| WORDS AND IMAGES: MAX TAYLOR

They say there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. Unless you’ ve sipped from the fountain of youth and made a secret deal with the ATO, there’ s no avoiding them. There’ s also no avoiding the occasional repair bill, be it for a TV, stereo, vehicle or, yes, an RV. You can have a crack at your own taxes, but you might end up making a costly mistake.

Ian Broomfield.

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The same goes for vehicle and van repair. Unless you’ re particularly handy, there are few RV repair jobs that you should do yourself, in your driveway or garage. Skinned knuckles and blood boiling with frustration might be the least of your problems should you get it wrong. We spent the day with Ian Broomfield of specialist RV repairer Northern RV, Vic, for the lowdown and came away with four repair jobs best left to the professionals.

They say the top sheet of aluminium is the worst place to damage a van’ s wall. Some might tell you that this means replacing the aluminium for the entire wall, such is the difficulty of the task.

A specialty repairer, however, should be able to replace just the damaged sheet( s). But it’ s not as easy as simply sliding the damaged sheet out and sliding in a new one, according to Ian. Aluminium cladding has its benefits but it is also easy to damage if not handled with care. The potential to inadvertently damage good sheets when attempting to replace one scratched or dented sheet is great. Furthermore, specific cutting tools should be used, otherwise joins will not be flush and this could lead to leaks. Speaking of leaks, if the J-mould isn’ t re-fitted correctly, expect plenty of them. And then there’ s the potential for damage if the new aluminium sheet( s) aren’ t fitted together correctly. Under tow, they could