Pete and Tracey Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hi guys,We are in Mount Isa at the moment and after riding out the remidents of the cyclone we have found that the fantastic hatch leaks fom around the edges of the internal shroud. Not a big leak just a drop every 30 sec or so but enough to drip directly on our bed! The bed is at the front of the van and the fantastic hatch is on the slope of the roof. We also discovered that the speaker on the other end of the van was full of water as well, wet under the foam insulation after removing it. Has anyone experienced this and how did you fix it? There is no caravan repairers here in the Isa and we are going to Alice in a few weeks. Might wait till then, any reccomendations as to who to see in the Alice?This is not making us happy as now we are worried about the roof rotting. So much money and I believe it at least should be water proof!Any ideas? Thanks for any replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy379 Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 G'day Pete and Tracey, A quick fix would be a couple of tubes of Roof and Gutter sealant and a mastic gun,Have some soap and water mixed and a blunt knife to spread the sealant you could check your Wynguard antennathey have a rubber grommet that could come lose, check to see if you have any water ponding on the roofGood luck ,Tom and Jacky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayzee Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hi Pete & Tracey,Back in 2006 the suspension on our offroad camper trailer collapsed about 250km out of Alice on the Tanami track. We had it collected by Outback Recovery Service and delivered to Aaron Caravans at Alice Springs. Sorry don't have the phone no. or address but it was based in a caravan park and the guy's name was Paul. Anyway after the parts arrived from Qld they did a great job of repairing the trailer and no further problems while we owned it up to 2009 when we finally got our new Kedron. Hope this is of some help. By the way we are completely happy with Tom and the boys at Kedron who have been great with in, and out of warranty repairs at no cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John and Ann Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Hi Pete & Tracey,We met in the Isa, Kedron newbies you spoke to.I believe the caravan repairer in Alice was at the Heritage Caravan Park but is no longer there. I suggest you get is looked at before you leave as you would have more options I would think. :thumbsup: Safe travels... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussnSue Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Hi guys,We are in Mount Isa at the moment and after riding out the remidents of the cyclone we have found that the fantastic hatch leaks fom around the edges of the internal shroud. Not a big leak just a drop every 30 sec or so but enough to drip directly on our bed! The bed is at the front of the van and the fantastic hatch is on the slope of the roof. We also discovered that the speaker on the other end of the van was full of water as well, wet under the foam insulation after removing it. Has anyone experienced this and how did you fix it? There is no caravan repairers here in the Isa and we are going to Alice in a few weeks. Might wait till then, any reccomendations as to who to see in the Alice?This is not making us happy as now we are worried about the roof rotting. So much money and I believe it at least should be water proof!Any ideas? Thanks for any replies.Hi,we had exactly the same issue a couple of weeks ago. Close inspection showed that the water was ingressing under the silicon sealant both where it covered the hatch and where it covered the aluminium sheeting of the roof. Even though there is probably a couple of kilograms of sealant around the hatch, it was never going to stay sealed because the surfaces it was laid onto had never been keyed (roughed up) before it was applied. I found this out when I stripped the old sealant away.Anyway, after roughing up both the vent surface and the roof sheeting I applied 2 tubes of sikaflex sealant in a colour that pretty closely matches the van cladding and it has fixed the problem. Trouble is, now the 4 season hatch has started to leak and it will be the same thing.....so I've got to get up and do that one next.Not happy Jan. Paid a lot of money for this van and I expected better workmanship than this. Keying surfaces is a very FUNDAMENTAL procedure when applying sealant and it should have been done.CheersRuss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John and Ann Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Hi Rus,Ditto from me!! The quality of the product and experience of the person applying it is the key, more is never better. It's scary up there, on the ruf that is. But then I am told it is par for the course within the industry.Good luck with the next repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacky Jacky Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Not that this helps Pete and Tracey right now - but I was out at the factory recently and saw that a 'shower shed' has been set up under a carport type structure with water sprinklers on the ceiling of the shed and all along the sides. Each van now goes through this for testing for leaks prior to handover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glacier Bill Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 We too have had roof leaking problems from when we picked up our Top Ender. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement (we expected better). Kedron tracked it down to a solar panel mount leaking. I asked David why they don't use sikaflex and his reply was too messy and wouldn't be any better. Maybe it's more to do with sika being more expensive or maybe it's too hard to dismantle items its used on as it is an adhesive as well, but will never let go or deteriorate with age as silicon does. I couldn't believe the amount of silicon used to seal the roof, but if it's not in the right place I guess it's not going to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam S Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Hi all just a quick note to say we too have had a leak in or Top Ender traced it down to the solar panel wiring. The water leak has blistered and cracked our ceiling which on 2 different occasions David has been asked to repair. It seems that Kedron are unable or unwilling to do this repair so I am left with a water damaged ceiling for ever more. I have been a solar installer for 20 odd years and if I was to run my wires through metal in the way that Kedron do I would lose my BCSE licence!See you on the road somedayAdam and Lynda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete and Tracey Posted March 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Thanks for all the replies everyone.Well.......here is the story so far. I comprehensively email Kedron with Pictures and full description of our leaking roof and to their credit called me the next day. Tom did.....I didn't get to far with Tom as he said, in a nutshell, that "these things happen" and that you should get the caravan resealed every twelve months to satisfy the insurance people re water leaks etc. Does that sound right to you? Do you need to have this done every year or two? Who does it?I found a caravan repair bloke here in the Alice. Nice bloke, the company is JC's Caravan Repairs (08) 8953 5155 Mob 0429 700 986 for future reference. He spent an hour and a half around the van with me explaining where to seal up and what to repair etc. He said the silastic that the manufactures use is very average and to replace it with gutter and roof as it's designed to be in the weather. Or better still, sikaflex as some of you have mentioned. To get him to do it was a couple of days work @ $90 hr plus consumables. That adds up!!So..........what I think we will do is go get some roof and gutter for now, do the three hatches and the bead along the edge of the roof. Tom recommended to the bead along the roof edge under the trimming and around the screws, why this was not done on manufacture I don't know!?! Underneath and mounting brackets of the solar panels and air conditioner I will need a hand with.Any comment's or hint's before I get stuck in? I have taken on board the roughing up of the surfaces etc that was mentioned in the previous posts. This whole water leaking episode has taken the shine off owning the Top Ender unfortunately. We love the van but for the money we expected to have it fairly maintenance free for at least 3 years! That's why we paid so much, hassle free on our working holiday around Australia. Oh well, as I was told "these things happen" I guess. :-)Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickA Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Hi Pete & Tracey I would be contacting Glen or David at Kedron immediately and tell them that story.I would be very surprised if you do not get a more positive result than talking to Tom!!CheersRick & Lea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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