Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Thin bits of metal and bright blue light. Including glass & trim.

Moderators: User administrators, Moderators

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

The reasons for this started with the carpet was disintegrating,
fine dust falling out of it, what you dont want to breath..
and then progressed to a complete lack of thermal insulation..
and then, oh, thats why its all so boomy when driving along.

As soon as I started dismantling, I felt the need to see the inside of the gutters,
and sure enough there is water pooling inside the hightop down there.
So glad I am at it, theres a lot of improvements to be made.

I dont want to spend a fortune on materials, so will be using what I have.
Although open to suggestions please for economical materials,/techniques.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

Previously just replaced the skylight for new Fiamma.
Peeeled off the carpet,
unscrewed some wood,
I will try to get a couple of pics up of the mess and water.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

IMG_1280.jpg
(87.32 KiB) Downloaded 52 times
IMG_1279.jpg
(66.02 KiB) Downloaded 52 times
IMG_1278.jpg
(63.01 KiB) Downloaded 52 times


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

Fortunately there seems to be no rust,
the roof has been very well glass fibre bonded to the van,
creating fibreglass "gutters" on the inside.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

The plan is to glue some closed cell foam directly to the inside fibreglass,
then glue some felt to the inside of that, ...testing in progress.
Trying out plain old silicone sealant as the glue.
Probably going to keep it as simple and versatile as possible.
So basically all bed and stuff space, with some tie down/lashing points.
Bit of a squeeze up there for an adult, but we do have two small kids.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

IMG_1282.jpg
(40.42 KiB) Downloaded 46 times


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

Black felt, siliconed to a sample of the foam.
Must add to the thermal and acoustic factor.
Feels good to fit.
Plenty of slip to allow for good fit.
Felt is old theatre blackout drape.
Very warm, certified fire retarded too.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
slowcoach
Registered user
Posts: 1575
Joined: 06 May 2010, 10:23
80-90 Mem No: 8892
Location: West Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by slowcoach »

Interesting thread, I'm about to refurb and line the underside of my fibreglass poptop.
Also using closed cell foam roll, and then probably carpet.currently only headlining just stretched below the bare roof (which makes condensation).

Any reason you're not using spray glue like the stuff used to carpet line vans? Seems more appropriate and easier than a silicone caulk gun?
===================
1984 TRAKKA Conversion Subaru EJ20 5 Speed

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

I could try it, but on the occasions I have used it before its been really messy,
and not so easy to rearrange, slide into place..
I get it everywhere, I dont know why. Sticky!

Willing to give it another go, I can do a test patch.
If it peels off and re-attaches ok, might be good for large panels.
If its hard to pull off, it might start to pull off the foam.
Think I may prefer the slow setting, slippy, silicone.

My test patch is feeling very secure already after a couple of hours.

I have removed quite a few wooden panels that had no sound or thermal behind,
they allowed condensation behind them and it ran down to the gutters, trapped there.
Also I think they provided sound boxes for more booming.
Re-doing it by glueing straight to the fibreglass will cure all that.

Also I have to say the felt on foam feels soft warm and luxurious!

I wonder about testing it with a valet type of cleaning machine,
would be great if it stood up to that too.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

What a can of worms,
the water inside is more than I expected.

Scraping the carpet glue off is not easy from the glass fibre rough surface,
make a start with an ice scraper and move on to rough sandpaper,
on a little detail sander with the vacuum plugged into it, just about bearable.

Then thoughts turn to how to deal with potential water buildup again in the future,
or how to prevent it at least.
Still thinking, seems like the bilges in there.

Glad to remove all the hidden sogginess, this is a top down job,
expecting a similar state lower down later, when inside the van gets the treatment.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

Test patch was disappointing in the end, as I glued the felt to shiny side of foam.
It peeled off easier than I had hoped, leading me to think that I might try a different glue.
After scouring the foam a bit and trying the silicone again its much better,
though I suspect the foam has some kind of release agent still on it.
I will be trying the commercial roll of insulation/sound deadener,
its not a lot of money to save and it may well do a far better job.
..or not, lets see!
There are probably places to make savings using odd bits, and places not to.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

Fugeh
Registered user
Posts: 193
Joined: 27 Jun 2019, 12:37
80-90 Mem No: 0

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by Fugeh »

Thanks for your posts - mines in a similar state and will need tackling soon, so this will be a good point of reference.
88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

A bit more of the saga today.

After sleeping on the "bilge" issue I have come to terms with it,
and for the future I will build that into the design,
leaving access to checking and cleaning, and so on, seems important.
Dont think I could ever be sure that condensation or leaks didnt arrive there.

So on the water ingress, I am certain that the majority is leaking in from outside,
mostly from the side windows in the roof, around the rubber seals.
I can watch it coming in on a rainy day and running down.

So the question is how do we seal the seals, notably when into a fibreglass surround?
I am tempted to inject some silicone, but is there something more "professional"?
Something flexible, I am thinking similar to waxoil, that repells water?
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

User avatar
slowcoach
Registered user
Posts: 1575
Joined: 06 May 2010, 10:23
80-90 Mem No: 8892
Location: West Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by slowcoach »

'Captain Tolley's creeping crack cure'.. good stuff, look it up :-)
===================
1984 TRAKKA Conversion Subaru EJ20 5 Speed

User avatar
rollercoaster
Registered user
Posts: 897
Joined: 10 Dec 2008, 20:30
80-90 Mem No: 6231
Location: Carmarthenshire Ceridigion border

Re: Sheldon Hightop Interior Refurb

Post by rollercoaster »

I have some of that for using on the caravan seams.
Reading the bottle it does say rubber and perspex amongst other materials.
Will give that a go, although it does say it should be dry first,
whereas it is rumoured to be able to fix leaks in boats even under water!

It is expensive stuff..
Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Learn as if you were to live forever

Syncro Danbury 2.0 petrol AGG
 

Post Reply