Insert witty title here

[Walrus]

After putting it off until after the welding course and finding somewhere undercover to work, the task has begun.







The roof is held down by tons of gunk and a metal bead, folded over onto the fibeglass base. It's slow and tedious trying to cut the gunk, chisel under the bead and pry it up to free the roof. I've been toying with keeping the better sections of gutter and only replacing what I have to, but I noticed the gutter profile on Alan Schofield:

...is straight, not curved over on the lip. If the curved stuff is NLA it'll be much easier to zip up the gutter with an angle grinder and make access to the gunk/bead much easier, but of course that means replacing all of the gutters - unless anyone has a better suggestion?

[937carrera]

Is this like Working Title Films ?

There are two profiles of gutter, early and late. At least that's what Schofields said to me yesterday when I collected a piece. I'll have a look at what I have tomorrow.

[937carrera]

I had a chance to look today. mine's an early van so this is what I have. Give them a call if the late type isn''t on their website.

[itchyfeet]

[RogerT]

Are you taking the hightop off??

[Walrus]

Yup - but I'm going to put it back again. I did a little more digging (physically and metaphorically) and found actual wetness yesterday (on the hottest dryest day of the year so far) in the seam between the roof and the metal; so it's likely that a lot of the gutter will have to be replaced, even the bits that look ok. so partly for speed or removal I'm going to cut the gutters off, pry up the roof retaining strip so I can see, asses and fix the rot properly. Once I've got it off I will be able to see what the best gutter profile to put back will be, whether it's old, new, or something else.

[Aidan]

the gutters were already full of sealant when I had Beaker, I'll be interested in what you find, is it all original or was it 'topped up' prior to me buying it - there are also I think a few local repairs that Russel did - probably self evident

and it is definitely an original factory high top

[Walrus]

There are 2 layers I can see so far - the original one is filling the gutter and a second one has been added like a 'fillet', up against the roof itself, most obvious on the last pic above (the less rusty right side) where the newer stuff is white and the older is beige. Not got as far as the ends yet - since it'll be just me doing it I've bought some thin, long stanley blades and some cut-proof gloves to work into the end seams (the alternative way to get into the ends I've read about is get some cheese wire and work to cut it from both sides). Yet to see how well it works.

[937carrera]

Have you thought about using a poly strip disc - you can get them for angle grinders or drills

[Walrus]

Not heard of them. Found a few videos on YooToob and they look good - worth a try when I get to that stage.

[937carrera]

I was thinking for this stage to remove the sealer?

[RogerT]

I did the cheese wire thing, used a bicycle brake cabl inner wire. Quite fat (compared to cheese wire) but has a rougher finish - useful for a sawing action, and still capable of cutting fibreglass if you’re not careful...

[Walrus]

I did the cheese wire thing, used a bicycle brake cabl inner wire. Quite fat (compared to cheese wire) but has a rougher finish - useful for a sawing action, and still capable of cutting fibreglass if you’re not careful...

That might work for the front where I can reach both sides at the same time, but the back will still have to be the poke it with a sharp knife method - either way I'll post pics of progress.

Also thinking about reattachment, when the time comes. I've been reading up on sticking GRP to metal, and all the sources I've read so far say it's not an ideal substance to glue (which is probably why the existing roof has a mechanical fix too) - what sticks well to one doesn't stick quite so well to the other. The folded over steel 'bead' has lasted quite well for the most part, but i wondered if there was a more modern alternative? If possible, I'd like to keep some depth in the gutter (for attaching pole awnings etc) rather than just filling it with gunk again.

[Walrus]

No progress this week - in-laws house caught fire so we've been a bit preoccupied! No one hurt, but house wrecked.

[Walrus]

Some progress tonight. Attacked it with the angle grinder, cutting down what looked like 'good' gutter revealed this:

...rusty on the gutter behind the gunk. Away for a few days now - more next week.