Hello, Martin. Your excellent and comprehensive article about the Suntrekker on your website convinced me to leave a search on Ebay until I found a very original, low mileage unmessed one and then eventually found a low mileage Nissan Navara single cab to mount it on - perfect. I have just bought a similarly low mileage 4WD version after a two year search. I have had two summers of enjoyment with the demountable and have carried out many mods - Propex/new skylights/solar panel/blinds,etc. However, the one problem which is driving me mad is the ingress of water through the rear door seal and presumably through the mitres of the door frame ( I think the frame is somewhat structural - holding the back of the shell together. As well as the condensation which prevails on the inside of the door. I have been considering various options, including a made to measure household door and frame which I don't think would look much worse than the original aluminium one. I have looked at caravan/motorhome doors and frames but they have a radius on each corner and tend to be smaller than the aperture on the Suntrekker. Do you have the same problem with water ingress or any ideas for a remedy? Many thanks Peter HannifanHi Peter,
Thanks very much for your message. I'm afraid I don't have the Suntrekker any more and I'm not sure I can be of much help but, yeah, those aluminium back doors are a real pain aren't they? I managed to reduce the condensation problem by double-glazing both bits of the door with sheets of acrylic plastic from B&Q. While experimenting I just stuck them in place with gaffer tape but, had we kept the camper, I probably would have worked out a more permanent and attractive way of fixing them. It was a reasonably successful job - we didn't get the huge build-up of condensation on the glass, and it was noticably warmer, but inevitably we still got condensation on the aluminium frame. It just makes a perfect bridge to the cold air outside. I did contemplate completely dismantling the door (pretty easy to do with just two screws at each corner, as I recall) so that I could try filling the aluminium profiles with expanding foam but, again, I never got around to doing it before we sold the camper.
The biggest problem we faced with our door was that the nylon washers in the hinges had worn out so that the door sagged, causing it to snag at the bottom and leak at the top. Needless to say, I couldn't find matching aluminium hinges anywhere but I did manage to get all-nylon hinges, almost the same size, from www.isaaclord.co.uk. I just had to remove a very small bit of ali profile to get them to fit but they made excellent replacements and completely sorted that problem. As I recall I also attempted to limit the possibility of further leakage by sticking a length of Fiamma Drip Stop (http://www.agentfiamma.co.uk/fiamma-drip-stop-300-75.html) above the door.
Apart from that, I don't recall that we ever had major problems with leaks around the door unless the rain was really blowing directly at it in which case the rather pathetic 'felt' sealing strip against which the door closed was pretty ineffective. I think, as you say, the frame of the door is structural and so you're inevitably stuck with the square corners which makes replacement of the whole door quite difficult. Given that, I wonder if you might find something useful from www.sealsdirect.co.uk. They have the most amazing range of seals in every conceivable profile and there may well be something there which would give you an idea to pursue. I hope so.
Good luck.
Regards,
Martin |