61 holes!

[courtney]

Decided to conquer holes this weekend. 61 to be exact!

32 holes eliminated: 20 holes left behind after removing curtain rod hardware, 3 from the former breaker box, 2 from the outlet under the sink, 2 from the fluorescent kitchen light, and 5 from the drain outlet.

29 holes patched (new holes to be drilled for new LED trailer lights and 30A shore power inlet): 10 holes from rear marker lights and 16 from tail lights (how???) and 3 from power inlet.

I cut away small rectangles of the ensolite around the holes left from the curtain rod hardware and removed the adhesive and stuck foam with a wire brush attachment on my drill. I beveled the inside and outside of the holes with a Dremel, vacuumed the dust, wiped inside and out with a tack cloth, and clean inside and outside of each hole with acetone before starting.

I found that the best results were achieved by wrapping cut squares of cardboard in wax paper and adhering them to the outside of the shell with masking tape. I then use Bondo Glass on the interior of the shell. The areas where there was absolutely no ensolite were pretty easy. Trying to squish the Bondo Glass into the small areas to fill the curtain hardware holes was messy and a huge PITA. If I could do it over, I would patch these from the outside. Some of the patches didn’t spread out over the outer edges of the holes on the exterior of the shell, so I ended up roughing those up from the outside and adding more Bondo Glass.

I sanded the hardened Bondo Glass, cleaned the surface, and followed it up with Bondo filler and more sanding.

Not going to lie… I doubted myself there for a minute, BUT I’m calling the project a success because I can close my eyes and run my fingers over the repair and not feel a blemish.

I wish I could say I was close to being done with filling holes. Still have many to go. I feel like I’ve got a better handle on the technique, though.

Safety first!


Some before shots:



Ensolite cut away to access holes from curtain rod hardware:


Hard to capture how smooth the finished product feels (lighter color is the filler, not pits):




Excuse all the road dirt—pretty dirty from the tow from Michigan to Georgia!

[gordon2]

All this learning and experience might be employment security..
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...97691030279431

[John in Michigan]

Great work Courtney! You could coat those bondo patches with gel coat (even Scamp sells it).

[courtney]

Originally Posted by gordon2

All this learning and experience might be employment security..

Ha! I don’t think I could handle winters up there, though.

[courtney]

Originally Posted by John in Michigan

Great work Courtney! You could coat those bondo patches with gel coat (even Scamp sells it).

I was thinking about that today.

I’m patching so many holes that I thought I’d just paint my Scamp. Not sure if I’m up for that, though. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to paint, and I don’t think I could do a good enough job to satisfy myself. Do you think I could gel coat just the area of the spots I fill and get an accurate enough match to the 43 years old original gel coat? Can I just re-gel coat the whole thing?

[John in Michigan]

I think you could match the shade close enough. If all of the holes are tiny, spot gel coating should work. Or spot repair with matching paint.

(The following two paragraphs were edited.)

GEL COAT: Check some youtube videos if you are thinking about gel coating the whole trailer. Best way to do it is spray. Rolling or brushing is very labor intensive because the gel coat will not level out. Requires extensive sanding with long board starting with coarse grit.

PAINT: Brushing or rolling with paint is easier. Suitable paint (marine topside) will level out when rolling or for some products, rolling and tipping. Or you can spray marine topside paint or automotive paint.

[courtney]

Filled 114 more holes today!