Happy New Year Everyone! Hopefully it will be better than last year!
I have a problem with some of the screws holding the rear pop-top handle in place in my caravan. They both keep unscrewing and cannot be tightened. See the attached photo.
My caravan is a Golf 390 Savannah Maxxi. I don't know whether the manufacturer over tightened the screws initially and shredded the thread, or whether there was simply no wood in the roof into which the screws could bind.
I was thinking of squirting some "builders bog" or other type of adhesive into the holes and screwing in the screws, and hope they bind to the metal of the screws and the roof material.
If there is already wood behind that and the screws have just stripped out, get some matchsticks or toothpicks and with them coated in Aquahere glue, tap them into the holes as far as they will go and then cut of the remaining end flush with the surface.
Then drive the screws back in on top.
You will find they will hold quite well.
Old carpenter's trick.
Depending on which way the timber grain is running. If the 2 screws are along the timber grain it could have split the timber.
You should really offset the screws across the grain to some degree. Also drill pilot hole.
Drill a hole behind the bracket just through the lining to work out the direction of the timber if you have no luck tapping on the lining listening for a different tone.
Once you have ascertained the direction of timber & its width. Use a larger plate to spread the area of the bracket.
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Google 'Nutserts'. They would seem to be the answer to the problem here. They are a metal threaded nut which is inserted into a hole and the nut part of the device is then compressed rather like a pop rivet to hold it in place. Not sure where you can get them though...
If it's just into timber, nutserts will not work. If you have metal behind the lining board then the nutserts would do the job along with some metal thread screws.
You do need a special tool to insert them though.
Most caravan roofs these days are composite ie fibreglass or aluminium, polystyrene foam sandwich and then the internal ply lining. They probably don't have much inside then in the way of bracing for the screws etc, in which case the nutserts would work OK.
Having used nutserts professionally for years, (I currently have a complete insert toolset from 4mm to 10mm) they do not go well on soft materials such as fibreglass, wood etc. They work well on any metal such as aluminium or steel.
As has been suggested, you could bond and screw an aluminium plate to the surface and use a couple of nutserts in the plate to secure the bracket to the plate, but unless there is some metal behind the wood panelling, nutserts will not be a solution. They are just like fixing a large pop rivet to soft material. They will pull out rather quickly.
A 3-4mm aluminium plate bonded to roof for self tappers to screw into will reinforce the area as well as providing a permanent fix.
That's the way mine was fixed (without the bonding.) Pop-tops were built with a block of wood to screw into. There is a lot of stress through those two screws. Using the plates gives a larger span of attachments spreading the load further. What you have to watch is that you don't spread the screws off the edge of the block of wood in the ceiling. I'm not sure if glueing the plate to the plywood is a good idea, if the screws subsequently come lose you could pull the plywood apart.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
