Fibreglass repair

[rileyroo]

Greetings from sunny Canada!

I would like to lean on your collective wisdom if I may. I have a 2012 trailer that developed a bulge in its side that is approximately 40" x 3". I'm thinking (and might be totally wrong) that wood within an aluminum frame tube swelled and pushed the aluminum against the outer and inner trailer wall creating the deformation. I'm not able to push the deformation in, it's completely hard. This might even just be a wooden support member, I'm guessing aluminum.

Anyway, do you think a repair would be worthwhile? I was thinking of cutting out the fibreglass, taking out and replacing whatever was pushing out my trailer wall and making new the fibreglass repair.

If so, and potentially no access to the back of the repair (the inside wood panel wall also has the same deformation) would you put filler on the styrene insulation and then build on that with cloth and then mat fibreglass? I would like any repair to be as strong as possible, especially as this is the slide side of the trailer. I'm hoping with taking the damaged support piece out my inside panel wall might be able to be pushed back in. Has anyone dealt with anything similar to this?

Any words of wisdom or guidance would be greatly appreciated or even hypothetically how one would go about such a repair. Thank you if you read this far!

Riley

[Glenn Baglo]

KZ is not moulded fibreglass. It's fibreglass sandwich panels.

[gordon2]

What Glen is so elegantly saying is that you have found a site that is focused on a different type of trailer as far as its construction. We are about molded fiberglass (not "fibreglass") trailers, sometimes called "eggs" for the similarity in appearance.

But many here have owned trailers like yours in the past (before they saw the light and went to molded fiberglass ), so you may get some helpful advice here.. stay tuned.

And if you do not, then also perhaps post your query on a forum such as:
iRV2 Forums - KZ RV Owners Group

And greetings back from the states!

[rileyroo]

Thank you Glen and Gordon for the quick replies, very much appreciated. It looks like I have much to learn!

[Akmacs]

Based on the proximity of the bulge in relation to the slideout, I'd guess you had water intrusion from somewhere into that wall cavity. The water inside the wall has caused the fiberglass adhesive to delaminate.

Doesn't look too bad yet but I'd suggest taking it to a good RV service center and let them chime in. If it is a water leak, I'd get it fixed, dry the wall cavity out and live with the siding as is at that point.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by gordon2

What Glen is so elegantly saying is that you have found a site that is focused on a different type of trailer as far as its construction. We are about molded fiberglass (not "fibreglass") trailers, sometimes called "eggs" for the similarity in appearance.
!

My trailer is made of moulded fibreglass. Proudly made in Canada.

[rileyroo]

Originally Posted by Akmacs

Based on the proximity of the bulge in relation to the slideout, I'd guess you had water intrusion from somewhere into that wall cavity. The water inside the wall has caused the fiberglass adhesive to delaminate.

Doesn't look too bad yet but I'd suggest taking it to a good RV service center and let them chime in. If it is a water leak, I'd get it fixed, dry the wall cavity out and live with the siding as is at that point.

Hi Akmacs, thanks for the reply. It's likely at some point there was some kind of water intrusion to that part, but everything seems to be sealed tight at the moment. Living where I live I'm very limited to good RV places hence the need to tackle this one myself. The fibreglass pushed out has been there for a few years now and not gotten any worse. I might drill a small hole first just to see if it is some kind of delamination, but the fibreglass won't budge an inch when I press it, it's almost like there's something solid behind it.

Take care!

[thrifty bill]

It could be outer layer delamination due to water intrusion or glue failure. Lots of threads on other forums on repairing this common issue. Some get quite large and impossible to repair. Basically, the fiberglass is glued to wood. Water makes it separate and can rot the wood too.

Yours looks minor. I would inspect the rest of the trailer carefully to see if there is any more spots.

Some of these trailers are wood framed, some are aluminum frame. Regardless, that outer skin is glued on, typically to thin luan plywood or something similar.


Google fiberglass RV delamination.


This is one reason some seasoned RVers are attracted to molded fiberglass trailers. Walls and roof are usually just a molded layer of fiberglass. No gluing to luan, no framing, no wood. No risk of delamination. Molded trailers tend to be more expensive than other RVs and smaller too. No tip outs. No hybrids. So there are limitations.

[Jon in AZ]

Bill has the best answer. This appears to be delamination, a not-uncommon problem with RV’s made using laminated construction, in which the outer fiberglass skin, inner foam-and-wood (or aluminum) structure, and the interior panels are bonded together using adhesives under pressure at the factory. Something- commonly water intrusion- is causing the outer skin to separate from the inner structure.

As said, this forum is devoted to “egg”-type trailers with molded, not laminated, fiberglass construction. We don’t deal with this kind of repair. A general RV forum is your best bet.

Best wishes!