Fitting awning rails to both sides of the van and wasn’t confident about water tightness. Then found all the horror stories about leaks through the roof rail fittings into the interior of the van. I found this thread which is really helpful:
www.t6forum.com
I don’t intend fitting roof bars / rails though, just awning channel on both sides.
So I removed the rails and discovered I’d crushed the washers supplied with the rail as I think I over tightened them. the silicone sealant did appear to have sealed nicely around the bolts and may have been water tight as they were. But water getting into the van which is a 2019 Caravelle kept me up all night.
This is the solution I used to fit both the rails. I used EDPM roof washers, some stainless steel M6 bolts and some ordinary rubber tap washers (Proper ones)
I tested first using a scrap piece of aluminium the same depth as the awning rail with the bolt / washer combination for 24 hours using an ice cream container filled with water.
Completely leak free after 24 hours and no sealant was used.
I also tested how much torque was needed to compress the EDPM washers sufficiently to create a seal without crushing them too much. 4 Newton Meters was the sweet spot I found.
I used some plastic wedges to keep the rail lifted a bit whilst I lined up the bolts into the holes in the roof. I did still use a little silicone sealant in the bolt holes just as an extra line of defence.
If I was fitting roof rails I would use the method https://www.t6forum.com/threads/roof-rail-leak-free-fixing.6121/ but as I only need awning rails I chose to use bolts for a neater finish.
Using the washer combination also raises the awning rails a few mm’s off the roof. I wanted this to ensure water can drain fRon the roof gutter properly without being trapped in a slight gap between the rail and the roof.
hope this helps someone.
Roof Rail Leak Free Fixing.
Got some ebay roof rails and did not want to gorm silicone into and around the fixing holes. Instead I got some M6 threaded bar cut a little longer than the bolts supplied with the rails. I then used the rubber washers that came off the blanking bolts together with a washer and M6 nyloc nut...
I don’t intend fitting roof bars / rails though, just awning channel on both sides.
So I removed the rails and discovered I’d crushed the washers supplied with the rail as I think I over tightened them. the silicone sealant did appear to have sealed nicely around the bolts and may have been water tight as they were. But water getting into the van which is a 2019 Caravelle kept me up all night.
This is the solution I used to fit both the rails. I used EDPM roof washers, some stainless steel M6 bolts and some ordinary rubber tap washers (Proper ones)
I tested first using a scrap piece of aluminium the same depth as the awning rail with the bolt / washer combination for 24 hours using an ice cream container filled with water.
Completely leak free after 24 hours and no sealant was used.
I also tested how much torque was needed to compress the EDPM washers sufficiently to create a seal without crushing them too much. 4 Newton Meters was the sweet spot I found.
I used some plastic wedges to keep the rail lifted a bit whilst I lined up the bolts into the holes in the roof. I did still use a little silicone sealant in the bolt holes just as an extra line of defence.
If I was fitting roof rails I would use the method https://www.t6forum.com/threads/roof-rail-leak-free-fixing.6121/ but as I only need awning rails I chose to use bolts for a neater finish.
Using the washer combination also raises the awning rails a few mm’s off the roof. I wanted this to ensure water can drain fRon the roof gutter properly without being trapped in a slight gap between the rail and the roof.
hope this helps someone.
Last edited:
