First of all, in the last couple of posts, I was carpeting the inside walls of Nina, I used a heavier lining that I used in Scooby, it wasn't so easy to manipulate, and on top of that, I had tried to save myself some money by buying some cheap and cheerful spray contact adhesive from the local car boot.
The combination of the above, and some very hot muggy weather since, has meant that the glue hasn't set properly and the carpet actually started to peel back down !
I have fixed some of it with some new better branded adhesive, but think I am going to have to peel the whole top away and reglue down to the tops of the window frames, where it appears to be most affected. You will see where its bubbled and peeling in the video below.
That aside, the past couple of days I have been replacing Nina's old skylight with a new one, which needed to be done before I lined the ceiling panel and put back up.
When I took the ceiling panel down, I had to remove the lower half of the existing Ambulance skylight, and ever since, it has leaked. So I decided that as it all had to come off and be cleaned up, and resealed, it would be better if I replaced it altogether and took advantage of a Fiamma 50 vent, that also had the flyscreen and blackout blind attachment.
In this video you can see how easy it was to remove the old one, and the task
I had ahead of me cleaning off the immediate roof and removing the old sealer and ridge fillers, which were made from plywood and black from the damp getting in rotting it all.
Once everything was cleaned up, I temporarily fitted the skylight, but removed the top cover, so that I could pop an arm through and draw around the new skylight base, to see where I needed to put the new ridge fillers, which I made from a foam tile, the brightly coloured jigsaw type ones you get from Tesco etc.
In this photo of me popping out through the big hole, you can see the old sealer and the disgusting mess that is Nina's roof.
I had actually started cleaning here as you can see from the photo, some strong bleach kitchen cleaner, a non scratch sponge scourer, and lots of paper towel.
Lots of determination on my face lol, :P, got the job done as you can see below.
Once it was all clean, I started making the foam ridge fillers, cutting them from a foam tile to size, then using Sikoflex sealer, I started gluing them in to place so they wouldn't move when I was placing the new skylight.
This is all the foam pieces in place and ready for a layer of sikoflex to go all around the top just before I fit it.
Such a nice blue lol, all to be covered up though, so don't get used to it. By the way, how awesome is my solar panel looking ? ;).
So after this photo, I started putting a generous layer of the sikoflex on top of the blue foam pieces and the ridges, as I had done underneath the foam. By the way, Sikoflex is the way to go, its not cheap, £8.65 a tube I think, but after the spray contact adhesive fiasco, I wasn't going to take any chances with the skylight, A: I don't want to have to do the job again when it leaks, and B: I don't want to ruin my nice new carpet lining on the ceiling panel when it goes in. I get it from Screwfix. I used 1 and 2/3 of a tube for the whole job.
Anyway, once the sealer was on, I carefully placed the new skylight down on top, offered up the bottom panel and started screwing them together, effectively sandwiching the roof skin, the foam, and all the sealer together.
This is what it looked like from the top when I finished, don't worry, I was only finishing for the night to let the sealer go off, I intend to go all round the edge again with more sikoflex the next day.
And this is what it looks like from underneath with the posh panel fitted :).
This is 'straight through', those handles have locking lugs built in, so the skylight can't be 'popped' from the top.
This is with the flyscreen across, handy when cooking, the kitchen will be directly under this skylight, keep the flies out put still have ventilation.
And this is with the black out blind across, these skylights let in an enourmous amount of light, if for any reason you are trying to sleep in the day in here, this will block it all.
Of course, it will look heaps better when the ceiling panel is back onand I have repaired that peeling carpet.
I let the sealer go off for 24 hours, then the next day I got my trusty Maplin platform ladder out, climbed up on top, and sealed all around the outside. There is no way water is going to find its way in via my new skylight.... I hope :S.
I was so pleased with myself, I couldn't resist a cheesy 'Selfie' with my masterpiece in the background. Yes, yes, I know the roof needs a proper clean, I WILL get around to it. Honest.
Might even get my hair cut and have a shave too ;).
While I was by the camera at the back, its been playing up lately, the picture keeps spinning like a fruit machine. The little rubber grommet that the wire goes through in to the roof had popped up and let water in, cleaned it all up, popped the gromet back in, and stuck a load of sikoflex around it, works fine now :).
The next job is to line the huge roof panel that goes the length of Nina with carpet, and put it back up, hiding all those cables. Oh, actually, before that quickly fix the wall carpet lining so its not peeling away.
Still loads to do, but things are starting to happen now. I aim to get her finished this year, and next year I have my first official overnight camping trip in her planned, for The Oldies Club's tenth birthday celebrations on a camping site nr Oxford hopefully. So no excuses, Nina's wait to become a camper is almost over :).
See you next time !
Location:Gloucester
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