Fiberglas Shower Floor Repair

As to the resin, I prefer marine epoxy resin, there are few brands, West System is one. Not cheap and you have to buy dispensing syringes to measure accurately, but it flows easily and results are always perfect. At least, on "fiberglass" parts. It has no expiration date and I'm 99% positive you'll find many other uses for it. Adheres well to PVC - sorry, I meant PVC not ABS.

If this bath enclosure is a fiberglass, I wouldn't look any further. Don't buy in West Marine, you'll find better prices in other marine stores or fiberglass supply stores (they will also have FG tape). Lee Valley Tools have West System as I recall. Buy a regular or slow hardener, not a fast-curing type.

Or call a bath guy, if you are not DIY type.

'fiberglass resin' is a term that kind of bugs me.


Generally it is polyester resin and generally comes in two types, laminating and sanding. Sanding/finishing resin has a wax in it that rises to the surface and seals the resin so that it cures. Laminating resin does not have this wax and will remain somewhat tacky and will clog sandpaper.

Most 'fiberglass resin ' sold is sanding resin. This resin MUST be sanded before any secondary bonding can occur.

The lower the sandpaper grit, the more mechanical tooth there is for better mechanical bonding. Chemical bonding is not going to happen in this instance.

Fiberglass can be saturated with epoxy, or vinylester, or even freaking crazy glue, or 'Amazing goop' or brush on roof sealer, or paint, or freaking feces.

Getting a great bond to ABS plastic is not so easy.

If you intend to fix in place rather than remove. You need to determine what caused the damage. If it is due to inadequate support underneath, it must be resolved or the repair will only be temporary.

TechWriter wrote:
This is a molded, one-piece fiberglass shower -- there's no pan.

Then put a patch on top, duh.

Fiberglass is repaired with fiberglass. Mix two-part resin, soak/dip glass cloth in, put it on, sand when cured, apply another coat if needed. White pigment can be added to resin. Sand the pan with 80-100 paper before patching, for better adhesion. Use glass "tape", not a wide cloth. Any auto or boating store should have these supplies.

If done diligently, and with pigment more-less matching, there will be barely notable hump if you look close.

People are right, it could be ABS, then you could try a drop of ABS cement into the crack. Fiberglass resin should adhere to ABS too.

Marine sealant like 3M4200/5200 you may try, but remember that this is a sealant, not fastener. It will stop leaking but won't provide much mechanical strength and won't be too durable against constant walking/rubbing in the pan.

First off I don't pay any body to work on any of my stuff!!

I dropped a dremmel through the bottom of my wifes brand new bubble tub in our house a few years ago. She made me call the guy to fix it. 7 years later and only 75.00 and you can not tell where it was lawn darted!!

Call a guy up and save the aggravation

Chris

I would google bathtub reapair in your area. There are many companies to do the work. I used this company near me to do work. You would never know it was done, the results were superb.

First determine if the pan is made of ABS. Take some Acetone on a q-tip and put it on an inconspicuous spot. If it gets soft it is ABS. If the crack is large I would put a piece of fiberglass tape (the kind sold for sheet rocking) on it first. Then get some 3M 5200 marine bonding adhesive. It stays flexible even when cured. I found it at Home Depot.

It wasn't in a RV but a residential shower in a house trailer. I used a pool patch kit. It worked for years, maybe still. Had a 3-4" crack and couldn't afford to pull it out. Not sure what product--it was years ago. I think it was for an above ground pool, though. Made a patch that was about 3" bigger on all sides, ruffed it up a bit with a wire brush, made sure the seems were all lined up ad together, and followed instruction for the kit about letting is set up.

It's not what I would do now, but it worked then.

beemerphile1 wrote:
I removed the cracked pan, turned it upside down, and used ordinary fiberglass resin, cloth, and hardener to repair.

This is a molded, one-piece fiberglass shower -- there's no pan.

TechWriter wrote:
There are a bazillion repair kits out there . . . what did you use that worked?

Depends on the problem.

I didn't use any repair kit. I removed the cracked pan, turned it upside down, and used ordinary fiberglass resin, cloth, and hardener to repair. It wasn't any different than doing auto body repair.