Best repair technique

[slipknotfan67]

Have a 1975 trillium 1300 I'm restoring, has usual door sag- I'm at stage where I have done all bodywork, eliminating belly band and all and was in process of fitting door- now I bought brand new hinges- so I want this thing to be rock solid, so cut out door hinge pillar to sure up inside, and found it also to be cracked where two panels meet, and crack starting down door jam. I have been doing bodywork all my life, but want the experts to chime in here as I want this fixed correctly the first time, this is the MAJOR support area for the entire door- but I also want repair to be small( I already had to grind into gelcoat of front bench which I wasn’t happy about), what best way to go- just fiberglass resin and matting, two part epoxy? Panel joinging adhesive? When I worked in a body shop we used 3m panel adhesive for quarter panels and only welded in certain areas. See pics- what best method of fix- thank you all.

[David Tilston]

I am not sure I understand the problem. Is the crack between the layers of fibreglass? I am thinking that a syringe of resin and your good. Since the trailer is made with fibreglass and polyester resin, it is best to stick to using resin. A two part epoxy will stick to the polyester, but it is my understanding that polyester resin has a hard time sticking to the epoxy.

[k corbin]

I personally work with Epoxy resin and cloth. It is reputed to be stronger than the vinyl ester resins. The other reason I like it is that it comes in various types viscosity and also various speeds of curing.



Seasonal tip:

Now that the weather is getting much cooler I put the part A and part B containers into a warm to hot water bath before I dispense the resin for mixing it. That really helps extend the season for working outdoors and getting it to kick off in a reasonable amount of time if you are working in an unheated space. When the resin is cold it is more difficult to dispense and mix and may not cure properly if the temperature you are working in is below the recommended. Resin warmed to somewhere around 70 degrees works just right, that will start the thermo reaction needed for curing even if the outside temp is in the 50s.

[slipknotfan67]

Yes as with most fiberglass campers, this was put together in 4 pieces, two outer, two inner, so what you see is a crack that has formed where the bottom outer section and bottom inner section come together- the pillar that was cut out really is simply a cover for the ensolite cover, but the door itself is really only supported by hanging off the outside wall, so where it cracked is really where the most stress is on the system, that’s where all the weight of the door is pulling and flexing the outer skin, so it’s pulling away from the inner skin, it would have helped maybe if the lower pillar cover was glassed to the bench, but it’s not, and never was, I may get behind it and glass it but I dont want to grind into the gelcoated front bench anymore than I did

[slipknotfan67]