Artci Fox 811 Nose Rebuild

Reelescape1 wrote:
Am I the only one that just ordered all new LED outside lights :)

I am in the process of doing so. Does that count?

Am I the only one that just ordered all new LED outside lights :)

For a glue, when I had to fix the front end of our old fifth wheel I got a two part epoxy from West Marine. It worked really well.

Real nice Job!
More professional than most shops.

Great ideas. I really appreciate members who take the time to answer questions and post pictures. Joe417, you accomplished exactly what i am working on. I think i will get a piece of thin plastic/glass panel from Lowe's, and cut it as large as i can place between the Filon and wall, gluing both sides of the panel. It appears I need a little more than glue to make the side work with the front. I love the clamp idea. I am still considering wraping the front and bottom with aluminum, pop rivited to th al frame, and gluing the Filon to it. All comments are always appreciated.

Real nice job!! Love the way you used the wooden O frames and the clamps. Great idea

Nice Job!

I used Gorilla Glue. The larger the bottle the less per ounce. There's probably some generic you can buy by the gallon. Locally, I bought from Lowe's in 8 and 16 oz. bottles, ending up with $200 in glue.

To get the filon to glue down smoothly you'll need to built a couple of "O" clamps. I just used some scrap lumber I had, 1 x 4s seem to be strong enough. I used some scrap 5/8" particle board as a pressure plate and applied the pressure using Irwin hand clamps and the "O" clamp. I did the underside of the front cap with a scaffold/ladder that just happened to be the right height to use the hand clamps. You can use the "O" clamp, just make it large enough for the hand clamps to fit in.

These picture will give you an idea about how I did mine. Note that the palomino had aluminum side and floor framing and the front was wood framing.

Right front de-laminated:


De-laminated wood removed and dried. Still has a thin layer bonded to each side:


The hand clamps are putting pressure on the particle board until the adhesive cures:


Front cap:

I glued the front wall and a 1/8" thick piece of plywood, ~16" x 8 feet to the filon:


I attached another piece of plywood to the previous ply but not to the filon. Keeps it flexible:


Rolled the plywood under with glue:


Ready to glue and roll the filon under:


The plywood with the filon glued on is quite rigid:


The top edge has no plywood behind it. Rolled the 5 or 6 inches of filon down over the rubber roofing fastened using a layer of butyl tape on both top and bottom of the filon and the aluminum trim.


Finished product:

Thanks for the info Joe. My TPO roof is stapled to the outside of my Filon. To pull the side back enough to replace the luan, I would have to replace my roof. Do you remember the particular urethane glue that you used? I have about decided to repair the side using luan. The front and bottom of the nose, to run a sheet of alum from the top to where I cut the Filon underneath. I would pop-rivet the Alum to the Alum frame. I would then glue the Filon to the Alum. The challenge would be to get the Alum Flat. Not so much a problem on the front as it will be on bottom. I will probably add 30 to 40 Lbs extra to the nose, but that is spread out over the entire nose of the camper.

I did a Palomino that had cardboard as the backer. I scrapped all the cardboard off and used 1/8 inch plywood to re-mount it. Used a standard paint scrapper and was very careful not to damage the glass. Glued the plywood on the camper and then the fiberglass onto the plywood. It will not bend if you mount the glass first. Tried that first then had to scrap new wood off the glass, what a pain.

I didn't try the de-lamination epoxy you asked about.

The sides of the nose were a bit harder as they were laminated plywood to start. One had about 3 feet of de-lam the other only about 10 inches. I gently removed all the plywood back to where it was solidly bonded except 1 thin ply (about 1/16th inch thick) which was still tightly bonded to the glass. Used water to soften the plywood and allow me to get any that wasn't already de-laminated off. Propped the glass out away from the insulation and frame to dry good for about 5 day. Then cut 1/8 in. plywood approximately to size and re-laminated.

Tried several different adhesives. The only one that worked for me was polyurethane. If that's what you use, don't forget to clamp it tight, it builds quit a bit of pressure when curing. It should also work if you decide to use Aluminum for the backer as it is an anaerobic adhesive. Wear rubber glove, it is hard to get off your hands.

I learned a lot and although it was a major undertaking (6 weekends) I kind-of enjoyed it. It turned out great. No one could tell it had ever had a water problem.

I made pictures to post here but didn't find the time.