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We_retheRussos's avatar
We_retheRussos
Explorer
May 15, 2015

Question about paint bubbles

We are looking at our first RV and we found an 08 Winnie Voyage we really like but a red flag went up when we noticed a couple paint bubbles on the Driver's side door - top one is about an inch or so tall to give you a rough idea of size. This was the only place I could find them and the owner "says" that they had been there since he purchased the coach about 3 years ago. Wondering how big of an issue this presents considering the rest of the coach looks pretty well taken care of - about 12k miles and asking is $63,500.

I also noticed that the seals had been redone on the roof and the owner said they have the fiberglass maintained every 6 mo and recently had new silicone sealer done.

Given how green we are, we'd absolutely pay to have a mechanic look this thing up and down, but wanted to see if it was worth the time/money to do so.

Class A
  • alid's avatar
    alid
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    Had the exact same type of paint problem on the door of my 2009 Adventurer. I had the door repainted when I had some other paint work done. I never seemed to get any worse and hasn't returned after the repair.

    You may also want to check out under the MH especially the metal tubing that supports the basement storage. There is a big problem where (in my opinion) the metal wasn't prepped correctly.. Every year I have a bit more to sand down and re-paint because it is not necessarily rusting but the paint is pealing off.

    As far as re-sealing the roof... Yes on Winnie's that is a major maint. point. The roof is really held on by the sealant and it is NOT SILICONE. NEVER USE SILICONE on that joint.. it will fail. You need to use the Winnebago recommended sealant. To do the job right you have to dig out all of the sealant and reseal were the fiberglass roof panel tucks into the drip edge. 2 years ago I had it completely re-done ** the whole MH** to a tune of $2200.00 it is very labor intensive but at the time I had the MH pressure tested.. you would be surprised how many leaks there were.
  • Two_Jayhawks's avatar
    Two_Jayhawks
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    I have those "paint bubbles" but it's on aluminum with mine. Mine is aluminum skin not fiberglass. I have been told it's electrolysis. Mine is 13 years old so I'm not loosing any sleep but not sure I would buy one if this has already started.
  • rgatijnet1's avatar
    rgatijnet1
    Explorer III
    May 15, 2015
    It is called filiform corrosion and usually happens on aluminum panels that are not properly cleaned, etched, and primed before the paint is applied.
    The only repair is to strip the paint and corrosion down to bare aluminum and do it right.
  • We_retheRussos's avatar
    We_retheRussos
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    tatest wrote:
    when things were made of steel, that's how paint looked when the metal had rusted through from the other side. In the fifties we cut the rusted section away and welded in a patch. In the sixties we were just filling over with Bondo and selling it before the rust spread.

    I've never seen this in a fiberglass sandwich structure, typical of mass production motorhome walls today.


    Are Drivers side doors on these class A's fiberglass or steel? I wouldn't think that the door would be fiberglass which leads me to believe that its a rust problem - we dont have that much here in CA but I saw it all the time when I lived in IN.
  • tatest's avatar
    tatest
    Explorer II
    May 15, 2015
    when things were made of steel, that's how paint looked when the metal had rusted through from the other side. In the fifties we cut the rusted section away and welded in a patch. In the sixties we were just filling over with Bondo and selling it before the rust spread.

    I've never seen this in a fiberglass sandwich structure, typical of mass production motorhome walls today.

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