of issues with dampness. I repaired this myself with basic tools and treated timber. If you are good at DIY it’s not expensive to do yourself, just time consuming.

The link below is for a rear flooring repair including some of the walls.

Dampness project - Floor now

Hi Funsters Following on from my previous damp project (https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/dampness-project-roof-first.205004/) I am now about to resolve the floor dampness issues on our Bessacarr E795. I am reaching out to the wealth of knowledge in this forum and will again show...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

I was quoted around £10k labour so I had a go myself.

Good luck with your repairs

Darren

 

[Swifter]

Just double check the trim seals on the side of the Motorhome to make sure rain water isn’t getting down behind there and making the timber wet . Normally a Swift problem but worth checking .

 

[maisie50]

Just double check the trim seals on the side of the Motorhome to make sure rain water isn’t getting down behind there and making the timber wet . Normally a Swift problem but worth checking .

Thank you for replying, we intend to check every seal we can find..,they seem to be a common cause of water ingress from what we’re finding from others… wish us luck with the whole thing

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[denisejoe]

Ours was from the bathroom waste shower and sink were leaking as the utube wasn’t connected properly

 

[maisie50]

In my previous van 2006 Bessacarr I had all sorts of issues with dampness. I repaired this myself with basic tools and treated timber. If you are good at DIY it’s not expensive to do yourself, just time consuming.

The link below is for a rear flooring repair including some of the walls.

Dampness project - Floor now

Hi Funsters Following on from my previous damp project (https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/dampness-project-roof-first.205004/) I am now about to resolve the floor dampness issues on our Bessacarr E795. I am reaching out to the wealth of knowledge in this forum and will again show...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

I was quoted around £10k labour so I had a go myself.

Good luck with you repairs

Darren

Thank you for resounding Darren, you seem to have had nightmare situation and are tackling it calmly. Pete, my husband, had wondered about

In my previous van 2006 Bessacarr I had all sorts of issues with dampness. I repaired this myself with basic tools and treated timber. If you are good at DIY it’s not expensive to do yourself, just time consuming.

The link below is for a rear flooring repair including some of the walls.

Dampness project - Floor now

Hi Funsters Following on from my previous damp project (https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/dampness-project-roof-first.205004/) I am now about to resolve the floor dampness issues on our Bessacarr E795. I am reaching out to the wealth of knowledge in this forum and will again show...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

I was quoted around £10k labour so I had a go myself.

Good luck with you repairs

Darren

Thank you for replying Darren, you really have had a nightmare situation! Good to read you’re calmly tackling it, and that you are seeking advice about replacing part of the floor, and the strengthening etc. Pete, my husband, had considered this but was unsure if that would be considered a satisfactory repair.. also tried to find out about 2part epoxy resins. The write up from Smith CES sounds as if the remaining timber (after removing loose and crumbly material) was actually stronger and rot resistant. Have you head of it? I may email them to see if it has the safe effect in plywood.

Harden Rotted Old or Soft Wood

How Can I Harden Rotted Wood Smiths CPES™ is the perfect product to harden rotted wood. Use of the product on rotten wood will leave the rotten areas of

www.makewoodgood.co.uk

Hope all goes well for you, and us as we couldn’t afford the £10000 you were quoted tbh

 

[maisie50]

Ours was from the bathroom waste shower and sink were leaking as the utube wasn’t connected properly

Thank you for taking the time to respond, suspect we will find something on those lines when we strip things out… did yours cause much structural damage?

 

[DJL220]

Thank you for resounding Darren, you seem to have had nightmare situation and are tackling it calmly. Pete, my husband, had wondered about

Thank you for replying Darren, you really have had a nightmare situation! Good to read you’re calmly tackling it, and that you are seeking advice about replacing part of the floor, and the strengthening etc. Pete, my husband, had considered this but was unsure if that would be considered a satisfactory repair.. also tried to find out about 2part epoxy resins. The write up from Smith CES sounds as if the remaining timber (after removing loose and crumbly material) was actually stronger and rot resistant. Have you head of it? I may email them to see if it has the safe effect in plywood.

Harden Rotted Old or Soft Wood

How Can I Harden Rotted Wood Smiths CPES™ is the perfect product to harden rotted wood. Use of the product on rotten wood will leave the rotten areas of

www.makewoodgood.co.uk

Hope all goes well for you, and us as we couldn’t afford the £10000 you were quoted tbh

I tackled three repairs from 2019-2020 on our MH which we had then. Recently sold this onwards and when I was asked did it have damp my reply was yes previously. I also let the purchaser know I had repaired the issues and shared my Funster ID. All MH will have water ingress at some point, be it seals that dry up and fail, windows, skylights etc. The best thing I can suggest is to buy a decent damp meter and keep an eye on your MH.
If you send to a dealer the main cost will be labour as to repair a damp MH is a time consuming job. Hence reading many posts on here and deciding to have a go myself.

My rot was too far gone so instead of trying to repair I cut back past the rot and replaced.

 

[denisejoe]

Thank you for taking the time to respond, suspect we will find something on those lines when we strip things out… did yours cause much structural damage?

I think they had to replace the whole of the back of the van! Think it must have been like it when we bought it. With ours it was definitely caused by the pipe from the shower having come detached. We certainly didn't see any water laying in the shower.

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[maisie50]

I think they had to replace the whole of the back of the van! Think it must have been like it when we bought it. With ours it was definitely caused by the pipe from the shower having come detached. We certainly didn't see any water laying in the shower.

Thanks

 

[Swifter]

I was shared a quote from a fellow funster for a damp repair that was nearly 7k . That’s what I was looking at to get ours repaired. Lucky it was during the Covid lockdown and I was able to spend 2 weeks sorting the problem out .

 

[maisie50]

I was shared a quote from a fellow funster for a damp repair that was nearly 7k . That’s what I was looking at to get ours repaired. Lucky it was during the Covid lockdown and I was able to spend 2 weeks sorting the problem out .

Thank you so much for your input... Did you need an entire floor pan or were you able to Cut back the damaged plywood and Join new flooring as DJL was able to do?

 

[DJL220]

Sorry posted the wrong thread earlier, the one below was the rear of the MH. Very similar repairs to the side/floor though.

Dampness Project - Rear end now!

Following on from my previous damp projects, I am now working on the rear of the motorhome. I am now about to resolve the rear dampness issues on our Bessacarr E795. if you have followed my progress beforehand you will be aware of the dampness issues in the roof and flooring , see links below...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[GJH]

The van only had 14000 miles on it ( at 17 years old) so looked very clean. Had 2 prev owners and the second we bought it from. He’d bought it from a local ( to him) dealer Glossop Caravans, in October 2019 and used it about 4 times. They’d moved house in the meantime so couldn’t find comprehensive paperwork, but MOT was new and was done at Glossop Caravans, and we were able to check that the MOTs had no ‘out of the ordinary’ mileages recorded, on DVLA website.

Small world as I was born and brought up in Glossop - but many years ago
Our van was 2003. It had done around 27.5k miles when the problem was identified.
I can't recall the exact repair cost but think it was about the same as mentioned by denisejoe
If you take it to a reputable leisure vehicle engineer/dealership they should give you a quote.

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[maisie50]

Sorry posted the wrong thread earlier, the one below was the rear of the MH. Very similar repairs to the side/floor though.

Dampness Project - Rear end now!

Following on from my previous damp projects, I am now working on the rear of the motorhome. I am now about to resolve the rear dampness issues on our Bessacarr E795. if you have followed my progress beforehand you will be aware of the dampness issues in the roof and flooring , see links below...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Thank you

 

[The Wino]

It might be worth saying where in the country you are and asking for recommendations of repairers. I'd probably get someone to have a look before you do too much dismantling if you're not likely to repair it yourself. If you're anywhere near I think Cannock resprays have a good reputation

 

[maisie50]

It might be worth saying where in the country you are and asking for recommendations of repairers. I'd probably get someone to have a look before you do too much dismantling if you're not likely to repair it yourself. If you're anywhere near I think Cannock resprays have a good reputation

Thank you, that’s good advice and I should have thought of it !
We are near Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

 

[Swifter]

Here’s the link to my repair . Looking at the pictures reminds me of how emotional I was at the time . I had no experience of this kind of repair but with the advice of fellow funsters, was able to battle through . Although it might not be a professional repair , it’s certainly never stopped us enjoying the Motorhome on a regular basis. I learned so much during those 2 weeks .

☹️ Rotting floor 🙁

Firstly please no digs about Swift of British built vans please . Not in the best of moods after today. Basically I gave the motorhome the first wash of the year today and also a good walk round and check over . Spotted a nasty gap in the sealant between the body trim and the side wall under...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[GJH]

We are near Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

Camper UK in Lincoln are Burstner dealers so should be able to advise.