Cracks around back window of 21 foot vanHello

I've never heard of this.

Are you talking about the outside wall cladding or the inside wall cladding?

I would have thought that the window frame (in the van frame work) was too solid to move to create a crack in any cladding.

Alan

Yes, I agree with Alan. As far as I know this has not happened before and if indeed they are cracks in the exterior or interior cladding, it would almost certainly have to be related to a frame failure.

Cheers,

Hello there these are some photos of the cracks around the rear window in our bushtracker caravan. I would be extremely surprised if this is a one off problem. Simon and Deb

I too have cracks in the external cladding, but at both cargo doors,
Windows at this point are still OK.








Cheers Ken

Hi cobar,

Just confirming I have seen similar cracks before. Friends have a 20" van with middle shower/toilet and a lounge at the back. Above the lounge is a big window spanning across the rear of the van. I saw at least one crack at each side at the bottom end of the window - similar to your photos. I think their van is from 2010 and did a lot of k's on dirt/gravel. As far as I know they haven't taken any action so far, but I reckon it would be worth contacting BT to see what their take is on the matter.

Wow Those cracks look serious and looks like a resking would be the only fix. We have done 70-80k in our van and quite a bit of that was on dirt road but thankfully we have no signs of cracks (touch wood) ours is a 2008 19ft

Trust you can resolve the issues

Alan

Thank you for your responses . I contacted BT HQ early last week by phone and they suggested I drill the end of the cracks and fill them with Sikaflex . I said that because of the distance the van had travelled I think it is an engineering or design problem and would they come to the party to repair it . the answer , predictably , NO . So I Emailed the photos to them and asked what they suggest I could do and I would ask around to see if any one else had the same problem . No answer to my Email and the query I posted on the BT Forum was not put up !. Happy Travels Simon and Deb

Wikipedia ...

" The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the first production commercial jetliner.[N 2] Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at its Hatfield Aerodrome, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, the Comet 1 prototype first flew on 27 July 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines buried in the wings, a pressurised fuselage, and large square windows. For the era, it offered a relatively quiet, comfortable passenger cabin and showed signs of being a commercial success at its 1952 debut.

A year after entering commercial service the Comets began suffering problems, with three of them breaking up during mid-flight in well-publicised accidents. This was later found to be due to catastrophic metal fatigue in the airframes, not well understood at the time. The Comet was withdrawn from service and extensively tested to discover the cause; the first incident had been incorrectly blamed on adverse weather. Design flaws, including dangerous stresses at the corners of the square windows and installation methodology, were ultimately identified. As a result, the Comet was extensively redesigned with oval windows, structural reinforcement and other changes. Rival manufacturers meanwhile heeded the lessons learned from the Comet while developing their own aircraft.

Although sales never fully recovered, the improved Comet 2 and the prototype Comet 3 culminated in the redesigned Comet 4 series which debuted in 1958 and had a productive career of over 30 years. The Comet was adapted for a variety of military roles such as VIP, medical and passenger transport, as well as surveillance. The most extensive modification resulted in a specialised maritime patrol aircraft variant, the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod. Nimrod remained in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) until June 2011, over 60 years after the Comet's first flight."

I'm no metallurgist, but I guess you would call this metal fatigue or stress relief. If it's a design fault, you'd surely expect to see it in all 21' Vans with a back window. I don't understand what you would repeatedly have to do to the back wall to make this happen.

Cheers,

Hello again thanks for the replies , I agree that if it is an engineering or design fault all 21ft Vans would show this problem however it would be 2009 models as you wouldn't know what changes could have been made to materials and frames etc. before and after 2009 . I am not an engineer but I do own heavy earthmoving equipment so have had a bit to do with metal fatigue and cracks so assume that the back window has to be moving in and out which is unlikely or more likely the sides of the Van are moving up and down . If the Van didn't have a rear window the cladding may not crack but flex and move at the cladding joins . I know it moves on the side cladding because after a run on a dirt road in the rain, in several places, there were black run marks down the sides of the Van below the cladding joins . In saying that I realise that it has to move some where, it can't be perfectly rigid but the flexing must be spread over as big an area as possible, so on the back of the Van the weakest point will be the corners of the window . Fun and games, happy travels . Simon and Deb .

Hi Bill and Karen here
We have a 2010 20ft with a rear lounge and a large rear window and also have cracks in three of the four corners of the outside cladding have injected some sikaflex to seal them.

Hello Bill and Karen how many Klms has your Van travelled and over what sort of roads ? As I have said our Van has not covered many Klms and I don't believe it has been on excessively rough roads, it hasn't even seen any corrugations . My concern is what is going to happen when I do get to the Great Central Gibb River etc. the cracks in the photos developed on a 600 Klms trip. Like you I am going to drill the ends of the cracks and fill with Sikaflex but don't have much faith in this . Shouldn't have to do this to a $120K of road Van. Safe travels Simon and Deb

Hi Simon and Deb
Our van has done a lot of dirt around 10000 kms however we are very aware of the need to deflate tyres when necessary and travel slowly to suit conditions. I think the rear lounge and large rear window has a lot to do with the problem. All of the above klms have been done with 2 other Bushtrackers at the same pace which have rear showers and a smaller rear window and they have no cracks.
Regards Bill and Karen.

Hi Cobar

Have you recieved a reply to your email from the factory yet ?
Seems to be more than an isolated case, by several more reports here now.

I have drilled and sikaflexed my cracks now, but that may only be covering up an unseen more serious problem, would be good to know why they are cracking.

Cheers Ken

Hello Ken no haven't had any reply from BT HQ and don't realy expect one but I bet they are watching this site. I don't think there is any serious problem if you can discount the cladding cracking, but how far will the cracks go. I certainly believe the big back window is the problem but it is nice to have that window there with the rear lounge . So I guess prospective new BT buyers beware . Happy Travels Simon and Deb