The other day, I was asked about how I might try and seal those skin tears along the rounded roof edge before I covered them with molding.
The question was very timely and I started to think it though. Having spent several days mulling it over, I decided to see what a two-part epoxy formulated for aluminum patching might do for me, and headed over to the auto parts store.
There were lots of packages: putties, pastes and the two part epoxies. In essence, you mix the resin (plastic) with a hardener (there's that catalyst thing again).
I know I've used epoxy before, I just can't remember when, or for what, or how frequently. So it was probably once and wasn't memorable. Either that or my memory is going, I can't remember which.
The young parts-kid said in general, the longer the cure time, the harder the final product. I don't think that means brittle (un-favorable), but just hard.
I chose this stuff with a cure time of 15-24 hours.
One of the properties I especially like is that after curing it is sand-able, drill-able and paintable.
The first step is the surface preparation. Like paint, I've always tried to make sure the surface prep is done right.
Here's an example of what I'm starting with. There are six locations around the back wall and six along the front.
I'm not a pro, but I can finish Sheetrock. I've also got the basic "wood filling" thing down. What is needed, is a small void for the product to hang out in. You don't want to slap the filler on a top surface, just to sand it all off, or to have such a weak place for the product to grab hold of the material you are fixing that it can lose it's grasp and fall out.
On the other hand, you don't want such a deep void to fill that it is mostly filler. You want as much of the original material to do it's job as... well, to do it's job as the original material!
I guess that's the idea behind bondo too, something else (body work) I haven't really ever had the opportunity to do and learn, but there's kind of a pattern among all of it.
So I decided I needed to prep the hole for the epoxy to gain a better purchase on the patch area. I started with a slight depression of the drill holes, and then a depression of the cut or tear.
Then I decided to widen the tear slightly with a Dremel tool cutoff wheel for the epoxy to be able to "get down in". These are two different areas, but you get the idea.
And then I depressed the new cut a little.
Here's another type of hole, that back-wall tree-damage thing.
I depressed its edges.
I did this at all 12 spots around front and back walls, and took pictures of each, at each step. I have a lot of pictures. Too many pictures.
At this point, I used my pocket knife to again remove any minor pieces of remaining paint nearby, then roughed the repair area with sandpaper, then a good rubbing with a stainless steel brush (cheapy from HF), and finished with a second smaller SS brush in a cross pattern, and wiped the areas with a clean, dry cloth.
Then I mixed up the epoxy (this picture is from a later mix, but gives you the idea)...
to an even color and consistency...
and carefully applied it to the repair areas with a toothpick.
I chose that shot because, being more vertical, it also shows that the product runs. I just left it alone to do its thing.
The next morning, after about 16 hours of cure time, I sanded the spots, with this kind of result.
At all twelve areas. I was impressed! And I got thinking, "what if I used some of this on the other areas of concern?"
There's that 3.5" tear on the roof by the rear vent. And there's those major gapes and holes on the front camper-box wall where the screws from the jack grids pulled down and mangled the metal! And there's those stupid "PO license plate holes" on the back wall, not to mention the one hole above the new back-wall color band repair that are all five filled with screws! And two (out of four camper corner areas) where I'd kind of like to see "reflector" mount screw holes disappear! My mind was racing!
So before putting a second application over the first 12 repairs, I prepped the next 13. Yes, 25 places in all. And there's probably more, but I get confused easily. I figured I better do this in stages.
I went up top.
Cut.
Sand.
Stainless steel brush.
And here's the license plate area.
That PO 2x6 back-wall repair job screw hole I couldn't repair.
Left rear reflector.
Right front reflector. (The other two corners have utility doors impacting these spots and I want to try and get matching reflectors for all corners. No - I haven't fully figured that out yet.)
And the jack-grid screw-mount damage. Right front, forward face of camper-box wall. Yeah I know! Up until now my only option has been to place some kind of decorative patch. And that may remain my only option, but let's just see what this stuff might do!
And same area, but on the driver side.
I mixed up some more epoxy and put a second layer on the first 12 spots. Then a first application to my new 13.
Then I walked away and busied myself with other things.
