Rear Fiberglass Cap Damage

Bird Freak wrote:
kitty hair is chopped fiberglass mixed with a resin you can buy in a can. You just have to add hardener and spread after surface prep. Works great for filling holes and cracks but not for structural.

Beat me to it!

dedmiston wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Grind out the cracks, fill with kitty hair.

OK, I'll bite. What's kitty hair?

(I hope I don't regret asking. :B)

LOL!:E

At first I thought maybe it was slang, but the top mfg of autobody filler actually calls it that as well.
It's fiberglass strand reinforced resin to be used as body filler.



Here I used it (the brown stuff, green filler is bondo to smooth the small pits in the fiberglass) to repair a missing chunk in a fiberglass visor on the old truck. Filled the entire void that was broke out as well as a backing layer extending beyond the repair on the back side.

dedmiston wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Grind out the cracks, fill with kitty hair.

OK, I'll bite. What's kitty hair?

(I hope I don't regret asking. :B)

kitty hair is chopped fiberglass mixed with a resin you can buy in a can. You just have to add hardener and spread after surface prep. Works great for filling holes and cracks but not for structural.

i had damage just like that on a prior motorhome. camping world portland
removed the rear cap and did a fantastic job on it. i had it back the following week good as new. turn in your claim and see who the recommend. the faster you get it filed the faster you can be back on the road

For those recommending replacing or removing the cracked part, isn't the white part of that rear cap one piece? That would be a pretty awkward job to remove for the average person. Certainly if working alone. It looks like the lower blue section is a separate piece, but can't tell for sure. Seeing as the crack stopped at the white/blue interface, I figured it was a separate piece.

On our rig, there is about a 4"- 6" gap between the inside of the rear fiberglas cap and the structure of our interior bedroom wall. It's wider at the bottom and narrows near the top. If this rig is built the same way, there isn't any chance of interior water damage if water gets into the crack. Also, if there is that much space, I think Veebyes recommendation to lay some supporting fiberglas on the inside is a great idea. It doesn't have to look pretty as no one will see it, so you just have to be able to reach up that high and smooth out the fiberglass. (Wear old clothes, long sleeves, goggles and gloves! LOL) If you can get things mostly aligned and solid from the inside of the cap, that should minimize what you have to do on the outside because the strength will be provided from the inside repair. The outside work will mostly be to make it look pretty. Just make sure to thoroughly clean that inside area before applying the fiberglas. It's likely to have a lot of dirt and road grit & grime collected from over the years. Clean and scrub it, if possible.

Veebyes also mentioned preparation. THAT is the key word for any type of body work. Make sure everything is properly cleaned and materials are applied according to directions. Grinding and then sanding with the proper progression of sandpaper grits. As someone else mentioned, if it doesn't quite turn out right, grind out your mistake(s) and try again. But before you spray the paint, it needs to be "perfect" or as close as you're willing to accept to "perfect". The paint WILL SHOW any imperfections in the process. Then again, it's an older rig, so I know I could easily convince myself not to dwell on "perfect". The likely mismatch in color and gloss will tip off anyone to the repaired area. But the only way around that is to paint the entire rear cap. As I mentioned before, if it's mostly unnoticeable unless someone takes a good, second look...I'd be happy.

Heck, depending upon how much longer I intended to have the rig, I could probably even convince myself to make it water-tight (a good, white tape, perhaps even Eternabond?) and just live with it.

I hope to hear what your findings are, and like others, I'd like to hear how this happened. Many of us flat-tow, so whether it was a component failure or operator error, understanding what happened in your unfortunately situation could possibly keep us from the same mishap.

Good Luck,

~Rick

This could be a DIY job if you are up to the challenge. The beauty of fiberglass is that if you make a mistake you grind it away & start again. It is not a huge mystery though many are afraid of it.

I have done many small repairs on boats plus a few to the 5er ranging from little dings all the way to constructing a new top for the boat, a new swim platform & re decking a small boat.

For this job I am thinking take the part off for starters & layer up a few layers of heavy structural cloth to provide structural strength behind to start with. From there work on the outside layering a few layers of fine cloth finishing with fairing putty. It is all about the preparation before the first coat of paint goes on.

Grit dog wrote:
Grind out the cracks, fill with kitty hair.

OK, I'll bite. What's kitty hair?

(I hope I don't regret asking. :B)

Finding a shop to repair it could be a challenge. Personally I'd say $5k is on the high side. Just looking at it, I'd slap a couple new layers of glass on the back side since it looks broke though. Grind out the cracks, fill with kitty hair. Grind back down for gelcoat and patch the gel. Custom color match, or don't even gel it and squirt single stage paint over it.
The cost of material is insignificant here, even though autobody materials have increased substantially. There isn't more than maybe $200 worth of materials to be used in that repair. Might be more if you bought everything yourself.

All that said, it may sound like I'm oversimplifying it for anyone who doesn't understand autobody and fiberglass work, but it's not that technical of a repair.

Another option, search RV boneyards for a matching piece.


Now, please explain what happened, hard to comprehend how this happened. Just my curiosity...

Bird Freak wrote:
I fixed a lot of Corvettes and fiberglass cars over the years and this should not be a problem for a good glass man as long as there is no damage behind the cap.
No one in their right mind will price it without seeing it in person.

A good fiberglass guy can make it look like it never happened. But a good fiberglass guy ain't cheap.

If it's just cosmetic, you might be lucky and get it done for $5-7k. If there is more structural damage underneath, it could easily be double or triple.

But on a 21yr old rig, the insurance company is quite likely to total it.

If you are willing to accept structurally solid but ugly, it's probably a DIY project you can handle. Check out "west system" epoxy. They have excellent guides online (even if you don't use their products...which are high quality)

If It’s insured, I’ll bet they will total it