Patching/painting race against cold

[Patricia D.]

I have one, maybe two, days of warm enough weather to finish patching (with Bondo) and to prime on the outside of my trailer. Given this limitation. I may have to make a decision to either patch the best I can and prime or continue patching and sanding to do the best possible job and not prime, if time runs out.
What would you do?

[sokhapkin]

I would finish the patching.

[Borrego Dave]

Pat, just patch it for now. Leave the finishing work until the better weather comes back.

[Patricia D.]

Just to clarify the next weather warm enough to do anything that is temperature sensitive will be next March or April unless we get a freak warm spell before the snow flies.

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Patricia D.

Just to clarify the next weather warm enough to do anything that is temperature sensitive will be next March or April unless we get a freak warm spell before the snow flies.

Fill in the area to get it water tight, strong enough for a snow load, etc and it helps if it is filled enough for the water to run off of it. The rest will keep until spring. So what it if it not pretty, it is just sitting in storage.

The issue with fiberglass that does not have gel coat or primer on it is one of UV damage. But there is not as much strong UV around in the winter time. Also if you have a cover over it there won't be any UV to worry about. Nothing significant is going to happen in the way of UV damage in just one winter in northern areas. The sun is too far away and too low in the sky.

[Patricia D.]

Thanks.
I thought that I had read that unsealed filler would absorb moisture so that was my concern with not priming. On the other hand, I know that trying to correct imperfections in a primed surface can be very difficult.
I will see how far I get before the weather changes.

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Patricia D.

Thanks.
I thought that I had read that unsealed filler would absorb moisture so that was my concern with not priming. On the other hand, I know that trying to correct imperfections in a primed surface can be very difficult.
I will see how far I get before the weather changes.

you are likely right about the filler. But a quick spray with automotive primer on the spots will fix that. Easy enough to sand the primer in the spring, it is formulated to be easy to sand.

[Borrego Dave]

Use JB Weld instead of Bondo, it won't absorb water and is available in white. Waiting till spring will give you plenty of time to figure out what and how you want to finish the shell and it won't make any difference if there's no primer on the patches.