fitting the brandrup iso-top in cold weather?

[scubadoo]

Hello,

I bought the Iso-top a couple of years ag o and what with covid and cold weather never got round to fitting it as it said it needed to be somewhere in the 20's for the sticky stuff to stick.

Is that true? Any tips for getting it to stick and work ok in this weather? Off to Ireland in it next week so should really get off my arse and get it fitted!
Cheers
Dave

 

[calikev]

turn your heater on for half an hour

 

[andyinluton]

Just make sure where you are fitting the velcro is dry with no condensation. Turn van heater on & if you want to really make sure it sticks use a hairdryer to heat locally.

 

[ArunAlec]

Hello,

I bought the Iso-top a couple of years ag o and what with covid and cold weather never got round to fitting it as it said it needed to be somewhere in the 20's for the sticky stuff to stick.

Is that true? Any tips for getting it to stick and work ok in this weather? Off to Ireland in it next week so should really get off my arse and get it fitted!
Cheers
Dave

I decided To save the 3M “Velcro”tape until I could rely on the temperature being warm enough, so I bought some cheap tape from eBay and did a temporary job. This “temporary“ fix has been in place for 3 years!

 

[B J G]

Wednesday looks like a good day with one day high air temp.

As above for heater on and hot air gun for final going over to activate glue. Not too hot.

 

[scubadoo]

Thanks all for the advice! I managed to get the velcro on today. Left the heater on and warmed the velcro with a heat gun afterwards. I had a couple of issues, the right rear corner wouldn't stick until i hit it with heat from the gun, and i had to preheat the rear ceiling aluminium strip to get rid of condensation before sticking the velcro on and then heating again.

Now i have one problem that I'm not sure about. Our van is a 2010. When VW fixed the corrosion for the 2nd time they replaced the tent fabric with the newer version where the front fully opens. My iso-top only has the semicircle opening so i won't be able to take advantage of that.

BUT when replacing this, the bodyshop removed the velcro tabs in the corner that the isotop fixes to like in this picture, so i'm not sure how i'm going to get that corner fitted properly.

 

[scubadoo]

I've actually realised that the two velcro tabs at the rear corners are part of the fixing kit. I either didn't receive them or more likely I've lost them. Unless i can make something I'll have to get a spare fixing kit.

 

[andyinluton]

I don't recall velcro tabs at the back corner - I cant see your pic.

Y

 

[YesCampervan]

We fitted ours 2 years ago in February, I waited for a warm day with the sun on the van, used the heater and the hair dryer and it has all stayed in fine. It did take a few hours to get the metal surfaces warm enough to avoid condensation but it does work. The only part that has come loose are the large Velcro tabs at the front (which has nothing to do with adhesion and temperature) but that was probably our children pulling on it!

 

[scubadoo]

The two velcro tabs at the rear corner were the worst bit. I could only get one in so will have to come up with another solution.

My wife and daughter were away in Ireland in the van in the last storm and said the isotop definitely made a big difference to the noise and warmth so very happy to have it fitted. Thanks for the help.

I tried every tool i could think of to fit the front velcro tabs and in the end the suggestion of using two £5 notes was the winner, that worked so well.