Day 155 / 2016 - Stuffing the Worms Back in the Can

Time to put the worms back in the can and finish off the grab rail at the rear of the van.

A few weeks back Retreat Caravans came to the party and supplied us with a new rear Grab Rail free of charge. They didn't have to as the van was out of warranty but we really appreciated their gesture. They also included free delivery to our location in Walkamin North Queensland as well as a tube of silicone. They were unable to include the labour as part of the deal but I wasn't to worried about that as I intended to put the bar back onto the van. We have been really happy with all the service we have received so far over the years from Retreat they have really gone above and beyond to support their product.

Since corrosion had occured with the old rail between the nickle plated mounting plate and the Aluminum cladding of the van to prevent it happenning again we bought some gasket material from an auto supplier to separate the two surfaces. Cutting it into round disks I gooped up with silicone filling all the cavity between the gasket and grab rail's mounting plate. After leaving it for a few days to dry we put it up against the back of the van. The bar length was slightly shorter (by a few milimetres) from the original so opted to redrill new holes instead of trying to line up the old ones.

We assumed (I know a dangerous thing to do) there would be nothing behind the cladding as the holes were almost in the same location just rotated around a couple of degrees. Drilling all the holes the last one I hit something just bellow the surface which we assumed (again dangerous) a staple or another screw holding somthing else in place. I was concerned I would drill through into the shower recess or the mirror on the other side so put some taped around the drill bit from the tip same length as the mounting screws.

I applied more silicone goop to fill in all the cavities this time between the gasket and caravan wall. I made sure there was plenty of goop and as we screwed the bar to the wall silicone squeezed out so I was belived we had put enough in there. I was able to use all the original screws except for the one that we had hit something and couldn't drill the full depth where using a shorter screw surficed. I then sealed all the screw heads with silicone for some added protection. I didn't silicone on the concealment caps as we damaged the old ones trying t pry them off.

At the end I was pretty happy with the finished job although there were a few gosh dams through the process (my wife had to turn the TV up) the bar I found to be an awkward thing to put on and was a bit of a pain not being able to use the old screw holes. Then there is the fear of did I seal all the holes as water is sneaky and always seems to find its way in but I felt confident the gaskets and silicone should provide a good seal.