Help! - Fiberglass Patch

[mary and bob]

[QUOTE=jen b;366734]
Or, you could patch it up, squirt on some paint, and then put a big sticker on that spot if you don't want the fiberglass patch to show.

this is exactly what I did on our Uhaul, because matching the original color with paint was near impossible. I removed a antenna from the left side near the top, fiberglassed the hole and put on a Good Sam sticker. On the rear where the trailer had been damaged and poorly fixed I made a better repair and covered it with a RecVee decal that Goosler made for me. I had to do similar "hide the old PO screwups" on our '46 teardrop when we did the restoration, put on something that looks like it belongs there to cover it up. Wife likes the light I put in our old furnace vent hole, switch inside by the door.

[Thomas G.]

If you do decide to fiberglass the hole, I like the idea of making a patch on a horizontal surface, let it cure, then cut to shape of hole. Glass mat over on the back side to secure it, then Bondo the front irregularities. This would contain the area to be patched and painted. Otherwise the patch starts to grow (at least in my experience).

[peatle]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

Are you going Canadian on us?

I am Canadian and have been for 43 years, before which I grew up in England!

May I ask the point of your question ?

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by peatle

I am Canadian and have been for 43 years, before which I grew up in England!

May I ask the point of your question ?

I think if you look back you'll see that Tom's question was directed towards Deryk, and vis-a-vis Deryk's adoption of y'all's extra "u" thing in words like color, honor, etc.

Though NOT, I notice, in such words as "horror".

Get some consistency, why dontcha?!?!

Francesca

[rabbit]

Placing a glass plug in the hole, glassing over inside, and filling exterior seam and irregulatiry with either resin or bondo and painting will look good thru about one year of weather and seasonal temperature cycles until the seam opens as a crack. Avoiding the crack means grinding away some adjacent gelcoat and overlaping matt and resin onto the surrounding glass. If the absolute certainty that a crack will print thru the paint is good enuf, then good enuf is good enuf. The + faction has the easier and better solution imo.

jack

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by peatle

I am Canadian and have been for 43 years, before which I grew up in England!

May I ask the point of your question ?

The point was that I was talking to Deryk who claims to be from New Joisey

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by rabbit

Placing a glass plug in the hole, glassing over inside, and filling exterior seam and irregularity with either resin or bondo and painting will look good thru about one year of weather and seasonal temperature cycles until the seam opens as a crack........
jack

This explains why my bondo-ed rust buckets looked so bad as a kid.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

If you do decide to fiberglass the hole, I like the idea of making a patch on a horizontal surface, let it cure, then cut to shape of hole. Glass mat over on the back side to secure it, then Bondo the front irregularities. This would contain the area to be patched and painted. Otherwise the patch starts to grow (at least in my experience).

OK, I promise, this is my last post. Even if you followed the above advice, and even if you made the surface passably smooth with bondo and even if you then coated it with something that matched color wise fairly well it would not look good for long. The surface must be faired where it joins the surrounding surfaces. After a bit of vibration the patch would have a crack all around it. It wouldn't look good.

An experienced person could patch it in place and cello finish the surface but it takes a lot of experience to get good results. The parts of the trailer visible look to be in good condition and not needing paint. Personally I wouldn't devalue a trailer body in good condition with an iffy patch.

Here endth my rant

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

........

Here endth my rant

I defer to your judgment. See my above post.

OP, go with the cover plate.

[rabbit]

To go a step further, Peatle, there is a a recent thread (Canadians, Should I fear them?) initiated by the estimable Ms. Knowles. The tone of the thread was light and self-deprecatory thruout. In the course of that thread, we celebrated the ways in which Canadians differ from the average plain vanilla North American. Alternative spellings, no doubt transmitted from Blimey, were mentioned. No noses were put out of joint in 23 pages and 200+ posts. Take a look at it; you'll understand.

jack

[peatle]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

Times.....how many?

You'll never be able to "hide" the repair, so much better in my opinion to just put the original cover back in place over some insulation.

Another consideration is that someone down the road-even possibly you- may want to put a furnace in again.

Francesca

I took the furnace out because I don't foresee doing cold weather camping ( we are new to this RVing thing and planning our first trip, across country, this summer when the reno is done). I thought however that I'd hang on to it in case we liked the life so much that we'd do some fall camping and might want to put it back in. I'd envisioned that if that was the case then I'd just recut a hole for the vent but now so many people have mentioned the aluminum patch on the outside I can see that this makes a lot more sense. If I wanted to reinstall the furnace then I could just remove the patch and use the original hole.

Thanks to everyone that took the time to reply and offer suggestions. I can't believe the number of replies that I got to this query ...... i hope I can return the favours. Maybe when I post more photos of the progress of the reno they might be of some help to others ....... thanks again.

[Thomas G.]

A furnace can be pretty nice, even in warmer weather, if you get all wet, like caught out in a canoe in a rainstorm. Don't ask how I know.

[Glenn Baglo]

Before you take the furnace out, try a weekend at Kane Lakes near Merritt in mid-Sept. when a cold front blows through. At almost 4,000', that wind blows cold.
Best would be do do nothing until you've spent some time camping in the new trailer.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by peatle

May I ask the point of your question ?

I think he was taunting deryk into aiming a well thrown snowball at his noggin'.

[peatle]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

I think if you look back you'll see that Tom's question was directed towards Deryk, and vis-a-vis Deryk's adoption of y'all's extra "u" thing in words like color, honor, etc.

Though NOT, I notice, in such words as "horror".

Get some consistency, why dontcha?!?!

Francesca

Whooops ..... obviously I confused the quote and misread who the query was directed at ! I can see humour in the remark when, as in this case, it is addressed to someone that one is familiar with and with whom a certain spelling might be out of context. My mistake entirely ! ...... thanks for the clarification Francesca

[peatle]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Before you take the furnace out, try a weekend at Kane Lakes near Merritt in mid-Sept. when a cold front blows through. At almost 4,000', that wind blows cold.
Best would be do do nothing until you've spent some time camping in the new trailer.

It's already out Glenn, but I am configuring the reno of the kitchen cabinet so that it could go back in if desired. Also, since getting tips from this forum, I'm simply putting a cover plate over the vent opening in case that needs to go back in.

[peatle]

Originally Posted by rabbit

To go a step further, Peatle, there is a a recent thread (Canadians, Should I fear them?) initiated by the estimable Ms. Knowles. The tone of the thread was light and self-deprecatory thruout. In the course of that thread, we celebrated the ways in which Canadians differ from the average plain vanilla North American. Alternative spellings, no doubt transmitted from Blimey, were mentioned. No noses were put out of joint in 23 pages and 200+ posts. Take a look at it; you'll understand.

jack

Thanks Jack ...... I'll look for the cited thread.

I am wondering if your remark "transmitted from Blimey' should read Blighty which is a slang term for Britain whereas Blimey is a short version of gorblimey which is in itself a contraction of God Blind Me, an exclamation of surprise. Just curious, maybe you are meaning something else completely.

[peatle]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Before you take the furnace out, try a weekend at Kane Lakes near Merritt in mid-Sept. when a cold front blows through. At almost 4,000', that wind blows cold.
Best would be do do nothing until you've spent some time camping in the new trailer.

On one of our first camping trips after arriving in Canada ( 1970 ) we camped in a tent at aspen grove near Merritt on the May long weekend. We woke up to the tent covered in snow after the first night .. could have used a furnace then to.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by peatle

whereas Blimey is a short version of gorblimey which is in itself a contraction of God Blind Me, an exclamation of surprise. .

On one of our first camping trips after arriving in Canada ( 1970 ) we camped in a tent at aspen grove near Merritt on the May long weekend.

Blimey, I didn't know that. The things you learn on this forum

1970, Aspen Grove! My dad owned the log cabin General Store, small world.

Cover plate going on rather than an iffy patch, I can sleep easy

[rabbit]

Good catch, Peter. I did intend Blighty actually. Senior moment. More of them every day. I miss Brum.

jack