Marine-Tex?

[Melody beachcomber]

[k corbin]

Now that you know what you are dealing with you and have made the decision to tackle it yourself you are ready to head over to this thread in the forum.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ass-52498.html

[Silver River]

One thing to think about. Gelcoat is very hard and brittle while fiberglass is more flexible. Also in corner and edge ares of the mold a lot more gelcoat is applied (or works itself into the area during the molding process) so it is often much thicker, therefore much more brittle and prone to cracking if it is flexed. The cracks in gelcoat always look much worse than they really are but most of the time they don't penetrate into the fiberglass layer.
That looks like an impact damage so wherever the impact occurred there is probably damage to the fiberglass and needs to be repaired but a lot of the large cracks around the impact are just cracks in the gelcoat. It needs to be sanded off and be careful not to penetrate too much into the fiberglass in areas where only the gelcoat is cracking. Then repair the fiberglass. Others can give more specific advice on the actual fiberglass repair. If the dark spots are obvious holes they need to be repaired or covered from the weather.

If you removed all of the gelcoat from a trailer it would be ugly but still watertight. It could survive many years of harsh weather without leaking or dissolving or deteriorating from UV rays. You can buy bare fiberglass roof panels at Home Depot and they last decades in the sun and harsh weather.

[Talia]

The "You Can Repair Fiberglass" thread mentioned earlier is a very good place to start. With the damage shown in the photos, at the minimum you're looking at some grinding and sanding, and then laying up some cloth on the outside, maybe on the inside as well (if the cracks go all the way through). Just remember, the first rule of working on fiberglass is to make sure you have a clean and solid sanded surface before applying your resin. Once I'm done the prep sanding, I give the surface a wipe down with acetone to make sure all grease, wax, oils, etc are completely gone.

It sounds daunting, but it's really pretty easy. Can be messy though, and as a recommendation if you're just starting out learning how to do fiberglass repairs, don't mix a lot of resin at first, because it can start to set up pretty fast. The best part about fiberglass is...if you f*ck it up, you can grind or cut it off and start again, easy peasy!

[Melody beachcomber]

Thanks, I can see what I'm dealing with but don't really know what it is. It looks like it's just the gel coat and the Fiberglass underneath looks untouched through through the holes. Those upper corners look like a lot of it is gel coat with maybe 1/8 " or a bit more space before reaching Fiberglass.

Regardless, the link to the repair thread contains tons of info, however I'm feeling pressed for time to do something now. (Don't have time to read through it all although had already read thru to page 6 or so before today) What I gleaned from it is that as Talia mentioned, I need to start sanding, and then put some glass on, even if the Fiberglass underneath is not damaged? It definitely is brittle, not sure what I'll end up with once started with sanding.

Hope some of you veterans will be around to respond this afternoon!

[Silver River]

Since the basic shape is still there it looks to me like during one of your very cold winters something impacted that corner of the trailer, doing more damage to the gelcoat than the fiberglass. Then during later freeze thaw cycles water got under the gelcoat and expanded causing the gelcoat to crack away from the fiberglass. You may just need to sand off all the gelcoat where there are cracks and look carefully for fiberglass damage. If there are no dents, holes or big cracks in the fiberglass you may be able to brush some polyester or epoxy resin over the area, sand it smooth and repaint.
Look carefully for actual damage to the fiberglass.

[Melody beachcomber]

Originally Posted by Silver River

Since the basic shape is still there it looks to me like during one of your very cold winters something impacted that corner of the trailer, doing more damage to the gelcoat than the fiberglass. Then during later freeze thaw cycles water got under the gelcoat and expanded causing the gelcoat to crack away from the fiberglass. You may just need to sand off all the gelcoat where there are cracks and look carefully for fiberglass damage. If there are no dents, holes or big cracks in the fiberglass you may be able to brush some polyester or epoxy resin over the area, sand it smooth and repaint.
Look carefully for actual damage to the fiberglass.

Thanks!

Looks like I'll have to tape some plastic over it for now. Those clouds are turning into some precip. Back to plan D for today.

[Melody beachcomber]

Taped some plastic over it, brought in the foam cushions I had out to dry, walked the dog, now the sun is out. :/ Had an appt, bought more supplies, yet haven't accomplished much of anything today and it's after 3 pm. Don't know if I should take the plastic off and start sanding at this point or move on to cleaning the interior. Leaning towards the latter and putting this job off til spring. Apply silicone for winter?

Living in a condo s*cks. I was informed a few days after bringing trailer home and parking in my stall that trailers aren't allowed. Requested temporary exception while I clean the trailer and got it. That's running out and I've rented someone's driveway in another area of the city to park it until taking it out of town an hour to a friends acreage for winter. The best bet I think is to postpone the work until spring and then go out to my friends on a sunny warm day and get it done there. At least I'll have power, likely shelter if needed and no restrictions associated with condo life.

[k corbin]

Someone mentioned using epoxy. But at this point in time stick to using the resin type that came with the repair kit.

Epoxy is good but more expensive and once you commit to it then you can't go back to the other type of resin. It is one of those situations where you need to stick to materials that belong to specific product lines of resin, fillers and gel coat that are meant to work together flawlessly.

Just go to Dave White's thread You Can Repair Fiberglass and stick with his instructions and the materials he says to use. Ask about the temperature range you can use them in as that is important to pay attention to being so far north with cold weather coming on quickly. He may have specific advice on do it now or wait until spring because of the weather. He is good about hand holding with beginners and even does phone conversations and private message instructions

[Melody beachcomber]

Originally Posted by k corbin

Someone mentioned using epoxy. But at this point in time stick to using the resin type that came with the repair kit.

Epoxy is good but more expensive and once you commit to it then you can't go back to the other type of resin. It is one of those situations where you need to stick to materials that belong to specific product lines of resin, fillers and gel coat that are meant to work together flawlessly.

Just go to Dave White's thread You Can Repair Fiberglass and stick with his instructions and the materials he says to use. Ask about the temperature range you can use them in as that is important to pay attention to being so far north with cold weather coming on quickly. He may have specific advice on do it now or wait until spring because of the weather. He is good about hand holding with beginners and even does phone conversations and private message instructions

That sounds great. I've decided to put it off till spring as poor weather conditions, time constraints and the aforementioned condo restrictions are just too much to work around.

Anyone here have a recommendation of what to put on it for time being - fresh silicone, or shall I message Dave?

[40bpm]

I'm the last person on earth you'd want advising on this, but I'd say avoid silicone as it's very hard to remove later and nothing will stick if not perfectly removed. Best of luck!

[Patricia D.]

Originally Posted by k corbin

I hated fiberglass when I first started working with it and it frustrated me, I don't enjoy working with sticky messy stuff to begin with. But then one of the professional repair people in my neighborhood taught me a trick I use often and that has made it much easier. Cover a board or other work surface with some plastic sheeting. A cut open thick plastic garbage bag will do just fine, tape it down so it does not move. Cut a piece of the cloth. Lay it on the board. Spread some resin on it. The cloth will turn from white to looking more translucent when there is enough resin on it. You don't want it to have so much that it is dripping off when you pick it up. Now drape it on the object you want to cover and smooth it down.

This is a fantastic tip. I am still working on the belly band of my Ventura. I have to admit that I was dragging my feet with this job, not looking
forward to it at all. I have done a lot of patching on my trailer but this was haunting me. I thought that KC's suggestion sounded like a good way to go but when I tried it today, I was thrilled.
It makes the job so much easier and more manageable. I had the strips of mat ready to go and did the whole band once in just a half hour with no bubbling or buckling. Thanks KC!

[Melody beachcomber]

Originally Posted by 40bpm

I'm the last person on earth you'd want advising on this, but I'd say avoid silicone as it's very hard to remove later and nothing will stick if not perfectly removed. Best of luck!

I've messaged Dave and haven't gotten a response. Another rainy cool weekend. If not silicone, what would you suggest for a temporary fix? I had to reapply silicone a couple of days ago before the rain came. I found the original silicone easy to remove. I'll have to chip off the brittle cracked gel coat and sand down when I do the repair in the spring. I'm sure I'll get the silicone removed.

The trailer is going out to its winter home today, an hour away.

Fingers crossed there's no damage in the spring!

[40bpm]

At this point, whatever you've used is fine. But to answer your question, I tend to choose RV specific caulks (Dicor or Proflex) - easy to find online.

Best of luck on the repairs and I look forward to an update in the Spring.

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Patricia D.

This is a fantastic tip. I am still working on the belly band of my Ventura. I have to admit that I was dragging my feet with this job, not looking
forward to it at all. I have done a lot of patching on my trailer but this was haunting me. I thought that KC's suggestion sounded like a good way to go but when I tried it today, I was thrilled.
It makes the job so much easier and more manageable. I had the strips of mat ready to go and did the whole band once in just a half hour with no bubbling or buckling. Thanks KC!

The real thanks are owed to the professional fiberglass boat repair guy in my neighborhood who took time out of his very busy day to advise me on the easy way to do a repair job. I am just passing it along because his advise was really useful I used it again this week for patching over the last damaged area in my trailer that was on the inside vertical corner of a wheel well. So easy and quick and next to no mess to clean up.

[Melody beachcomber]

Ok, I'm back in business finally! Out at the acreage and have sanded down the bad spots. It looks to me that the fiberglass is good and it was just the gel coat cracking. I'll try to find a away again to post pics for advice. I have Fiberglass supplies and gel coat with me. I need opinions as to weather I should put a layer or two of Fiberglass before I do the gel coat.

[Melody beachcomber]

[Melody beachcomber]

[Melody beachcomber]

Sorry, pics are posting double

[Melody beachcomber]