How do I repair rock dings???

[Robin G]

After last fall's Miracle Mile fishing trip, Not only did that trip batter me, it battered the Casita. Does anyone have a fix for rock dings?


I have read to sand them, Really? Please tell me how to do this. If I sand, do I need to put anything on it after to reseal? Thanks for any and all info......... Robin

[Daniel V.]

Does anyone have a fix for rock dings?

My favorite stuff for small dings: Marine Tex putty

[curtis c]

I'm interested in how to prevent them. like what to put over the gellcoat to prevent a big chip. i was thinking about bed liner but not sure if that will work. anyone have a preventative measure aside from using huge mud flaps.

[Dana T]

You need to keep the rocks from getting to the trailer in the first place.

Mud flaps on the tow vehicle, or a flexible skirt/brush hanging from the bumper of the tow vehicle would work far better than using a coating on the trailer -- it's real hard to dissipate the rock's energy in the small fraction of an inch that a painted or sprayed-on coating provides.

However, this will not protect the trailer from rocks thrown by passing vehicles. Will this be a problem where you're going?

[Robin G]

My favorite stuff for small dings: Marine Tex putty

Thanks Daniel, I will check that out.

Curtis, I am with you on the mud flap look. Over kill IMHO. Truly I drove almost 8000 mile last summer pulling the Casita. The only issue I had was a horrible gravel road to the miracle mile. Other than that, if your not on gravel roads at high speeds you won't be blasted. Of course there is always to misguided rock, but the worst was high speed travel on a gravel road. Unfortunatly I was following a group into and they drove like flippen race car drivers. Had I known my way in, I would have taken my sweet time to avoid the worst of it. As far as bed liner stuff, I have read it's not so good and adds a lot of weight. Robin

[curtis c]

yea i will go with some kind of guard off the back of the bumper or some large mud flaps. i have tires that love to get rocks stuck in them and then come out and blast things. on our last little road trip i had to pull over after the dirt road and pick rocks out of the treads. we plan on a lot of boon docking so ill rig up some flaps. i also have no rock guard on the front window. ill try to remedy that as well. Dana made it clear why bed liner wont work, i can see it in my mind now. ill try and rig up some kind of detachable flap system. when the axle needs to be replaced i thought about welding in mesh around the front lower part of the trailer for rock prevention but thats still a while off. thanks for the info i wont waste my time with the bed liner.

[SherryNPaul]

Robin,
There are many tutorials on the web about repairing gel coat. You're a smart person, and I'm sure you could do a nice job, if you're just dealing with a ding.

If you don't want to tackle it, call a few boat repair shops in your area. It's usually not that expensive, if you take the job to them. Just don't make the job harder by adding putty, caulk, touchup paint, etc.,.. You really want to fix gelcoat with gelcoat to make it right.

[Robin G]

Robin,
There are many tutorials on the web about repairing gel coat. You're a smart person, and I'm sure you could do a nice job, if you're just dealing with a ding.

If you don't want to tackle it, call a few boat repair shops in your area. It's usually not that expensive, if you take the job to them. Just don't make the job harder by adding putty, caulk, touchup paint, etc.,.. You really want to fix gelcoat with gelcoat to make it right.

Thanks I will check all this out. It really is just little dings, so I should be able to repair. Actually could just let it be, but it's one of those things that bugs me............ Kinda like the carpet on the floor. Hoping to tackle that this week, before big campout. I searched dings, but now I will search gelcoat. Thanks Robin