Rotting away

[Tassietransit]

Hi all,

I bought a 1990 camper conversion from some rip off merchant in London! After telling me it doesn't leak (from the pop top) and a few other lies I handed over the 2000 pounds and went on my way! Admittingly I should have looked harded at the van as underneath is totally rusted out! The pop top leaked very bad the first day it rained and got no better until I found some Marine silicone in france! Now 2 months into the trip (Now in Portugal) the front suspension support rust just snapped off! Thank god I was in portugal because they fixed it for me costing only 200 Euros and have done such a good job! Now for the problem! The Pop top is on of those really heavy 4 folding piece's of wood with a roof ontop set up, it is held on the roof with screws through the roof and I have found this out because now it is pretty much not connected to the roof anymore! Thank god there is no rain forecast for the next week! The wood has just rotted all the way through! I was wondering if anywhere I could find a lighter easy to fit pop top around southern Portugal or Spain? If so, how easy are they to fit! Honestly I have the worst luck with added stupidity, I dont want to take it apart and not be able to put it back together again!

Thanks for reading my novel!

[Burgman]

hi, Sorry to hear about your woes, I got caught by a 'honest' guy too, believed in what he said, usual car salesman patter, I didn't look closely underneath until two days later.

Front: cross member rotted, chassis ends rotted, spring hangers rotted.
Rear: Cross member / panel rotted, chassis ends rotted, spring hangers rotted...............the list goes on,

If I can work out how to remove the cupboards & floor so I can get welding it should be great when it's done. I didn't think I was spending nearly £2k for a restoration project, Wife's not happy

No help to you I know but you're not the only one, look on the bright side, help is on this forum.

Worse things happen at sea.

[Luke]

Tassietransit can you post some pics of the areas - pop tops are all different it would be easier to advise if we could see whicj type you have

but it might be easier to fit a high roof - i take it it's a swb van

[darkbluevanman]

Your not the first and you won't be the last.... once bought a lovely mk1 capri in the 80's looked mint! oh dear, it wasn't too lazy to look underneath!...
Couple of year back bought a transit that looked the same, bit of rust on the arches (not aware that they rotted badly underneath!), same thing... many days welding, new mot and tax... plyed out, alarm, sec' locks etc... got nicked 2 weeks after being on road GRRRRR I hope they crashed into a tree and burnt to death

[Burgman]

Hi Tassie Transit,

From how you describe your pop up roof I think it may be a conversion by 'Auto sleeper', if so, I think it looks worse than it is, the ply sides can easily be replaced by using marine ply wood cutting out the holes for the windows and re-painting before fitting. Doing it yourself you'll know it's done properly.

Personally I like the 'solid' pop up roof compared to the material type.

sorry I can't help more but the support is here on the forum.