Nice restoration of your van although a bit worrying to as we've been looking at some pop tops very recently & of course owning a Rapido we would like to stick with the brand. Do you know anything about them or is this the first rebuild you've done?
I would say we are fairly well versed on pop tops in general having had a few, and currently own a fleurette Tamaris. Part of the problem is leaving them outside in the elements. Another issue is any water ingress very quickly spreads to the wood framework, which in turn rusts the staples holding the woodwork together. The rusting of the staples then reacts with the alloy outer panels and causes corrosion, then this causes more water ingress, and so it goes on. All repairable, but as you can see, a lot of hard work. Like any caravan, they are best stored under cover.
Thanks that's good to know as if we ever bought one we'd have no where under cover to put one other than under a tarp or get a cover for one, which would probably be better than nothing but not a good permanent solution.
@@tichwykes Under a tarp outside is a risky business due to the wind moving the tarp and scratching your windows. Cling film on the windows is a good move, but much better storing indoors as a lot of rapidos will fit in a single lock up.
Nice restoration of your van although a bit worrying to as we've been looking at some pop tops very recently & of course owning a Rapido we would like to stick with the brand. Do you know anything about them or is this the first rebuild you've done?
I would say we are fairly well versed on pop tops in general having had a few, and currently own a fleurette Tamaris. Part of the problem is leaving them outside in the elements. Another issue is any water ingress very quickly spreads to the wood framework, which in turn rusts the staples holding the woodwork together. The rusting of the staples then reacts with the alloy outer panels and causes corrosion, then this causes more water ingress, and so it goes on. All repairable, but as you can see, a lot of hard work. Like any caravan, they are best stored under cover.
Thanks that's good to know as if we ever bought one we'd have no where under cover to put one other than under a tarp or get a cover for one, which would probably be better than nothing but not a good permanent solution.
@@tichwykes Under a tarp outside is a risky business due to the wind moving the tarp and scratching your windows. Cling film on the windows is a good move, but much better storing indoors as a lot of rapidos will fit in a single lock up.