Stanton bathroom- swing wall out of "hinges"!

Just getting ready for our first trip after an enforced lay-up and discovered that the swing-wall/basin in the bathroom appears to have dropped out of the top "hinge", see photo. I cant see that there is any way of adjusting this or the bottom one, the wall seems to rely upon the distance between the ceiling and floor being a certain dimension, which ours now clearly is not! Has anyone else suffered from this and if so, how did you fix it? Rather ironically, we have never used the bathroom in our van, always stay on sites with facilities, so it is effect brand new!

Second shot shows temporary fix using plastic bits to lift door so top hinge is in place; also weged door up with rubber!

I've e-mail Alan Curry at A-S for advice, btw and will publish any replies.

Also got a new electrical issue- see separate thread.   

Hi Pete something has moved I guess the base is favourite can you see any marks or is sealant above shower tray that would indicate a drop
Gef

I see what you mean about the dimensions Pete, and that's quite a big gap you have chocked up.

I would get it checked as soon as possible if I were you, as it looks like the floor may have dropped - or the roof is about to fly off!

Both sound very improbable, but I can't think why else the door appears to have shrunk!

That's mighty peculiar... Just went to check mine, and whilst it seems OK, I found it very hard to lift it. I assume that there must be some adjusting collar or similar, to have enabled AS to slot in the unit. I've not opened the back of the swing unit (yet) but I know that Gromit has; Gromit: I don't suppose you can recall whether , when the rear panel is off, it's possible to look down inside the unit at the hinge to see if there's some adjusting collar or other mechanism?

Wasn't paying any attention to that I'm afraid, but from what I recall it might be possible to use a mirror to look down and/or up

I think it's another call to get Mark's opinion. A strange one indeed.

Pete on a wc there is a large rubber washer between flush and base which might get you out of trouble If you have a diy store near

I spoke with Mark at A-S and he said that they have come across this occasionally in the past. Unfortunately there is no adjustment apart from packing down the bathroom roof; done by removing the light fitting and roof vent frame and inserting a packing piece when the door is in the correct position. Not, in my mind, an elegant engineering solution!

What I am going to do is fit a 12mm polypropylene packing piece under the door to lift it into position. Obviously the packer will have to be in two pieces in order to fit it- see sketch.

gef- thanks for your suggestion, it think we were thinking along the same lines.

Pete Taylor wrote:What I am going to do is fit a 12mm polypropylene packing piece under the door to lift it into position. Obviously the packer will have to be in two pieces in order to fit it- see sketch.

Good solution Pete - probably the only practical one in fact.

Might it be worth getting some thick(ish) silicone tape for the top surface of your packing piece in order to make it slippery? Otherwise you might get nasty graunching noises and do further damage when you swing the wall.

Just a thought.

Actually; on a £65k van this is a * Inappropriate Word *-poor piece of engineering design, are all the A-S coach-builts like this?

Have to agree Pete, looking at your pictures it is pretty rustic engineering. Over something that height there should be some means of adjustment built-in, or at least much longer locating spigots. Like you say, it's not like it's had a lot of use.
Al.

Stunning build quality and to admit they have had it happen in the past and not recalled or modified this poorly engineered  installation beggers belief! What is going on at the factory and when will they take their responsibilities seriously in a van of that value? So much for quality control/ constant improvement..... If the floor has not dropped could it be that a packing piece in the roof placed there during construction to bodge the install has moved allowing the moulding to spring up and create the gap. When will Autosleepers themselves monitor this forum like Swift and others do on other motorhome forums and see what is happening out there.

Actually looking at the first photo the upper white plastic roof moulding is sitting about half an inch above the dark wood panel on the left so it could be just as I said a wedge placed at manufacture to force the moulding down to locate on top of the dark wood wall and engage the hinge spigot has came loose. Quality build indeed! It is examples like this that make me wish some forum members would wake up and smell the coffee when it comes to quality issues experienced time and time again. It looks like they are relying on the thin cross section of the door mould to provide a reliable hinge action where proper nylon adjustable sections should be used at the very least where friction  will occur due to use.

Assuming the lower spigot is as short as the top one, the problem I can see by lifting the swing wall by 12mm is that will leave very little contact area on the base spigot, and it may fracture as a result. I would sooner get AS to sort the roof moulding out, less stress there. 
Like has been said, this van is only a few years old, fittings such as this should last 25 years plus with normal use..
Al.

Oh dear, my reply yesterday seems to have got lost! 
I had exactly the same problem just before my first habitation service.  Marquis sorted it - I suspect with an appropriate wedge, but I have not looked, even when I swappped out the bathroom light which had failed for an LED one.
I suspect that it has to be done that way so that there are no fixings to rust.

Thanks for your input folks. My take on it, as has been suggested, is that some sort of packing is introduced onto the roof during assembly and, possibly due to bouncing along the roads of Europe, this has become dislodged (how else can they assemble the door into position?).

The lower spigot does appear longer than the top one, on inspection. The gap is 15mm- the size of those bits of mini-trunking that I've wedged in and the top of the door is currently hard against the ceiling; the polyprop that I have ordered is 12mm thick, so that should give me 3mm clearance in finished state.

Before I set about this I might well take out the light fitting and roof vent but we are shortly "on the road again", so we'll see.

Pete is there any mileage  in considering a small soft tyre and tube if any orifice is large enough and inflating to the exact gap you need?
Gef

Pete what about using polystyrene insulation block even from discarded packaging? This would be stiff enough and easily carved to shape and thickness to force the roof moulding down enough to engage securely the hinged door spigot.criminal in a van costing as much I agree but would get you on the road .Just chalk it up to another example of A/s outstanding engineering prowess and quality! Main thing is, get use of the van you paid so much for.

Hi all,
I am not sure of the protocol on these forums but I have just joined and not introduced myself  but having bought our  Broadway last November we noticed the same problem while driving the vehicle home following our purchase. I was concerned that there may be a serious structural problem when this "swing out wall" came out of its socket. We took it back to Marquis in Ipswich and aparently they inserted some bush on the lower part. But as there seems to be others having the same problem, I assume it is some design fault rather than the "structural issue".
We have not used the van yet, our maiden trip is to France next month so I will have a better idea if the fix is fit for purpose after the holiday.

I hope that the problem has been sorted by the factory. I will go ape if the same happened with our Bourton that we are waiting for.

Peter

As a bystander on this issue, the photos posted surely show a very poor design.
Not owning such an arrangement it's difficult to make a contribution, however, this swing out arrangement presumably is manufactured by a third party company?
i have seen similar (if not the same) in other motorhomes.
Would it be possible to find out who manufactures these items and contact them regarding how they are installed?

Is it poor design or poor installation?
There may be an 'approved' fix.

PB

I would suggest PTFE sheet:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/231388603870?chn=ps&adgroupid=33676502101&rlsatarget=pla-271883417435&abcId=893836&adtype=pla&merchantid=113633432&poi=&googleloc=9046124&device=c&campaignid=707291931&crdt=0

for example.

Thanks folks. I am using a PTFE sheet 10mm thick and in a moment of pure comedy today I carefully cut the first side with a jig saw, only to find that the ragged-edge swarf had welded itself back together after the blade had passed! New, smaller tooth, plastic blades are on order!

I have the same problem in my recently purchased 2017 Stanton!
Seems the factory is ignoring it.
I've made a temporary repair with 2 rubber door wedges and will be contacting the dealer and Auto Sleepers.

As previously mentioned the shower wall has dropped on our Stanton , I rang Auto Sleepers and Mark returned my call very promptly.
He said problem was a warranty issue and would be resolved as such.
I've decided to get it sorted on my next habitation service early next year.
I'm quite happy with this but it's a shame the problem is still occurring with newer vans.

Pete Taylor wrote:Thanks folks. I am using a PTFE sheet 10mm thick and in a moment of pure comedy today I carefully cut the first side with a jig saw, only to find that the ragged-edge swarf had welded itself back together after the blade had passed! New, smaller tooth, plastic blades are on order!

Try welding teflon when you want or need to!

If your jig saw is variable speed, use the lowest speed and the coarsest blade you have.

Dennis