What will this cost me?

[Karen T]

I've been looking at some older trailers and am wondering if you can give me some ballpark idea of what certain repairs are likely to run me as I am seeing similar issues in trailers that have not been abused, but a little neglected. And let me also say I am not particularly handy and don't have a ton of free time, so I will most likely end up paying someone else to do these things for me.

(1) new gelcoat? I've looked at a couple that have entirely lost their shine. How much does it cost to have someone restore a 16-17 foot FG trailer to its shiny self?
(2) cracks in fiberglass? In the ones I've seen with no gelcoat, they seem to have some hairline cracks that I'm pretty sure are in the FG itself since there's no outer coating left.
(3) I've been warned that bubbles or bumps in the roof signal delamination problems. One trailer I would otherwise consider has this exact problem. The roof looks fine from the inside, but has several "bumps" visible on the exterior on the front middle of the roof. I am assuming it can be repaired (I otherwise like the unit) but at what cost? Assuming the worst case scenario?

My previous FG trailer was an '04 Scamp that had been cared for by its previous owners, so it had none of these issues. I want to be realistic about what I'm getting into buying one substantially older that hasn't been as well maintained. I've been suffering FG withdrawal since I sold my Scamp 5th wheel, so I need your help in enabling me to buy another one!

[The Hobo]

The way I re-do them,
is sand/repair/sand/Epoxy primer/spray rock guard,grey primer, then paint color of your choice.
Any body shop can do it for you.

Hope this helps.

[BobB]

Hi Karen,

I would suggest that you be very patient and find one that doesn't need the kind of work you mentioned. You don't really want to deal with those issues. There are quite a few trailers on the market these days. Get your money together and find someone who needs to sell, preferably one that has been well cared for. Happy hunting!

[Joe MacDonald]

Really, it all depends on what you want to do.
a trailer that has no shine to it at all might just need a good cleaning and waxing, or a buffing with rubbing compound, or the gel coat could be toast.
the bumps you see could be rivet caps, you have to get real close to be sure, they could be bits of silicone or sealer from a poorly attempted repair.
As for the hairline cracks, most older trailers I have seen have them in some quantity.
if they are just in the gelcoat it could be more of a cosmetic than structural issue.
Look through our documents section, use the search function to look up these issues already posted about and get a feel about the issues and or concerns others have had with used trailers.
Whatever you do, don't go for a deal that you are not comfortable with.

Joe

[Frederick L. Simson]

I am not particularly handy and don't have a ton of free time, so I will most likely end up paying someone else to do these things for me.

(1) new gelcoat? I've looked at a couple that have entirely lost their shine. How much does it cost to have someone restore a 16-17 foot FG trailer to its shiny self?

I think you may have 2 choices:
A- either re-polish the existing gelcoat if it is not too damaged or
B- as Ulysse G. suggests, prep and paint if you have cracks and blemishes.

I have gotten bids to detail the existing finish of my 16' Fiberglass trailer for $250 to $300.
I have gotten bids to Repair, Sand, Mask, and Spray Paint for $1500 to $1800.

[Booker B.]

Many of us have faded trailers. There are a variety of ways to shine them up, from Borax and then a good waxing, to products like Poli-Glow. You can't apply Gel-coat as it's part of the original fiberglass process. What Ulysse has done with his trailer is amazing - but I wouldn't want to have my kids anywhere near a trailer that nice =)

Older trailers also have lots of small cracks. As long as they aren't structural then they are not issue - unless you find them annoying to look at.

We are realistic on how much time we can put into the trailer every year so if it needs some windows pulled and re-taped then maybe it won't get shiny this year. In the end, everyone treats their trailer different so I am sure you wll get plenty of different answers.

[Flygal]

I saw the photo of that trailer and that was my first thought me screaming..."ahhhhh kids GET AWAY from that trailer......." ahahahahha.....its so shiny pretty

What Ulysse has done with his trailer is amazing - but I wouldn't want to have my kids anywhere near a trailer that nice =)

[Karen T]

Thanks for the responses and advice. Joe - the "bumps" are definitely not rivet caps. I may not have described it correctly. It is more like a large "wave" when you look down the roof line, about a foot or so in length with a couple of smaller ones on either side.

Frederick, your numbers are very helpful. They at least give me an idea of what I might be getting into.

I'm happy to hold onto my money and continue looking for trailers in better condition (although I've already been surprised to see what people are still able to sell their FG trailers for when they need some pretty obvious repairs), but I also don't mind negotiating a price down on something that I can have fixed if I know a little bit better what those repairs will realistically cost me.

[Greg A]

Karen,

I have a rule. Once you think you know what it is going to cost, double it and add 10% and you should be good to go.

[Roy in TO]

You can't apply Gel-coat as it's part of the original fiberglass process.

Actually you can apply Gel-coat afterwards.
There are lots of tips on repairs in this thread

And Roy Massen details how he did his entire trailer here

I've done patches on my trailer. You have to keep the surface away from oxygen so it will set. Most boat repair places recommend PVA to seal so the surface cures then that gets washed or sanded off as you finish the repair.

I'm hoping on redoing mine like Roy did one day.

[kconley]

KarenT, Check with a local auto detailer.. I get one to do my boat & Camper every year with a good marine wax & power buff.. Boat is a 17' Casita is 16'.. He charges me $50.00 each.. I power wash them down before he comes to do them.. Doing a good wax every year keeps them shinney & bright. I,m sure they can compound or do what it takes to get the shine back, if the gel coat is still there........

[Pete Dumbleton]

Keep in mind that every time one 'compounds', one is removing some of the gel coat --It's like using very fine sandpaper to get something shiny -- This is esp true if power tools are involved.

[Booker B.]

Thanks for the info about reapplication of get coat Roy - I learn something new everyday on the forum =)

[Christi V.]

I didnt find any auto/body shop here that had the facilities to paint my trailer, but down the road aways there was a shop that does big rigs, etc... so I am going to make a tennitive appt to have my trailer painted this spring or near fall time.
I am estimating that it will be between $1000-$2000 depending... it still has some shine, but its an 1989, not in the worst shape but new paint will make it look alot better. I had it detailed out last spring and it looks still good.. Its just time for a re-paint... I will try to get someone to help me pop off the caps.. have the RV place take off and store the awning.. and find some way to get the door trimlock off and the Scamp logo..

[Roger H]

I'm not entirely sure what fiberglass "delamination" would be on one of these trailers, as there's really nothing to "delaminate" per se. Fiberglass over plywood can delaminate, but most likely the "waves" you see are merely the fiberglass itself. You occasionally see that in pretty thin glass that was sprayed in rather than hand-laid, but it's not necessarily indicative of a problem. Raw fiberglass can "rot" or get soft with sun exposure, and the gelcoat can have hair-line "spider web" cracking from stress, but all-in-all it's pretty tough stuff. I used to get "blisters" on my boats, but that is common with water exposure and one of the reasons sail boat hulls are painted below the water line is to seal them.

If the gel-coat is really "shot" you'll be able to see bits of raw glass fiber through it. That's a big job, and mostly repaired by painting. If it's merely dull, there are a bunch of products out there that can clean it up and make it shine again. You just need to have the time and ambition to do it. It won't cost much. Gel-gloss is one of the easier and least expensive products to use, is easy to find, and it looks better with every application.

Frankly, I'd be more concerned about floor rot, window caulk condition, and axle condition than the gel-coat condition on 98% of these trailers.

Roger

[Kenny H]

The way I re-do them,
is sand/repair/sand/Epoxy primer/spray rock guard,grey primer, then paint color of your choice.
Any body shop can do it for you.

Hope this helps.

Don't want to go off topic, but I asked these questions (with pics) when I got my 86 Cadet, but didn't get any replies...
This sounds like what I'm going to have to do, since I have a few screw holes to patch and some "blistering" (not sure what to call it) Pics are at the bottom of my album.

http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x100/ke...?albumview=grid



I might need to ask you some more questions when I start my repairs..

Ken

[Raya]

Kenny,

It's hard to tell from that photo if that's a paint job gone bad, or issues with the original gelcoat. In either case, the first step is probably to remove and see what you've got going on with the substrate, after which you can forumulate a plan for repair (I can't imagine that you won't end up taking it all off anyway, but you could do just a representative area first to see what's going on and to test your removal method(s)). Sanding, scraping, stripper... it all depends on what's really going on there. I'd probably start with some sandpaper, and then work from there.

Gelcoat and paint:

It's true that you can re-gelcoat something fiberglass once it's out of the mold, but there's typically little reason to in this day and age of two-part LPU paints, such as Awlgrip or Alexseal (to name two specific brands), which I would consider superior in a later application (indeed, some high-quality boat manufacturers are now simply painting straight away and skipping gelcoat altogether).

Gelcoat is in its element when you can spray it into a female mold, which is what you do when you're molding up something like one of our trailers. After that you lay in the reinforcements and resin, let it set up, and then remove the mold (or the item from the mold, depending on how the mold is set up). Voila.

Spraying it on later... well, you can... but there's not really any benefit to doing it later. It's not really being used in its best element then, if that makes sense. Gelcoat can be sprayed, but it's not really how it works best. If you've done the necessary prep, and you have the access to (or are paying someone for) professional spraying equipment, then why not put on a two-part linear polyurethane paint? (My opinion here.)

I know that when I first got into boatwork, I had that feeling that "Oh, I want gelcoat! Paint is a later coating, and must be inferior." Now paint CAN be an inferior coating, and like any finish, the prep work is directly related to the final outcome, but it's no longer something that is necessarily slapped on later and is not as "strong" as original gelcoat (assuming using something like a two-part LPU in a sprayed application). A paint job like this can still be hard and shiny more than 20 years later.

Of course there are lots of paint applications that have the "put on with a broom" look, which is probably why people think "Ewww" when it comes to paint. There aren't that many "home-broomed" gelcoat jobs, so you don't see those, and many people are probably comparing the "home broom" paint job to the "professional" gelcoat job, and thus not seeing the amazing paint jobs that are done now. After all, no-one gelcoats their car when they make it into a street rod

Raya

[Kenny H]

Thanks for the quick reply. It could be one of 2 problems, there are areas where it's obvious it's been painted (lighter spots) OR it could be fire/heat damage (I stripped most of the inside and there are black sooty areas) I was told it was parked next to a trailer that caught fire.

I took the tounge box off, and will work on it to see if I have the skills (ie patience) to do it right. I'll have to research the two-part linear polyurethane paint you mention, but might leave the final spraying to a pro..

[Pete Dumbleton]

I'm not entirely sure what fiberglass "delamination" would be on one of these trailers, as there's really nothing to "delaminate" per se.

In the simplified case of our trailers, compared to large boats, delamination would separation of the gelcoat from the fiberglass. One of the functions of the gelcoat is to protect the fiberglass from the effects of weather because the basic fiberglass isn't as waterproof as it seems at first -- Boats use many different kinds of materials and forms (mats, roving, cloth, etc.) for the different requirements in different areas, like strength at corners and beams, etc., so there are lots more opportunities for delamination where two or more types of glass and resin meet.

[Raya]

I would actually think of delamination as the separation of the laminates (i.e. the layers of "cloth" or other cloth-like reinforcements [mat, etc.]); or, in the case of a cored structure, the separation of the fiberglass layer from the core. I wouldn't have thought to use that term for separation of gelcoat from glass (actually I've never seen gelcoat "separate" in that way); I've seen gelcoat "failure" but not really delamination, per se. (?)

Kenny,
I know fire can damage fiberglass, but I don't know if what you're seeing would have been caused by heat

One note on the two-part LPU paints: They can be dangerous and toxic (what makes them good, of course), so you need to wear protective clothing, a good organic-vaport cartridge respirator, etc. And even with all that, you should not spray it. You can brush it with that level of protection, because it's not being atomized.

For spraying, you actually need a supplied-air respirator - I would count on pros for that.

Raya

PS: If you test sand an area, I'd love to see what you find.