Leaks....

Try visiting your local caravan accessory shop. have a look at

Ged

The 'tarry gunk' is possibly dum-dum sealant which is actually really good stuff, and is also used for sealing the windows in. It only costs about £4 for a tin and can be applied easily outside as it doesnt need time to try (it stays wet for years). I touched my series roof up with that and it worked pretty well.

I have also put a lot of effort into sealing up the leaky roof on my

101, for this i used silicone sealant. If you do this, then make sure it is real silicone stuff not an alternative 'sealant' (real silicone costs a lot more but works much better!). The pretend sealants take a lot more work to get a proper seal with and take longer to dry (which is very relevant when you are working outside on a roof in UK weather!)

I'm planning to remove all the tarry gunk that seals the gutters (and is all cracked and leaky) and replace it with something else (possibly bathroom sealant).

Any ideas chaps?

Many thanks

DH

GASP! Expect a Series not to leak?

Seriously though, I had the same problem with the truck cab roof, left the old stuff in place (too much like hard work removing it) and got some silicone sealer from the local body shop, quite thin stuff that just poured, and I kept pouring till the old sealer was covered up. Stands up to the Queensland sun nicely, and no leaks from there.

Lots of leaks from other places, but then it's not often that it rains here, and when it does, it knows how to rain properly ... 3" in an hour is not unheard of. So everything gets wet anyway, but at least the driver's seat no longer has a pool of water in the middle.

Karen

Also be aware that some "silicone" sealants release Acetic Acid when curing (you can smell it), this may or may not be a good idea to have on or near metal panels...

Have you tried taking the whole rear tub off. It's a weekends worth of work, but good fun. The thick rubber seal that runs between the body and rear tub was a big cause of leaks in our SIII. The rubber can be bought from Paddocks/Craddocks for a few quid. The main leak was from the side panel/roof join. Water tracked back under the gutter and ran in under the tar/hessian seal. We cut it back flush and covered with silicone.

Less soggy carpets these days. David

Beginning to think that removing the roof and starting from scratch is the way to go. Trouble is (like you said) it's a weekend's work and will need a weekend with no water falling from the sky. I assume I'll need a few people to help me lift the damn thing off too (it's an 88 hardtop).

Many thanks for the help

DH

Only 2 people required - even with the sides attached its surprisingly light.

Richard

My 10 year old son and I lifted the hardtop onto my SWB together - they're more awkward than heavy.

what you want to get is polyurethane sealant , its comes under various makes but a commonly used type in car repairing is SIKAFLEX 221 .

it will stick or seal just about anything and will seal youre gutter easily .

costs around 7 pounds per tube but you need the longer mastic gun to carry the poly sealant tubes, ie a 300mm long gun .

when applying it you just lay a bead of sealant along down in the gutter and then get youre finger and a cup of either white spirit or synthetic thinners and after wetting finger you just drag it along to form a nice uniform shaped fillet . with wetting the finger youll make the surface of sealant slippery and easy to manipulate into shape .

you can put on vinyl gloves if you want proper protection from the chemicals but most of use just apply the sealant and then clean our hand straight afterwards .

you can buy the poly sealant in various colours but usually its mostly supplied in white or black .

you can paint over it .

just allow about 8 hours for the sealant to go off , in normal temps . longer in cold .

if you use silicone sealant you wont be able to paint over it, paint wont stick to it .

In news: snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com, m0bcg blithered:

Supposed to be wonderful for repairing Convex All Stars skateboarding sneakers!

Siliconesealant( onmating surfaces) - buy from local buildr's merchants for about £1.50 (plus 47p for 'gun'). As you don'tpaint mating surface between w/s top & roof, roof to side top s etc, lack of paint adhesion is irrelevant. I'm assuming you use 'gutters' to mean 'mating faces'etc. Leftover 'gum'can be usd in bathroom and onhouse gutters etc. My niternet connection isintermittent soany disagreements or flames should be pm'dor emailed.Fixabove workedformee....

Many thanks for all your help chaps all gratefully received.

Removed the whole roof on Saturday and scraped all the old gunk out with a heat gun & a scraper. Re-sealed it all with polyurethane sealant and then rivetted the bugger back on. Job's a good 'un (needless to say my wrists are hurting like hell!)

The tragic ending is that I popped out to a mate's house earlier (after a thunderous downpour) and the =A3$%&ing thing still leaks!!! It's getting into the channel above the windscren where the whole roof assembly bolts on to the rest of the vehicle. I'm thinking about running a bead along the inside too as a last resort.

I'll be in the garage tearing my hair out....

DH

OK, where is the water ending up? If it's ending up inside the channel in the roof, the leak can only be in the roof where it joins the channel (or within the roof itself, if it's ever been drilled for lamps etc) and it can only be that seam. More sealer required.

If it's coming in at the roof, and pouring down the windscreen or sidescreens, the leak is caused by the rubber seal between the roof panel & the top of the screens. Change the seal.

And we're not ALL chaps here :)

Karen

Removed the whole roof on Saturday and scraped all the old gunk out with a heat gun & a scraper. Re-sealed it all with polyurethane sealant and then rivetted the bugger back on. Job's a good 'un (needless to say my wrists are hurting like hell!)

The tragic ending is that I popped out to a mate's house earlier (after a thunderous downpour) and the £$%&ing thing still leaks!!! It's getting into the channel above the windscren where the whole roof assembly bolts on to the rest of the vehicle. I'm thinking about running a bead along the inside too as a last resort.

I'll be in the garage tearing my hair out....

DH