Delamination of the Sidewall 2

Conclusion so far:-

The previous repair (done sometime prior to me purchasing) to this area was not successful in that the glue used, stuck to the wood but failed on the polystyrene. There is the start of water ingress at the bottom rail (most probably past a screw) but should be straight forward to fix (as it is not rotten)

The remedy, as a DIY fix, I am going to glue some wood battens to strengthen the whole area and not rely on the bond to the polystyrene alone. The seat back will screw into the new battens.  I think that will help with the rigidity a great deal. The bottom rail (outside) will have to come off for further investigation. See Here.

The window rubber was getting in the way, so it was removed completely. The side seems very flimsy in that bottom left corner of the window. Its all very well having bonded construction, but when there is no bond!!	See the gap in the polystyrene? top left, this may have been the cause of that yucky cover strip as condensation would form there.	Closer view of that polystyrene gap and where the wallboard was scored through. When glued back the join should be behind the pelmet, so it will not be seen.
To find out if the polystyrene had parted company with the aluminium skin, tried tapping, then decided to cut a channel to see, cutting carefully with a knife.	Then used a chisel to remove down to the skin, gently does it.	Took the channel down to the floor. The polystyrene is solid. To strengthen the side up and make sure there is a good bond I am going to use wooden battens.
This part will need re-glueing too. The lines show where I plan to cut the wallboard. The vertical cut going behind the seat side.	Seat side needs to be removed, five screws and it was off.	Where this seat fixing for the seat back goes I plan to put a strenthening batten in. The other fixing (rusty to the right) is loose too.
Removing the cover trim around the water inlet.	Next disconnected the electrical connections (made a note of where they go) and the blue water supply pipe.	Marking out next, used a pencil and straight edge to mark where to cut the wallboard.
Used a ruler and Stanley knife to score the surface, then freehand, kept scoring until through the wallboard.	Again it came away quite easily.	There is another gap in the polystyrene on this side of the window.
The dark strap is a rusty piece of metal plate used to spread the load of the upper side bunk bed, just happens a batten was going to go there.	The bottom of the board. On the right, decided not to take the cut to the floor as it was stuck to the wall very well.	Cut various slots in the polystyrene to take softwood battens. I used par 34mm x 18mm and cut it to 25mm x 18mm to match the original wood. 25mm being the depth of the polystyrene.
Started with the uprights either side of the window. Then the cross pieces for strenthening. Even though they are not glued into place at this stage the whole area became a lot more rigid.	The right upright had to be made like this to miss that metal plate for the bunk. Used wood glue and screws to attach the two together.	Doubled up the pieces over the water heater (seat will be screwed into it) Also using angle brackets, attaching them to the uprights first. When the wood is glued into place screw to the cross pieces. So removed some polystyrene to be able to do that.
Each side of the window extra wood was added to provide a better fixing for the upright of the blind when it goes back on. I had made a note of the position before removing the wallboard.	One of the pieces of wallboard. The old glue was removed with a scraper with the edge filed to make sure it had a sharp edge, took a while.	Now for the glue up. These are the products I used. Soudaflex 40FC- wood to aluminium. Everbuild Instant Nails- wood to polystyrene. See Note A; below.
First the uprights. Applied a bead of Soudaflex to the wood...	and Everbuild Instant Nails to the sides of the polystyrene and pressed into place.	At the window, could use clamps to hold in place at the top.

Note A. 

I used Soudaflex 40FC  for sticking the new wood to the aluminium skin, it has the right properties, i.e. It will stay stuck when there is a little movement. It is a one component polyurethane sealant. Click Here to see the spec sheet.

I used Everbuild Instant Nails  for sticking the new wood to the polystyrene, wallboard to the polystyrene and any wood to wood (I will need a few tubes, so wanted something cost effective) It is a solvent free gap filling adhesive Click Here to see the spec sheet.

 Page Created 19th November 2008/ Updated 7th December 2008