Help! Fiberglass repair after awning damage - Fiberglass RV
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Old 07-24-2017, 04:59 PM   #1
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Name: GREG
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Help! Fiberglass repair after awning damage

Hello all,

We have a 1999 class B rv that has a fiberglass top. The other day we (foolishly) left our rv with the awning out only to come back after a freak wind storm and find it broken in multiple places. We're in the process of removing the mounting brackets from the fiberglass top to reform them and have encountered 2 problems we're hoping someone can help us with.

1. Once we removed the awning, we found this bubbling in the fiberglass/gel coat underneath. What is this? Is this something we need to address? Click image for larger version

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2. While removing one of the brackets, some of the gel coat came off alone with it. What should we do before replacing the bracket? Click image for larger version

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Any advice is greatly appreciated!
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Old 07-24-2017, 05:14 PM   #2
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Name: Bryan
Trailer: Casita "Cozy-Casa"
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Looks like this is paint on top of the gel coat that is coming loose. It will require stripping and filling/featheredging before repainting.
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Old 07-24-2017, 06:29 PM   #3
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I can see strands of fiberglass too...it musta tore that section out.
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Old 07-25-2017, 10:06 AM   #4
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Name: J Ronald
Trailer: Casita 17 ft. Liberty Deluxe
North Carolina
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Your gel coat is not bonded solidly to the figerglass. On a boat when the gel coat bubbles up we say the bottom has blisters. I have only seen blisters on boat BOTTOMS. These blisters normally have water in them. If the blisters are not breaking and falling off I would ignore them. We repaired blisters on boat bottoms by sanding or grinding them and filling the crater we made with epoxy with a strengthner in it. The area under the awning mount looks good, just needs to be faired with Marine tex or gel coat or similar product and sand smooth. Apply the Marine tex or other product as level as possible to reduce sanding.
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Old 07-25-2017, 10:28 AM   #5
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Name: Rob
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If you wanted to avoid fiberglass repairs to the gel coat, I would suggest a repad to cover the area as well build something similar inside to distribute the load. This will clean up and cover the outside as well add some additional strength, a piece of alumimum or stainless steel with some neatly rounded corners, not to thick approximately 1/8'' thick. Apply some buytal tape or adhesive (I like amazing goop (marine grade) as I have a tube handy) before bolting it through to the inside. If you had no water ingress previously seal the bolts as they were when removed. I did a similar repair on a family members RV as the lower awning bracket/ bolts were torn off while backing up.
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Old 07-25-2017, 02:22 PM   #6
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Trailer: Casita 17 ft. Liberty Deluxe
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I like RB Arthur's suggestion. I have done that before with good results.
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