T25 Devon Hi-Top - Rusty roof.

[davegsm82]

I recently (monday) bought a T25 Devon, E-Reg 1988. Underneath is very tidy and I thought I'd found a good one.

Drove it home 110 miles without major incident, speedo cable snapped half way but that's all.

Could smell/feel damp somewhere in the van so decided to do some investigation. I pulled the lining and panneling back along where the roof meets the hi-top. I was absolutely gutted when I saw what was underneath.

11072108_10155298588470321_921874257_n.jpg

From the front to the back, the outer skin where the Hi-top meets the metalwork is gone. It has rotted away completely leaving just crumbly rusty mess laying in the void.

I vaccuumed it all out and ended up with about 3-4 kilos of Van Cancer in my Dyson.

11056647_10155298588855321_2138176278_n.jpg

Structurally it's sound, the gutters have been covered over with strips of folded steel, it's previously had the roof taken off to re-seal it (probably at the same time as the gutters). Obviously not done very well. At some point, possibly factory, 2 'rails' have been added from front to back to support the bed in the roof, the Roll bar type thing across the top of the Hi-Top has been attached to the rails too.

Is it possible to buy replacement panels for the roof? I know technically they are non-structural and if I forgot all about it I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem, but I hate to have my van slowly rotting away.

Dave.

[Plasticman]

Pop a few more pickies of the van and also the roof/gutter area
mm

[davegsm82]

Here's a pic of the bus overall, I'll get some closeups of the gutter tomorrow.

BUS.jpg

You cant see it in the picture very well but at some point previously she's had the gutters covered over. Plates have been formed and pop-riveted over the gutter area, then sealed to the bodywork and painted over at the top and bottom. The paint has cracked in a few places so I think I might be getting water in here, need to have a look when it's raining.

It looks like a very neat job, but the ingress of water tells me something has gone wrong.

Dave.

[davegsm82]

Sorry for the delay, will get some pics up tomorrow, work has been manic.

Dave.

[silverbullet]

If it helps, I have a late type salvaged full roof skin panel available. NW Surrey.

[davegsm82]

Hi Silverbullet,

If I'm honest, I think I will make up some angled steel plates and weld those in place of the original roof skin, since there's no real reason to keep the original profile of the original roof.

If I have a flat section vertically above the gutter then I can fix the roof to this instead, rather than relying on glue and hope.

It's still leaking badly, it rained last night and the cavity was very wet again today. Need to get something sorted ASAP. Considering building a 'car-port' to keep it under until it's sorted good and proper.

Dave.

[Plasticman]

detail picks of the gutters etc if you still need advice
mm

[davegsm82]

Sorry for the horrendous delay.











Dave.

[CovKid]

Everytime i see a high top the story seems to be the same.

[silverbullet]

A bit of time on a folder to make those diguise pieces and an ununformed punter gets caught out.
Obvious if you know your Transporters, leaves a bad taste for the buyer.

Is it me or are there more and more early wbx and aircold campers coming out of the woodwork?

[davegsm82]

WBX?

I'm not sure this was entirely a 'Disguise', since all the metal was still there, sort of, just absolutely rotten by the time I found it. The Gutter coverings were done about 2 years ago apparently.

Dave.