New member needs help with Apollo revamp

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zildjian
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Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13749Post zildjian
June 18th, 2016, 12:59 pm

We offer a buyers guide to anybody contemplating a camper,
For all popular UK brands,

Apollo are common and cheap as used units but almost inevitably require a level of DIY to rectify their damp issues,
Take a deep breath and then decide how much needs chopping out and renewing,
Members here frequently do this and all the advice is right here.

Rocket_man
Posts: 42
Joined: June 14th, 2016, 7:48 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire

Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13750Post Rocket_man
June 18th, 2016, 1:28 pm

Thanks Zildjian,

We paid about £6500 for the unit, just hoping this is not a waste of good money.

Are the frames made of aluminium or just wood? I am happy to refit it out, but obviously I do not want a money pit.

We are going to try and get to meet you guys in Devon and then hopefully you all can have a look how bad or hopefully not so bad our unit is.

At the moment we trying to free up the aluminium legs, they have fused together from weathering. So if we come to Devon we will have to bring it on the Mazda 2500 that the unit came with. Let's hope this is reliable.

Cheers

Tim

Que
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Joined: January 26th, 2015, 9:57 pm

Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13751Post Que
June 18th, 2016, 3:56 pm

Hi Tim
We had similar issues with wet when we bought ours, due to a bodged Heki roof light retro fit. I rebuilt the front end bed area from inside out replacing all of the damaged timber and properly reinforcing the roof light. The construction is Aluminium skin, (very thin) backed by 3mm ply about 20mm of polystyrene insulation and 3mm vinyl covered 3mm ply wall board. The frame is about 45mm by 20mm timber glued and stapled. The quote for this repair from two sources was £3200 as they wanted to strip the ali skin and work from outside in. I did it myself at very little cost working from inside. The wall board can be obtained online, I'll search out the info for you. You can send them a sample and they will try to match it and send you several near samples for you to pick the best match.

It's possible if you have a vent behind the microwave that the vent needs removing and resealing, in fact I recommend that all of your windows and vents are removed, cleaned and resealed. Apollo told us that all external trims need resealing every two years!

If you come to the Devon meet I'll bring a damp meter with me and have a poke around and see how far the damp has got and give you some pointers to how I tackled the repairs.

The legs, see if you can get hold of a piece of tube to fit inside the leg, the same diameter as the internal tube and use it to drift them apart, gently, make sure all external screws have been removed first though.
Nissan D40 KingCab
Apollo Demountable
Weston-Super-Mare

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zildjian
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Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13752Post zildjian
June 18th, 2016, 4:47 pm

All good advice there and I can't add much to that beyond the fact Mazda have so far proved very reliable,
Plan A for me would have been take camper and Mazda, sell truck off on Ebay to recoup money on Apollo,
In this instance some time and effort is required but other than that it would be about the same.

Expect that leg has corroded slightly without use if not slightly bent, doesn't sound the end of the world, lets see if you can join us in Devon and give you some pointers/cheer you up :)

In consolation the site we booked a 'campsite' for tonight but seemed to arrived at a military Base, 'hard standing' see (runway)

Rocket_man
Posts: 42
Joined: June 14th, 2016, 7:48 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire

Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13753Post Rocket_man
June 18th, 2016, 4:55 pm

Thanks Que ( Bonds gadget man ),

Thanks for all the helpful information. It will really beneficial to get to meet you guys in Devon.

Regarding the legs, we have tried lots of things to free them apart. Even put a rod in the tube and hit the rod, hoping to push the inner tube out, but it would not budge.

Regarding the leak/s or damp in our unit, I think it would be good to get a professional to strip out all the awful mastic job which is there now and have it replaced looking a lot neater. Then once I know it is definitely water tight I can start to re panel etc. I hope all the structure timber is ok. Does anyone know any companies they will remove the old mastic and re seal all the windows,doors and roof etc?

Rocket_man
Posts: 42
Joined: June 14th, 2016, 7:48 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire

Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13754Post Rocket_man
June 18th, 2016, 5:09 pm

Zildjian, do we need to phone up and book the campsite for Friday next week, or have you reserved plenty of spaces?

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zildjian
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Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13755Post zildjian
June 18th, 2016, 5:51 pm

Plenty of spaces they told me, as the actual runway is not being used either for weekend,
there will be power available too so bring a hook up cable!


if you'd like to speak to them beforehand
01297 680259
mark or debs

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zildjian
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Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13762Post zildjian
June 18th, 2016, 8:20 pm

This damp rebuild might be useful about now,

and Mike will be in Devon with this camper in a week too

FinAde
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Joined: September 16th, 2014, 8:13 am
Location: Somerset, nr Wedmore

Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13765Post FinAde
June 18th, 2016, 8:52 pm

Hi Tim,
We have an Apollo too. If your happy doing DIY, this will come in handy with Apollo Motorhomes. We've refurbished our legs. However our legs are the electric type. We've also had damp issues and replaced rotted timber. Time and patience needed when replacing the wood I've found, its a basic timber frame construction. Happy to answer any questions you might have. We will be at the gathering in Devon next weekend.
Tischer 230
VW Amarok

Rocket_man
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Joined: June 14th, 2016, 7:48 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire

Re: New member needs help with Apollo revamp

Post: # 13766Post Rocket_man
June 18th, 2016, 9:52 pm

All you guys are so helpful and already make me feel better about my damp problem ( no not on about my underpants!). We will make sure we get down for Thursday or Friday next week to the airfield campsite. Maybe I can get mobile number from Zildjian or Mike in case we need to call. I am happy to give mine to you guys, maybe via email.

When we come down with the Apollo and the truck, we will leave the Apollo pretty much as it is. Just make it nice to camp in for the time being.

Thanks

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