Leaking skirt locker in new van

We've just bought a new Broadway. Twice now, once after driving home and once after a wet weekend in outside storage, we have found a pool of water in the bottom of the locker. There is no sign of flexing or damage to the door seal and it is not heavily loaded.  We pointed the water out to the dealer who is of the opinion that this is a wet locker and so we should not expect it to be watertight.

This does not seem either likely or reasonable. Some of the things we want to store in there- tools etc- should be kept dry.  

Does anyone else have leaks into this " wet" locker ?

Q

The Windsor has been like that from new AS reconned it wasnt supposed to be waterproof. 
For a couple of years I bunged the drain holes at the ends up but it didnt make any difference. 
Saw a Sigma where the owner had put extra rubber strip on the edge that the locker door mates upto and that seemed to work. Havnt got round to playing with it yet.  
Depends if the current Broadway is same as older models (Broadway was a renamed Sigma)for you to play

Thanks roli. I must admit to being a bit gobsmacked by your reply ! I really did think it must be a leak and not something accepted by AS as part of the design. It can' t be difficult to make that locker watertight surely.

We'll have a look at various ways of sealing or protecting it.

Q

Wet locker? Well not according to the A/S website.
http://www.auto-sleepers.com/coachbuilt/peugeot
If you click on the locker 'feature buttons' .......it provides weatherproof storage for outdoor accessories.... It even mentions tools! 
If mine I'd go back to the dealer and if no joy straight to A/S.
It's not difficult to design an outside locker that doesn't let water in.

John

My new 2014 Broadway EB locker is watertight, done 3500 miles now in all weathers and totally dry.

John.

Thank you very much Johns both. That information is excellent and I'd missed the bit on the website completely.
We're going out to the van with a watering can this morning to see if we can identify exactly where the water is getting in. 

It's good to have it confirmed that this should not happen.

Q

Hope you can get things sorted.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.

John

My new Broadway skirt locker also let in water, noticed the door was slightly out of line. Got the dealer to adjust it. Now ok.

Thanks Bad Penny and John.  Our dealer did tighten the already firm lock mechanism on Wednesday. Our watering can tests this morning however let in yet more water. We think we have identified where. The door seems to be quite square on to the van but there is some sign that the seal might not be as good as it should be in one place.

We have looked at putting a length of Fiamma drip strip guttering over the top though this would mean buying the more expensive longer piece of strip. We are loathe to do this if it is as simple as a faulty seal.

Q

Hi there
From your avatar location I assume you purchased new from M at Newbury? I would guess the A/S service centre is probably no more than 50-60 miles from there. I think I would be tempted to book it in for warranty work at the centre. They really know what they are doing and will undoubtedly have the knowledge. It's a new van, you want it to be right and your dealer doesn't appear to have a handle on it.
All the best

John

We have the same problem, also with a brand new Broadway. We took it back to the dealers for other work and when we mentioned water in the skirt locker the mechanic said " well it is a wet locker"  - no not according to A/S brochure. We are getting half a pint of water slushing around the bottom! We were told that the locker comes complete with the skirt when it is installed. Our locker door is slightly out of alignment with the skirt. So I asked if this could be adjusted, as it may help to seal it up when closed. When we collected the van at the end of the day, it was obvious it hadn't been done! The coment was that they had done the best they could and they said they had put a little bit of grease on the rubber seal. Well it seems that they don't seem to be bothered. I know I can sort it myself but you shouldn't have to as it is a new and 'expensive' motorhome. We are having to take the van to A/S for other warranty work so we will raise this problem with them then.

Thank you both. We've raised the matter with AS and await their reply. 

Yes, John, You're right !

Q

Quilter wrote:Thank you both. We've raised the matter with AS and await their reply. 

Yes, John, You're right !

Q

Did you get a reply?

Our locker door was supplied with a panel fit which would have made Trabant blush. There was water up to the level of the bottom of the door and no drain-holes in the base. I received the "wet-locker" speech from the dealer on hand-over, who said that the door fit "might be adjustable", fearing the hammer against glass-fibre treatment, I, having much larger fish to fry with them, said that I would look at it myself and get back to them.
The door fit is not adjustable, as the hinges are pop-rived through the glass-fibre (in 40 years of working with glass-fibre racing and sports cars I have never seen this method used, except in cases of extreme desperation, as the compressive action of the rivet gun inevitably stress-cracks the 'glass).
I have drilled 12mm drain holes in the locker base and will drill out the pop-rivets securing the hinges and replace them with stainless screws, washers and Nylok nuts, adjusting the fit and straightening the (bent) hinges to make the door square. I don't thing that the seal fitted by A-S is optimum for the application and will look at a more appropriate profile.

Pete Taylor wrote:


Did you get a reply?

Not just a reply Pete but a solution.

AS put a supporting strut under the whole locker to lift it slightly and so make sure that the rubber seals fitted firmly together.  

This seems to have done the trick. We have had it for almost a year now and it has been driven and parked in some of the most atrociously wet and windy conditions in Spain, France and UK without a single drop of water entering the locker.

Q

The rubber seal on the door should seal onto the glass fibre of the body.  If the door gets pulled slightly down the rubber seal comes up against the trim round the edge.  This does not give a seal.  Autosleepers added an aluminium strut under the base of the locker to stop the distortion.  This has cured the problem.
The other problem with the design is that water running down the wall of the van is pulled by surface tension round into the locker and then any small gap will leak.  I would have put a rail across the top of the door to make the water shed.  (As over the main door)

The other point is that pre 2014 the door was not intended to seal and it was listed as a wet locker.

When I caravaned I had the same problem with an Eldiss van and was told it is not meant to be watertight the van was new and it was that way when I sold it 3 years later.

Recently took delivery of a new Nuevo EK on a Fiat Ducato and just discovered a wet skirt locker. I have already had a few problems resolved after our first snagging trip away and will have to take this up with Marquis, Durham along with a couple of additional minor problems.
I cannot see the point of fitting a locker to a vehicle that is not water tight!! it would seriously restrict what can be stored there - tools would rust, boots would get soaked, etc.
Apart from this we love the van and are amazed at the amount of storage inside - which will hopefully remain free of water!!

Our June 2013 Broadway's has absolutely no sign of water in the locker, nor has it ever had. On handover, we were told it was a wet locker, but, for putting wet items in, not because it let in water. ( i asked them to clarify what they meant)
If mine seals properly, they should all seal, they are not designed to let water in, or why would they have a rubber seal round the opening?
Somebody is telling porkies to cover up poor QC....
The only leaks we got in the van was the inner step where the little black mat was soaking wet after a rainy trip.
I fixed that by modifying the side vents in the step housing
Allan

We had problems with water in the skirt locker from day one wth our 2014 Broadway. About half a pint every time it rained. We took it to MotorPlus in Derby for a number of issues including this pool of water in the locker. Their reaction was, well it is a wet locker! Most people know a wet locker is for wet boots etc, and not suppose to be wet before you put them in there! I put a small amount of sealant along the seam just above the locker, still water coming in. I knew it wasn't the seal around the door as this was always bone dry, and the small drainage hole at back of the locker are in the wrong place as the floor of the locker slants to the front. Next was a trip to Autosleepers for other more serious issues. Whilst there, I asked Mark if he could adjust the two locks on the locker door so that it would line up properly with the rest of the skirt. This they did, hoping also that it would solve the leaking problem. No, sorry, still pools of water under the rubber matting. I then decided to try and work out where the water was coming from, hoping it wasn't from further up inside the side panel. I even used a mirror and my digital camera in the locker, as I couldn't get my big head far enough in to see the sides! Guess what, I found that high up on the inside of the locker, well inside, on either side was dripping wet to touch! Some of you will know that If you look carefully at the construction of the skirt either side of the locker, it is made up of two horizontal overlapping sections, which I would have thought are suppose to be watertight. I carefully ran small neat strips of caravan sealant along these seams and then waited for heavy rain, and hey presto a completely dry, wet locker. That was about ten months ago and we have never had any more problems with unusual water pools in the wet locker. What worries me is that these seams are along all the skirting, so I hope it is not causing problems elsewhere!

Hope this solution helps.
Pete

PS. I didn't meant to rabbit on so much, but it is a frustrating unecesary issue with a simple practical solution, in my case. Why should we all have to be put through this?

Ah but...if you read my original post and the AS solution to the leaking locker, then our leak had a different cause and so a different solution. AS were straight up about it being a locker that was intended to remain dry inside. Only the dealer suggested a " wet locker" was not supposed to be waterproof.

Over one year on now and the AS support strut solution is still effective.

Q

Q, I wonder if the supporting strut that AS fitted on yours, also pulled tightly together the two parts of the skirting either side of your locker that I could see were leaking in mine i.e the areas that I have now sealed. Maybe our two problems have more in common than you think.
Pete

P.S. Just remembered, I maybe wrong but at the time Mark did suggest to me that the locker box and surrounding skirt came as a complete unit when factory fitted.

I don' t think so Pete. We went over every inch of the locker and poured water on it from every angle. There were no faulty joins anywhere. What was happening was that the locker floor was not stiff enough, the hinges were bending down and the rubber was coming up against the plasticised cloth seal not the plastic wall as designed. Once the bottom of the locker was supported and did not sag then all was well.

The sagging was not due to overloading: the leak happened when there was practically nothing in.

Q, so sorry to hear about the problem you had with your locker. Sounds to me like a manufacturing defect. I would thought they should have at least replaced the complete locker with a new one. The locker box and floor on mine is quite rigid and the the door, hinges and locks all work well. Fortunately I have managed to cure my leaks. We are in Austria at the moment and up until now we have had hot sunny weather. However the gods are taking it out on us on this site at the moment, with continuous thunder and lightning and torrential rain. I will be checking my wet locker in the morning!!!
Pete

Thanks Pete. Fingers crossed and it' s water under the bridge now...

We're currently in southern France and, for the first time for 4 weeks, we are expecting rain tomorrow. A good day to remove the inches of dust from inside the van and, if it' s not cold rain, perhaps to remove a few thousand splattered insects from the outside.

Take care in your storm and I hope all is dry afterwards.

Q

Locker all dry this morning Q. Southern France is beautiful, have been to the Carmargue. We have now moved onto Sportcamp Woferlgut near Zell am See, bottom of the Grossglockner Pass. Third time we have been here. Great site. Weather hot this morning, now more thunder and rain. Sorry moderator I am digressing. 
Pete