Offside cill corrosion

We have quite bad rusting of the offside cill on out Symphony.
The vehicle is really sound overall, despite a lack of undersealing. I think that this is a result of ingress of rain through the apertures of the electrical connection, the heater flue and the fresh water inlet.

This is not structural, but very unsightly. I have extensive welding capacity and I have repaired the damage. Has anyone else noted this problem?

I would suggest checking the sealing around these fittings and maybe giving some thought to Waxoyl or similar insertions to the closed sections.

Not a Symphony - but my Transit-based '99 Flair rusted very badly under the Cascade water heater, for the reason you say - the sealing around the flue was very poor from the factory. Add to that the fact that there was almost no rustproofing to the base vehicle and it was quickly looking shabby - it had rusted right through from the inside out by the time the van was 6 years old or so!

The great thing about Transits is that repair panel are cheap - IIRC the half panel below the middle windows on the O/S was only £12! Needless to say it was well waxoyled once welded up with a new panel, but if I had known about the amount of water that seeps in around a Carver I would have done it as soon as I bought the van.

I've repaired / replaced the sills on the offside and the bits behind the rear wheels on both sides.

Frank

I have exactly the same issue on our 2003 Symbol.  just in front of rear wheel, in the area below electrical input etc.
How easy is it to get waxoyl into this cavity ?

You can always drill a small hole into the cavity, squirt in the waxoyl then seal the hole with a rubber bung, which I believe Waxoyl also supply

I have a 18 year old Symbol, (2000) and because of extensive rust had the offside sill replaced in 2017.  As far as I am aware rust of the sills on the Peugeot Boxer base van is a common problem.  The near side sill only needed slight attention.  I agree with your comments as to the possible cause.

I have made a few holes along the length of the cill. I pushed a schutz gun in and sprayed compound in. Closed holes with bling grommets I have reinforced the van panel where the Carver frame is screwed on. Very poor arrangement, just a few self tappers holding it on. Plenty of non setting compound to seal the joint.

Our Duetto had the same problem, rusty panel and sill under the water heater vent. The people that did the repairs to ours took the water heater out to repair the panel and sill and found the floor under the heater was rotten as well. They said one of the reasons for the rust is condensation from heater being warm and the van body being colder. 
The frustrating  part with ours is the fact that I payed to have the van rust proofed when we bought it costing a lot of money. One year later I found rust in places they hadnt treated, not part of the structural body so they said. 
I did publish the rust issues with our van. We now have a coach build to hopefully lessen the pain of rotten vans.

Same as Frank....

I extensively repaired offside sill inside and out and the bits behind the rear wheels on our 1996 Symphony. Properly, with a welder, rather than the 19 years of bodge that had been done previously! Had to extensively fabricate the rear corner inner sections but should last longer than the rest of the van now!

One thing I did notice while grinding off old crap was that the van bodies are obviously made with both sliding door apertures in the factory and then a panel is welded in, and seams filled, on the side not needed, in our case the offside. If all the other vans out there are like mine 'workmanship' is not a phrase that can be attributed to the effort made in this process!

Horobi wrote:Had to extensively fabricate the rear corner inner sections but should last longer than the rest of the van now!

Same here! The outer sections too behind the corner bumpers on both sides - the offside was the worst.

Frank