Dinitrol

Oops!

Forgot a complete post!

Between our sojourn with the Cathcarts and Dethfest came a bizarre few days at Mercury RV Ltd in the Kent countryside near Faversham

Having left Pat & Jane to head home due north after our London trip we head off to have the 'van' undersealed with Dinitrol

Having spent the night in their yard we present ourselves next day to the pleasant Irish guy who set about getting Tasca off the floor to work underneath on him

Nina's stress levels were at an all time high and she wasn't convinced about the safety of the jacks

Tbh I was apprehensive having never seen this done before but we stood back nervously

In unison the jacks send him upwards and 13.3 Tonnes are lifted easy peasy

A chance now to see the state of the underside

The verdict is an official "Its actually not bad really"

So some form of relief there. I'd been told that they never look pretty underneath and structural failure is almost unheard of but I had my reasons to get the job done

Possibly the worst of the corrosion can be seen here on the box steel sections that make up the support steelwork for the slides and lockers

All this metalwork is fabricated on site by Winnebago and welded/bolted to the main chassis during construction. In our case, in 2007

The problem is its not then rustproofed or protected in any way as the Yanks rely on sheer thickness of steel to combat any future corrosion issues

Call me Mr Paranoia but those welds need some TLC! 

Broken welds ten years down the line wil not be appreciated so we laid down the money...

First the total underside gets a steam clean to remove the dirt then allowed to dry

Rust inhibitor is applied which turns black as it react with the rust

Wax is injected in to cavities 

Then 12 litres of this stuff, 4941 gets sprayed all over anything metal (and a few other places) by the guy (wearing no protection at all I add) using a high pressure lance and an air compressor

Hey presto...

A diiferent vehicle...

A vast improvement cosmetically but of course a few trips in the rain will make it look like a normal truck again

The reassuring thing though is the corrosion has been stopped in its tracks and I have the ability to 'touch up' where necessary in the future with the same product by using their convenient half litre aerosols

I guess most folks would not be bothered going to these lengths to protect their vehicles but we have peace of mind now knowing when we are parked for months on end on the numerous European shorelines that salt corrosion in the air won't affect us too much