MORE about Fiberglass Scrape Repair

[FlowerandFrog]

Hi Again; Well, our 2020 17B was eligible for the Suburban Stovetop recall, and went down to “the big city” to get it changed out. This was at Camping World, which is handling a huge number of trailer repairs right now. As luck would have it, my husband had to back up the trailer a bit to let a trailer by, and accidentally hit the latch on their chain link fence, putting about a 3 inch scrape into the fiberglass rim near where the 2 sections meet. This also put cracks on either side of the scrape (see photo). SO, I found the post by DT6 a couple months back, but his scrape was in the aluminum bead band. Unfortunately, our scrape is in the fiberglass, and one spot goes all the way through to the inner material. Would a white expoxy material be best to fix this? Is there a boat repair place in central CA anyone knows about? Not sure how to fix it…

[Ron in BC]

It's an easy fix.

There are two problems with using an epoxy filler. 1. You burn a bridge in that you can't use polyester over it later if another repair is ever needed and 2. getting a perfect match is a bit iffy.

My preferred repair for this situation, and I've done countless numbers of this type of repair, is to get the proper shade of gelcoat. A repair done with matching gelcoat will be invisible.

The repair itself is dead simple. Vee the cracks slightly. Use something like mylar film or thick poly sheet to cover the repair to keep the gelcoat in place. Done carefully it won't result in much sanding and polishing.

It's very forgiving, use too much gelcoat and you have to sand it down. Use too little and you have to put on more.

Ron

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by FlowerandFrog

Hi Again; Well, our 2020 17B was eligible for the Suburban Stovetop recall, and went down to “the big city” to get it changed out. This was at Camping World, which is handling a huge number of trailer repairs right now. As luck would have it, my husband had to back up the trailer a bit to let a trailer by, and accidentally hit the latch on their chain link fence, putting about a 3 inch scrape into the fiberglass rim near where the 2 sections meet. This also put cracks on either side of the scrape (see photo). SO, I found the post by DT6 a couple months back, but his scrape was in the aluminum bead band. Unfortunately, our scrape is in the fiberglass, and one spot goes all the way through to the inner material. Would a white expoxy material be best to fix this? Is there a boat repair place in central CA anyone knows about? Not sure how to fix it…

Hi: FlowerandFrog... IMHO the marine repair shop is the best place to take your trailer for repair. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[FlowerandFrog]

THANK YOU Ron and Escape Artist! We’ll see if we can obtain those materials in our little town or in the big city of Bakersfield? Not sure. I think I did find a boat and/or RV fiberglass repair shop in Baks so we might take it there. Wouldn’t be such an issue for us, but cracks might let water in, so we think best to repair it.

[Rossue]

Send an email to partsandservice@escape.com to ask what color (or colour) they use. They've been known to sell it to folks in your situation.

[Wig]

I agree with Ron that gelcoat is pretty easy to work with. I’ve used it for a repair on my Casita and nobody would ever accuse me of being a craftsman. A pint can is less than $50.00 on Amazon and it’s way more than you’ll need for your repair. Mix very small batches and it may take several coats. Once you’ve applied a coat, cover the area with a piece of plastic or Saran Wrap which will ensure that it cures properly. Get the quote from a repair shop and then you can decide if it’s something you might want to tackle.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: FlowerandFrog... IMHO the marine repair shop is the best place to take your trailer for repair. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Pretty much all my life I've encouraged people to try and become self sufficient. What I've observed is that a lot of people who've never done anything related to doing their own repairs etc. is that they lack the confidence to try. I've also observed that once a person tries to do something for themselves and has some success that it seems to be the first step in developing a "can do" attitude.

Ron

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by FlowerandFrog

Wouldn’t be such an issue for us, but cracks might let water in, so we think best to repair it.

I wouldn't worry about the water aspect. The gelcoat doesn't have fiber reinforcement and it cracks easily. The underlying f.g. is glass reinforced and wouldn't be affected at all so the shell still is water tight.

I took my boat across Europe through 458 nasty rough locks and had dozens of areas of cracked gelcoat, including one circular one 2' in diameter. It stayed that way for the 2 years it took to get my boat back to Vancouver. There was no damage from water ingress.

The gelcoat used is "waxed" as opposed to "unwaxed". The unwaxed cures sticky and is used if you're going to layup more material over it. It avoids having to grind or sand first.

The waxed will cure shiny and not sticky. The mylar or poly is handy for keeping the gelcoat in place while it cures.

Many repairs that I've done were chips, like divots. In that case I hinged the mylar with tape across the bottom, put some gelcoat in the divot and smoothed the mylar upwards. Put the right amount of gelcoat in and sometimes the repair is done, no sanding required. Takes practice but it's possible.

Final comment. Gelcoat is very easy to sand. End up with a bump, sand it down level then wet sand it finer and finer then polish.

Ron

[Rossue]

Yep- someone should offer MacGyver skills 101 for RV's.

Some prefer to write the check however.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Yep- someone should offer MacGyver skills 101 for RV's.

They kinda already do, it's called YouTube

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Pretty much all my life I've encouraged people to try and become self sufficient. What I've observed is that a lot of people who've never done anything related to doing their own repairs etc. is that they lack the confidence to try. I've also observed that once a person tries to do something for themselves and has some success that it seems to be the first step in developing a "can do" attitude.

Ron

Hi: Ron in BC... I'm really confident that someone could do a better job than me. I'm only good if it'll "Buff out" easy!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Eggscape]

I know this looks like a big deal and I am sure it is to you.

However if you had done this to a stick trailer it may have broken through the thin outside skin and the whole side skin might have to be replaced.

In comparison the fix is simple.