Fiberglass roof repair. Help!

[Troutter]

I did find a thread on FiberglassRV.com about basic fiberglass repair. I worked with fiberglass briefly in college, but that was 20 years ago so thought I would post a few pictures of my issues here and see what ideas you folks have to keep my roof from leaking.

Picture #1 is the outside roof area. This looks like it could be a significant amount of work.

Picture #2 is what the area from picture #1 looks like from the inside. The wall/ceiling area was covered with carpet (I think) it's full of what I think is carpet glue. Some of it is kinda sticky, some of it is pretty hard.

From Picture #1 and #2 Does anyone have some ideas as to how they would go about repairing this area? Getting the glue off the inside? Repair from the outside or inside, or both???? I need some advice. The area does leak.

Picture #3 I have water that is leaking down the seam right through to the inside. There are 3 areas total that are leaking.

Picture #4 Is the inside below the seam. The area circled looks to be an area someone tried to repair and also added some kind of white rubber type substance. Needless to say the repair didn't work.

If anyone has first hand experience repairing issues similar to my pictures I would love to hear your thoughts. If there are other treads that address the repairs I would like to make I would also be interested in links to those threads. I'm new here and haven't spent much time on forums in the past, so this is all kinda new to me. does this place have a "keyword search area"???

Thanks,
Jason

[FRED SMAILES]

It appears to me to be a very poor glas job,,,,
If it were me I would remove all the paint from the affected areas,
Decide weather the glas is structually solid,,does it move with say about 20 lbs of pressure? If so probbaly needs a layer of glas. If it is firm you could "wash" the surface with a coat of resin followed by a coat of body filler to smooth it out and paint. Make sure surface is rough sanded when applying the resin and or filler. Look for some totorials on Utube.
And practice on something other than your trailer first. Like a piece of plywood.
Be sure to keep us updated!
Fred

[Troutter]

I wonder if fixing the seam on top would be as easy as using an epoxy putty and then putting trim lock over the top of it. I used to do taxidermy and used a 2 part epoxy putty called Magic Sculp. I once used the stuff to plug a hole in a cooler and 15 years later it hasn't changed a bit and the cooler still keeps my ice cold. I wonder if that might fix it. I know magic sculp can be painted also. I've painted it for my taxidermy projects, but not sure how it would work for an exterior application. I'm just thinking out loud.

[mary and bob]

I assume this is made similar to our Uhaul. I used two methods to seal leaks in the roof. One area that had a flaw in the seam I sealed with fiberglass resin and cloth. On the seam forward of the roof vent I used Proflex RV sealant along the entire seam, then reinstalled the trim lok. I had also removed the solar panel and a antenna, used resin & cloth to cover those holes. On the inside before we installed new carpet on the ceiling I scraped off any loose glue from the previous carpet with a paint scraper and wire brush. There was also some glue smeared around where it didn't belong and I used brake clean and goof off to remove it from the fiberglass.

[Donna D.]

Jason, are you planning to paint the trailer? Jen ground and filled the entire seam before paint. No more leaks, probably ever....

[Troutter]

Originally Posted by FRED SMAILES

It appears to me to be a very poor glas job,,,,
If it were me I would remove all the paint from the affected areas,
Decide weather the glas is structually solid,,does it move with say about 20 lbs of pressure? If so probbaly needs a layer of glas. If it is firm you could "wash" the surface with a coat of resin followed by a coat of body filler to smooth it out and paint. Make sure surface is rough sanded when applying the resin and or filler. Look for some totorials on Utube.
And practice on something other than your trailer first. Like a piece of plywood.
Be sure to keep us updated!
Fred

Fred great info, thank you so much

[Troutter]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Jason, are you planning to paint the trailer? Jen ground and filled the entire seam before paint. No more leaks, probably ever....

I trailer had been freshly painted. Probably just to hide imperfections. I however would like to do a more permanent repair. My plan is to have this trailer for many years. From the looks of my roof in picture #1 I'm pretty sure there is going to be some painting done when I'm finished. However, I don't plan to instantly go out and have it professionally painted. I want to make sure it's water tight before paint.

[Troutter]

Originally Posted by mary and bob

I assume this is made similar to our Uhaul. I used two methods to seal leaks in the roof. One area that had a flaw in the seam I sealed with fiberglass resin and cloth. On the seam forward of the roof vent I used Proflex RV sealant along the entire seam, then reinstalled the trim lok. I had also removed the solar panel and a antenna, used resin & cloth to cover those holes. On the inside before we installed new carpet on the ceiling I scraped off any loose glue from the previous carpet with a paint scraper and wire brush. There was also some glue smeared around where it didn't belong and I used brake clean and goof off to remove it from the fiberglass.

Mary and Bob, thanks for the great info. I will look into brake cleaner and goof off. I wasn't sure what would be safe to use on fiberglass and these two products will give me a good start in getting that nasty glue off! thanks so much!

[FRED SMAILES]

Originally Posted by Troutter

Mary and Bob, thanks for the great info. I will look into brake cleaner and goof off. I wasn't sure what would be safe to use on fiberglass and these two products will give me a good start in getting that nasty glue off! thanks so much!

Fglas is pretty tuff stuff after it's set.
About the only thing that can affect it is a grinder!!
One of the reasons our trailers are still around.
Fred

[Richard Hayes]

Re:
does this place have a "keyword search area"???

I find the best search approach is as follows:

Click the SEARCH area of the top blue bar

Ignore the top box - use the one marked "SITE SEARCH/GOOGLE"

Returns lots of well targeted info...

[stevebaz]

If it were mine I would do your repair from the inside since you have it stripped already. I would sand the inside with 36 grit paper on a hand grinder just to clean up the area. Mix up your resin of choice and brush it on the whole area you sanded. Brush in all one direction. When this is mostly curred brush on another coat in the other direction. This should seal the area. When this is mostly cured now mix up some resin again and apply it to some 6- 9 oz glass and stick it on the ceiling. let this mostly cure and do another layer. This should stick it up tightly and seal the area without making a big obtrusive heavy lump that wants to fall down. On the outside I would seal the outside openings with 3M 5200 adheasive sealant. this will be minimal intrusion so you dont have to fill and sand and have to repaint which is a great expense. If you use poluester resin on the final layer put a piece of heavy black plastic garden trash bag and stick it on the surface while the resin is wet. After the resin is cured peel off the plastic. Sealing this plastic in the wet resin gets air off the surface of the resin and allows the area to fully cure avoiding a sticky surface after the resin cures.

[Troutter]

Steve,

I wish I had heard from you last night! I decided to see what was going on up top, so I took my dremel out and started working around a couple of the voids. The glass is really thin up there, and I have several pretty significant holes along with tons of pits and smaller voids.

I spent 2-3 hours this afternoon cleaning the carpet glue from the inside. It's such a mess and honestly I'm not sure it's even clean enough yet to put glass over.

I will post some pictures in a couple hours and let you folks toss some repair ideas at me.

As always I really appreciate everyones ideas! Thank you so much!

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by stevebaz

If it were mine I would do your repair from the inside since you have it stripped already. .

We had a fellow who does Fiberglass repairs attend one of our trailer meets in BC a couple of years ago and give a demo on a minor repair. What Steve described is pretty well what how we were shown.

[Troutter]

Originally Posted by FRED SMAILES

It appears to me to be a very poor glas job,,,,
If it were me I would remove all the paint from the affected areas,
Decide weather the glas is structually solid,,does it move with say about 20 lbs of pressure? If so probbaly needs a layer of glas. If it is firm you could "wash" the surface with a coat of resin followed by a coat of body filler to smooth it out and paint. Make sure surface is rough sanded when applying the resin and or filler. Look for some totorials on Utube.
And practice on something other than your trailer first. Like a piece of plywood.
Be sure to keep us updated!
Fred

Here are a couple more pictures for you guys. I like Fred's idea because I had no idea what the fiberglass actually looked like. The trailer had been freshly painted before I got it, but the roof leaks like crazy. Paint to me is just a cosmetic and eventually after I get this thing watertight I will consider a paint job.

As you guys can see from the outside we have several holes and tons of pits and voids, I think the only thing keeping the rain out was the insanely heavy paint job and the carpet glue on the inside which is also insanely thick. I'm having a heck of a time getting the stuff off!

As of right now, this is my plan for tomorrow. I'm going to use some wax paper to cover the holes on the outside. I'm going to glass from the inside. When I'm done I plan to add a coat of resin to the outside also. There are so many pits and voids on the outside I think those need to be addressed also.

I look forward to hearing everyone's ideas!

[Westcliffe01]

If you are going to work on the outside, please don't use fiberglass mat.

Go to this site Fiberglass Supply - Fiberglass Fabrics, Surfboard Cloth, S-2 Glass, Fiberglass Tape, Industrial Fabrics

Scroll down to where the heading is "Warp Bias, E Glass Surfboard Fabrics"
Get several yards of the Style 1521, 3.6 oz./yd.² X 30", E Glass, Warp Cloth. You will see it is quite inexpensive.

To avoid yourself a bunch of heartache, only use epoxy. Vinylester resins (used for boat building) are tricky to use since the laminating resin stays tacky forever and the finishing resin has wax added to it so if you use that by mistake you will find that nothing sticks after the first layer. Resin is subject to hazmat charges so find a local dealer who stocks west system epoxy since the stuff is expensive enough as it is.

With epoxy, every layer will set up rock hard. If you are building up, do not wait for it to set up hard, but start laying on the next layer while the previous is firm but still tacky. Else you have to roughen the previous layer to get good adhesion. Remember than nothing likes to bond to a smooth anything, that includes smooth hard epoxy. Also remember that you need to work the air out of the fiber. Air = porosity = possibility for more leaks. Also remember that any fiber re-inforced anything can only be strong if the fibers are straight. If the fibers are kinked it cannot transfer either tensile or compressive loads. Also, resin is not strong. In a good job the target is to shoot for a 1:1 ratio of fiber to resin by weight.

[D White]

Originally Posted by Westcliffe01

If you are going to work on the outside, please don't use fiberglass mat.

Go to this site Fiberglass Supply - Fiberglass Fabrics, Surfboard Cloth, S-2 Glass, Fiberglass Tape, Industrial Fabrics

Scroll down to where the heading is "Warp Bias, E Glass Surfboard Fabrics"
Get several yards of the Style 1521, 3.6 oz./yd.² X 30", E Glass, Warp Cloth. You will see it is quite inexpensive.

To avoid yourself a bunch of heartache, only use epoxy. Vinylester resins (used for boat building) are tricky to use since the laminating resin stays tacky forever and the finishing resin has wax added to it so if you use that by mistake you will find that nothing sticks after the first layer. Resin is subject to hazmat charges so find a local dealer who stocks west system epoxy since the stuff is expensive enough as it is.

With epoxy, every layer will set up rock hard. If you are building up, do not wait for it to set up hard, but start laying on the next layer while the previous is firm but still tacky. Else you have to roughen the previous layer to get good adhesion. Remember than nothing likes to bond to a smooth anything, that includes smooth hard epoxy. Also remember that you need to work the air out of the fiber. Air = porosity = possibility for more leaks. Also remember that any fiber re-inforced anything can only be strong if the fibers are straight. If the fibers are kinked it cannot transfer either tensile or compressive loads. Also, resin is not strong. In a good job the target is to shoot for a 1:1 ratio of fiber to resin by weight.

After 35 years in the fiberglass business, I so totally disagree with the above...that information is made by the people selling epoxy trying to discredit the polyester resin industry to up sell epoxy...so here it is from a guy who has done it for years...
Your trailer was made from mat and you should only use mat because it forms better, is easier to wet out and is megastrong...is it as strong as the above statement?....maybe not but it is the industry standard of "strong"
Absolutely use polyester resin or better yet, vinyl ester resin which is a better resin in most every way than polyester...once again, it is what your trailer is made from, it will stick to a roughened surface and the resins most commonly available to you are unwaxed, so the above is baloney...if you use the afore mentioned plastic trick, or what we use....waxed paper, there will be no uncured surface no mater which resin you use

So, to easily fix this, wet a piece of mat with your correctly mixed polyester or vinylester resin on a piece of waxed paper on your work bench, apply it to the inside highly roughened surface, pick up the piece of mat and waxed paper and apply it to the ceiling mat side to the fiberglass, and roll the waxed paper to get out the bubbles to make a tight repair...block it up with a piece of wood from the floor if needed, let it cure and you're done...do something with the outside if you want, but you will have sealed the leak....

One final thing....NOTHING STICKS TO CURED EPOXY EXCEPT MORE EPOXY, NOTHING......Dave

[FRED SMAILES]

I have never been in the Fglas business, but I have used LOTS of it. I completely agree with the previous DWhite post. Almost all our trailers are made with random fiberglas strand sprayguns and polester resin and there 40 or so years old! Stick with like material to service your issue and you'll have no problems.I wouldn't use wax paper, 6 mil plastic would be better.
I would add a layer of glas out side too.
Applying glas mat overhead is tricky, Cut your material to size and soak it on a larger piece of 6 mil plastic. Smooth the soaked glas into place by lifting it with the plastic. you can then hold it up with packing tape onto surrounding area and/or something on a stick the right length with a pad of some kind on the end. once the glas has set just remove the tape and the plastic will come off easy. The surface may be sticky for a day or so but will harden up. Remember,,practice on something. Using a few dollars of product to educate yourself could save alot of grief and money.
Get a box of rubber gloves and wear 2-3 pair at a time. Laquar thinner will clean stuff if you clean BEFORE it sets. I use an old paint brush to apply the resin to the cloth and wall and clean it right away, have probably used this one 20 times. If you can control the temperature like in a garage say, do your aplication in the cool, it gives you more work time, then warm it up to help it set.
Fred

[Troutter]

D White and Fred, You both have been a wealth of good information and my plan is to use polyester resin and mat.

The camper is to tall for me to fit into my garage so I will have to do the repair outside. It's in the low 60's right now and is supposed to heat up to 80 degrees this afternoon. It's supposed to be about the same tomorrow. The way I understand it the resin is supposed to cure at temps of 75 degrees. Will the cooler night temps 50's-60's be ok? It will probably slow the process but will it hurt my repair???

Thanks so much for the help, as always I truly appreciate your help!

[D White]

Originally Posted by Troutter

D White and Fred, You both have been a wealth of good information and my plan is to use polyester resin and mat.

The camper is to tall for me to fit into my garage so I will have to do the repair outside. It's in the low 60's right now and is supposed to heat up to 80 degrees this afternoon. It's supposed to be about the same tomorrow. The way I understand it the resin is supposed to cure at temps of 75 degrees. Will the cooler night temps 50's-60's be ok? It will probably slow the process but will it hurt my repair???

Thanks so much for the help, as always I truly appreciate your help!

Do your work, then set a heater in the trailer to get the resin to kick off...it doesn't like cool temps...Dave

[David Tilston]

I am fairly new at the fibreglass game, but I to must say that the advice of Westcliffe01 sounds like product marketing for the West system. The West system is popular on boats. I am sure that there are good reasons for this, but fibreglass trailers are build different. I have found that mat works perfect, for my needs and polyester resin is easy to work with. both are available at Princess Auto, at a reasonable price.

Sand between applications, and you will be fine. Try to make your joints over as large a surface area as possible. Don't just butt up two sheets of fibreglass and expect them to bond. Joining two sheets should involve grinding a bevel, from paper thin to full thickness, at least an inch wide on each side of the join, (my neighbor says to go four inches). Then layers of glass and resin to joint the seam. This is not your problem, so a layer of glass, (I would do both sides). Then sand the outside smooth, (easier said then done). Then paint.

I just love working with fibreglass. It is almost impossible to blow it. If you lay down too much, then grind. If you grind too much, then lay down more. Repeat if necessary. It is a very organic process.

Experience is way more important then theory. You will make mistakes. It's OK. See above.