TOPIC: Fiberglass RV Needs Fixin

Hi folks! Just found out about & just joined FiberGlassics. Very happy to be here... as I got a problem. Came back with my 5th wheel from Howard Prarie Lk, Ore & found a baseball size hole in the back panel of the fiberglass RV... dunno how it got there!!! I can't afford to have the repair shop fix it (quote was waaaay up there)! I like to fix things myself - but not sure how to fix this (limited experience with fiberglass). One clue from the repair guy: "we will grind it & use Kitty Hair". Looking up kitty hair, it's a long fiber filled putty product. Anyway, if I sandpaper it, with 360 grit?? & then pack it with kitty hair... what do I do next? Does it need a top coat of epoxy?, do I spray paint a gel coat on top -sand, sand, sand???. Any suggestions much appreciated. Al

Al,
Well, first, welcome aboard. Glad to have you here. Second, take some pics and post them so we can see exactly what your dealing with. What's behind the hole etc... and we can go from there. There are plenty of good folks on here who have done a lot of fiberglassing who will jump in. The pics will help a lot.

Bob

Bob hit it on the nose. Lots of people here with years and years of experience. Lots of pictures and posts and they will me happy to help.
Now of course we have to ask the question-do you have a boat?
Welcome aboard.
Neil

Hi Bob & Neil,
Thanks much for responding to my problem... Yes, I do have a boat - it's the Sunbird shown in my pic... it's a 17 ft Open Bow runabout, vintage 1988... has OMC I/O with 4.3 liter GMC, 6cyl... bought to entice my teenage kids (at that time) to do vacations with us. I've done a few mods to it... my son & I built & installed the teak deck I'm sitting on and the Ski pylon was a spare Master Craft pylon - which I adapted with some stainless steel scrap metal assembled by me & parts welded by a friend. She's a good little hot rod that has given many happy hours on various lakes over the years. My kids are all grown with kids of their own - so now it is seldom used... although, I did get my daughter to tow it to Howard Prarie Lk & we had lot's of fun dragging four of my grandkids around the lake. I currently have no issues with the boat -tho I had to spend many hours fixing rodent damage (& cleaning the filth) before using it this summer... Anybody have any tips on protecting boats from rodents please let me know.

I will have pics of the hole in the 5th wheel soon as I get it back... the repair shop is fixing a leak in the slideout discovered at Howard Prairie (couple days of heavy rain there)... this is being done under warrenty as it is a 2011 RV bought early this year (yes, I'm still larnin to manuever the dang thing!)... this is why I need to learn to repair my own "mistakes", they seem jump on me when least expected.
Thanks for all info... I'll check back when I have more. Al

If you're gonna repair it with just kitty hair, sanding with 80 grit is more like what you need to do. When the RV guy said he would grind it, he probably meant with a 4 1/2" angle grinder for a real rough surface! Kitty hair really needs a rough surface. That will fix the hole - the gel coat will be the hard part. Most boat & rv places (West Marine, for example) will sell small gel coat repair kits. find one, read the directions and do exactly as it says. No reason you can't do this yourself, it's just gonna take some time.

Good luck!

Frank

Frank, Bob & Neil... much obliged to your responses RE: my new adventure. Sorry about getting back so late. I've been doing a bit of reading & a bit of research. Couple of good books (recommended this Blog): Fiberglass Boat Rep Manual, Vaitses & "Fiberglass Repair", Aiken - both on Amazon. Also, found out my "fiver" (5th wheel)... has walls of "filon" with Luan backing. This stuff is only 1/8 in thick... was able to get a repair procedure from cranecomposites.com (#6500 - attached)... see file & pics. Still have questions tho (getting just enough knowledge to make me very dangerous). Looks like I need a good power sander & polisher & might need a finish paint sprayer?. Am I going over-board? (wanting to spend to much money - as wife says) And, not sure if I should finish in 2-part polyurethane or gel coat? I have yet to contact the mfgr and or my friendly repair shop. Note: I noticed a fine looking sander/polisher by Festool (McFeelys.com): "RO90DX Multi-mode sander" - 3.5 in pad ($375 but needs lots of accessories)... this is a big investment for me - but seems essential for a decent finish??? Anyway, please advise... this could be a dumb thing for me to do?
Notes About Pics: Back of RV shows a nifty patch on hole (Upper Left by 1st lite -free by repair shop) will not let water in. Hole is pried -covers a three inch circular area -can make out the luan fibers under the lam. Threw in another coupla boat pics.
Thanks. Al

hi al,it sounds like your not going to need the tools for long,or over use them,if i were you i would check out "harbor freight" tools,they are very inexpensive ,and will do what you need.
heck i use tools hard and i still use my harbor freight multitool after 2 years ,john

Al,
John is right. The Harbor Freight stuff works just fine for us DIYers. The Multi-tool is a must. I think I've also heard that it can use the Dremel multi-tool attachments as well as it's own. I have to sya I wouldn't use the Harbor Frieght stuff for heavy production work day in and day out but for the DIYer it's great. They also have a few good paint spray guns also I believe. A few folks here have them and use all the time.

As far as the repair goes, i think it will depend on if you can get to the back of the hole from inside. That will determine how you should go about fixing it. I'll let the folks who have done this more than I jump in. I don't want to give you bad info. The Gel Coat vs Paint issue could probably be argued several ways but here's my two cents. If you want to match the original then I would gelcoat but gel-coating has it's own issues. Read what Jamil has in the Research section under restoring on this site. I think, unless you can match with paint perfectly, your repair may look lke a repair once painted. Also be advised if you use Epoxy vice Poly on the repair then YOU CAN'T use gel-coat it must be painted. Gel coat won't stick to Epoxy. That's also in the Jamil article.

Others can/will jump in and give more advice.

Bob