Awning Rail Damage
Dear all
Caught the back nearside on my gate post. This has broken the awning rail (scratched the body work as well but it's an old caravan so not too worried).
See photos.
I've been trying for ages to get someone to fix it. No one seems to want the job. Any tips?
Can I have a go at patching this up?
(Based in Manchester in case anyone is able to help locally)
Comments
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If you have a local caravan repairer they might possibly have a length of the correct profile and with care you could cut out the damaged section and patch a bit in!Otherwise it is a new rail.Do you have caravan insurance?
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We arrived at a site, having negotiated a fairly narrow and twisty B road, the only way to get there, which was quite busy with transit type work vans and large SUVs, and discovered some offside rear damage to the awning rail along with a small dent in the van side immediately forward of the awning rail.
It is at exactly the height of the large mirrors on these vehicles, there are no scratches so it was something rounded and plastic. We assume some passing vehicle of this type has clipped the rear corner of the van with their mirror on a bend. We felt nothing, but the driver of the vehicle must have been aware of what happened.
The damage is minimal, the small dent and a flattened bit of awning rail, the sealant appears intact. At our next service we asked our dealer to check that there was no chance of water ingress as inside the van at that point is our shower compartment, so the area cannot be tested for damp.
They took a look and said it looked OK, but that the only way to be 100% certain was to remove and replace the awning rail. As these curved rails are almost impossible to remove without getting deformed, they did not want to attempt it as body parts for our 15 year old van are no longer available from Swift.
The damage in the photo is obviously much worse and does need to be sorted, I would be claiming on our insurance, but if it is a van of the same age as ours, a new rail may not be available and the suggestion above may be the only remedy. Some sort of repair is certainly needed to keep the van watertight.
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