Club 80-90 Forums

So, maiden voyage over, after 18 months of restoration..!
Van really ran well.. bought a Vango faros low awning, fixed with pole and clamp into the gutter..
Couple of gripes, the pole seemed to stop the rain flowing down the gutter, hence leaked inside the awning, also as faros awning has the awning beading inside the sleeve, this fouls on the sliding door closure..
Was looking to fit an awning rail to the high top, so this seems the obvious thing to do.
Plan to fit a 3m rail, with tiger seal as the bond.
Would rather not put holes in the high top!
It’s a common question I know, but has anyone used just adhesive to attach the rail?

Think people use that stuff to bond a high top to the van so should be no problem sticking an awning rail

Not sure I would trust just tiger seal to hold an awning rail onto your van.

I used Sikaflex to bond the hitop to the van, but appreciate the rail would have more of a shear force and so....
If I have to fasten would probably go with stainless bolts through with spreader plates on the inside.
Don’t like the idea of sticking holes in 30+ year old fibre glass though..!!

My camper came with a good awning which slotted into the white plastic figure of eight pieces and onto the guttering, could never get them to stick to the guttering unless pointing down at an angle which would then snag on the sliding door, any other angle and they would just unclip from the guttering.  Tried rising the poles so they were higher at one end compensating for the angle, then secured the figure of eight with duct tape at intervals to hold in place, ie gaps between where the awning slid into the figure of eight, this meant cutting the figure of eight to allow these gaps and duct tape to body below gutter. Obviously not water tight between these gaps but did allow me to use the awning.

So bought a 3m length of rail to attach to my hi top.
Will use Sikaflex and also nit and bolt through to spreader washers with stainless bolts.
Due to the hi top interior, the area at the ends of the rail are not accessible from the inside, so my question is what self tappers/ screws have people used in the fibreglass...?

Cheers

We bonded a reimo rail to a T5 without the self tapping screws.
Can't recall the sikaflex type (they are not all the same), but the black stuff which comes with the rail is mega strong.

Soudal make a black PU panel bond and it sticks like the proverbial. Easily as good as Tigerseal, if not better.