Door seals.
Submitted: Friday, Aug 01, 2008 at 08:00
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Boystoy
The seals on the door frame seem to have shrunken, leaving a gap of about 12mm above & below the door handle catch. When the door is closed there is an open space big enough for the largest flying or crawling nasty to get in.
It would be a simple solution to buy new seals of the correct length & install them.
Has anyone done this? & how did you go about it. The seals seem to be immovable, at least without removing the door frame.
Anyone have any clues before we disappear into the digestive system of some bug?
Neil & Pat
Reply By: Rockgoc - Friday, Aug 01, 2008 at 08:19
Friday, Aug 01, 2008 at 08:19
Neil and Pat, I am thinking that you have the usual door seals, but have only just noticed the gap which they all have around the door latch. The way around the bug problem is to buy what is called a Schlegal Caterpiller......the only way I can describe this thing is to say it is a length of hairy plastic which you buy from any CAMEC shop. The way it works is ....you thread it into a small channel on the side of the door, and pull it up and the hairy bits kind of seal the gap at the door latch and the bugs can't get past it and into the van.
The "Brushy thing" is called a Schlegel Caterpillar and you can buy from Camec.
Camec part No.024716. This info is from Bob aka "Turist" and he can better describe how to fit it. It wasn't hard though once we could see the little groove up the side of the door, and worked out this is where the edge of the plastic/rubber type strip goes to attach it.
Hope this helps! Cheers, Jan O
AnswerID:
575677
Follow Up By: Noosa Fox - Friday, Aug 01, 2008 at 20:20
Friday, Aug 01, 2008 at 20:20
Jan,
I think you will find that your hairy caterpillar only fits doors that were manufactured in the last few years.
The rest of us with older vans do NOT have the slot to slide it into.
Brian
FollowupID:
849985
Reply By: Boystoy - Sunday, Aug 03, 2008 at 20:26
Sunday, Aug 03, 2008 at 20:26
Thanks for the advice, will check out the catapillar when we get back to civilisation in a couple of months time. Our van is 2004 vintage so will need to check compatability.
In the meantime I made up a "bush fix" which seems to work.
I used black fabric duct tape 50mm wide.
Cut two lengths about 150mm long.
Stick them together allowing about 8-10mm overlap.
Cut the strip in half lengthwise.
Stick the strip around the door latches on the door frame.
This effectively covers the holes in the seal. It does not give a complete seal, but excludes the light from around the latch & doesn't attract the bugs.
Not 100% fix, but much - much better & simple to do.
Neil
AnswerID:
575678
