Hi, it's a long story but I am now the proud owner of a Pan Familia. The van has been standing for quite some time and needs remedial work to the roof. It looks like a previous owner has fitted a sky light which has leaked and the innner roof lining is ruined. My first option is to remove the skylight and patch it but a simpler option would be to replace the pop up roof entirely. I have looked at some caravan breakers but found nothing. Is it difficult to source second hand parts for these as I would like to restore to near original condition? Any guidance would be gratefully accepted. Also how can I tell from the serial number what year it was made?

Thanks in advance.

sorry I cant help you with the roof. Good luck!

Hi zillion

Pictures would be a great help to members to see what you have to work with. Posting pics here can be a job in it self, a link to your own online storage maybe a better option for you.

As you've found these vans don't have an abundance of second hand parts, sounds as this job is a diy, replacement or a professional repair.why someone would even consider hacking the pop up and make a poor seal or even consider fitting a skylight is beyond me.

Hope you manage to restore your van as you wish to

Phillip.

Hi Zillon,

If I understand correctly you have a hole in your pop top roof (formerly a roof vent) and damage to the insulation and lining.
Assuming that getting a replacement roof is not a viable option and you don't want to fit another roof vent, I think the best plan would be to fix it and would suggest doing it in stages, first fixing the shell the attending to the lining. You can plug the hole using fibreglass which isn't as difficult to use as you may think. Have a look at West System Epoxy. They do various kits. I would tackle this as follows;

Remove any damaged lining / insulation from a couple of inches around the hole.
make a plywood patch (coated with epoxy) to attach to the inside of the hole.
Apply fibreglass mat to top of roof in layers keeping it below the final surface.
Bring the level up to the rest of the roof level with a marine epoxy filler and sand smooth.
Either repaint the roof, or maybe just go for a contrasting patch.

I have done a similar job on a wooden sailing boat to plug up an outboard motor hole, which worked and looked great when finished.

That would make the roof watertight again. Making the interior satisfactory would need a bit more thought depending on the nature of your lining.

If you want to discuss further maybe send me a private message.

regards
Steve

and good luck with your project.

Tom and Margaret

Thanks for your offer and advice
I'll need to get the roof off first and evaluate the full extent of the damage. The inner lining is damaged and has come away so I think this will have to be completely removed. I have attached a photo roof.png - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte). I want to get it water tight as soon as I can as I just have it covered with a tarpaulin at the moment which isn't ideal.

I've done a bit of fibre glassing in the past so I'll give it a go.The epoxy is available on Amazon so I'll get some of that as well. Not the best time of year to be working on the van though is it!

Thanks once again.

Thanks for your support.

this stuff looks interesting for final finishing off.

https://www.marinesuppliesdirect.co.uk/w...baths-622-p.asp

Used to be branded as plastic padding gelcoat repair.