Gel coat cracking

"It is a weak point where the bottom of the bed slide is applying pressure against the bottom, and added movement in the bedroom will cause it start this process."

Oh I can remember those days! LOL

Dave and Sue wrote:
"It is a weak point where the bottom of the bed slide is applying pressure against the bottom, and added movement in the bedroom will cause it start this process."

Oh I can remember those days! LOL

:B:p:B

That's not gelcoat, it is structural, penetrating through the reinforcement fibers of the outer skin. You might be able to patch the outer skin, but I would want to know if there has been a failure of the underlying metal frame around that opening, which might call for replacement of the entire laminated wall.

I would get this looked at soon, we had the same type of crack on a Open Road 5th wheel in the same area and had to have new supports added and the skin patched but the patch job cracked on the first trip, returned to repair place to look farther and the pin box welds were broken. Got this repaired and got rid of this unit, have seen other Open Roads with the same crack and I warn the owners, I would hate to hear of a accident because of a pin box failure. Good luck and keep us posted.

I had a 2004 FR Sandpiper that cracked in the same exact place. turned out to be frame flex. I had to remove the bottom of the overhang and beef up the frame under that area. The cracked filon was removed. 2 fiberglass mats along with several coats of resin solved the problem.

To get an idea of frame flex look closely at the crack as unit is removed or placed on the truck transferring weight to the legs. Also try to listen for frame movement.

We won't mention who most likely built the frame.