As regular readers may know know, I might have mentioned that J was due to take Brian all the way to Romsey to Dormobile so that he could have a new roof.
We had a quote done over the email, and when I described the problems we were having, Jim said he thought he knew what the problem was. Although we had a few problems with Brian the weekend before he went down, (I.e. he completely stopped and had to be AA'd home!) it all worked out fine in the end.
Brian ended up here. Dormobile, Romsey, In the South.
When Brian's roof was 'persuaded' to open, it looked like this. This is not good. This is the original canvas.
Jim, Pete and Paul had a good look and several things were clear to them.
1) The canvas had shrunk.
2) The canvas was torn.
3) The retaining strips weren't screwed down properly. Or even drilled through the cap. Or anything!
4)The lifting arms were on the wrong way around. The front one was at the back and the back one was at the front. This meant that as we tried to lift it, we were actually working against the spring that was supposed to be helping us. Not only that, but the bolt that was supposed to poke the switch to put out the light to tell the driver the roof was down was at the wrong end of the van. *sigh*
Anyway. To continue.....
The roof was cut away using a Stanley knife, the hinges were undone, and this happened.
The roof was craned off and put on a set of trestles. This was the first picture that I had sent up to me.
On closer inspection, it appeared that the hinge wood was as rotten as a pear. Now, one of the reasons that we made the effort to get Brian to Dormobile was so that, in the event of anything unforeseen occurring, it could be dealt with. After all, they did the job 42 years ago! (Well, not these actual people, you understand!)
The rotten wood was removed....
..... and Pete made new ones. Just like that!
Meanwhile, Paul was removing canvas and screws and stuff.
The new wood was installed.
The view from inside Brian.
Pete fiberglassed the new wood.....
..... and that was that bit done!
The following day the canvas was put in to the roof. I thought that the cap (as is the proper name for the white bit!) would have to be on there first, but no! Shows what I know!
Then it was back on the crane again.
And there is the roof, back where it should be.
The hinges were attached and the cap lifted to enable the hoops to go on and the arms and the canvas to be stretched over the lot.
The hoops were put back in.
The retaining strips were put on.
Pete and Paul trimmed off the excess.
This is Brian, completed in the workshop.....
.....and this is he, 24 hours later, parked up at the lakes, roof up ready to go!
The roof curtains need turning around, because they are upside down compared to those side curtains.
It is nice to have a fully functioning roof. I like it, and I'm only 5ft3! J, being 6ft2, likes it more, although we were both still crouching down for a bit, before we remembered that we had a good 8ft of space above us!
The roof however, is finished, and we are very grateful to Jim, Paul and Pete, who allowed J to help, take pictures, took him to and from his overnight accommodation, and bent over backwards to get the job done as soon and as quickly as possible. They are a lovely bunch of people working for a jolly professional company!
Next job is fitting the bunks. As they are a little rusty, this could take some time.....
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