Invitation for repairing delamination Bulge on NL Camper

Photos would be nice, we could better understand what is to be repaired.

Wayne

I'd find a Northern Lite forum or ask Northern Lite.

Northern lite forum members that had this problem are only glueing and clamping the original bead board back together. I feel something a little more substantial would be better. I was also thinking just glue and screw the plate and then I would not have to deal with the bolts inside and how to keep the interior nice.

There are a few subjects on delam in the NL forum:

http://www.northern-lite.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1095

Here's the forum:

http://www.northern-lite.org/forum/index.php

Jim

I would use something other than SS plate for that repair, if you were going to proceed. How about G10 plate? That is a dense and very strong fiberglass laminate, available in almost any thickness. You could sand the original shell and epoxy it right to the original glass, then paint to match. The advantage over SS plate is that it has the same stiffness and thermal expansion characteristics as the original structure, will bond very effectively (much better than SS), and very likely look better when done. Can be bolted and/or screwed too.

Bigfootford, thank you all for the advice. I'm familiar with the NL forum but want something a bit different.

HMS Beagle, That is a cool idea with the G10 plate and see reasoning all thru that suggestion. Thank you much.

Going to do both left and right sides of the camper but want something that with add interest to the camper and look good. Essentially laminating a beam to the sides.

Subscribed.

I have an '05 10-2RR that I purchased used in 2012. It is really starting to show it's design limitations. The camper has sagged towards the rear passenger corner, and on my flatbed it really became evident through buckling of fiberglass on the genset cabinet. The rear driver's side underhang around the rear tie-down also delaminated (both tie-downs on the driver's side have always been stressed, regardless of using the NL-recommended fast guns or happijac tie-downs). The camper has never been off road to my knowledge.

I also have the same bulge by the water fill, ostensibly from the PO installing a heavy custom memory foam mattress and also two 100W PV panels glued to the front roof (shouldn't make a difference in a well built camper IMO).

I was planning on selling the camper until I discovered all of these defects but now have decided to keep it so as to not stick someone else with it (I got what seemed to be a great deal, no wonder why). So I need to come up with what I'm hopeful is a permanent solution so I can use this camper in baja on rough roads without coming back with a slumped mess of fiberglass shards.

What I have been thinking of is drilling through the glass in the offending areas and then vacuum infusing epoxy, with many layers of fiberglass over the area to stiffen it. I fear that epoxy (or anything) bonding to the foam substrate will be suspect, I hope that if I make the outer shell stiff enough with layers of fiberglass that it might be able to better distribute the load. Reinforcing the basement area to solve the sag might be a bit more straight forward but I haven't given that much thought yet.

Any thoughts?

If the NL is built like a Bigfoot, the shell is fairly thin, then has foam (non-structural foam, really) "bonded" to the inside using a spray contact adhesive. This is replaced with wood stiffeners where they need them and then the 3mm luan glued over that with contact adhesive. Because of this, I have never believed you could drill holes and inject anything that would fix a delamination. You can do that on a proper foam sandwich construction (as used on boats) under some circumstances. But I cannot see how epoxy or anything else would stick at all well to old contact adhesive. I suppose one could argue that it might be as good as the original bond (the one that failed).

You are then left with stiffening the outside shell to be structurally complete by itself, or demolishing enough of the interior to be able to clean it and rebond it properly. It is really too bad that BF and NL, having taken the time to mold a nice shell, don't use proper fiberglass sandwich construction materials and methods in the rest of the build. It would cost more, and they are already fighting cheaper brands I guess.

Thanks HMS, good points. I guess I'm left with really building up the exterior, maybe even using the G10 plate you wrote about and bonding that to the outside or maybe some plywood/combination and then a lot of glass/epoxy to tie it all together. I am sold on vacuum bagging to in any event.

I hear you on the boat thing, and in retrospect, one would never look at a light fiberglass boat as an advantage. Fiberglass is one of the heaviest construction materials in the boat biz on a properly built hull. If I had it to do from scratch, I think the most elegant solution would be a traditional camper substructure with a Northern-Lite type cap. No free lunch.

s//m-cinco wrote:
Subscribed.

I have an '05 10-2RR that I purchased used in 2012. It is really starting to show it's design limitations. The camper has sagged towards the rear passenger corner, and on my flatbed it really became evident through buckling of fiberglass on the genset cabinet. The rear driver's side underhang around the rear tie-down also delaminated (both tie-downs on the driver's side have always been stressed, regardless of using the NL-recommended fast guns or happijac tie-downs). The camper has never been off road to my knowledge.

I also have the same bulge by the water fill, ostensibly from the PO installing a heavy custom memory foam mattress and also two 100W PV panels glued to the front roof (shouldn't make a difference in a well built camper IMO).

I was planning on selling the camper until I discovered all of these defects but now have decided to keep it so as to not stick someone else with it (I got what seemed to be a great deal, no wonder why). So I need to come up with what I'm hopeful is a permanent solution so I can use this camper in baja on rough roads without coming back with a slumped mess of fiberglass shards.

What I have been thinking of is drilling through the glass in the offending areas and then vacuum infusing epoxy, with many layers of fiberglass over the area to stiffen it. I fear that epoxy (or anything) bonding to the foam substrate will be suspect, I hope that if I make the outer shell stiff enough with layers of fiberglass that it might be able to better distribute the load. Reinforcing the basement area to solve the sag might be a bit more straight forward but I haven't given that much thought yet.

Any thoughts?

Love the effort put into this post. Describes my experience to a 'T'.

Had to reinforce all my basement sides especially nearest the Gen box. Sides were crushing and no moisture issues either. I laminated 5 ply 1/2'' plywood to the basement sides while camper sat straight on it's jacks (Not in the squished or crushed position). Set it back on the truck a the problem is about 90% gone.

I respect your character immensely and agree completely when you say You don't want to sell these problems to someone else. That's in my gut as well.

You and me need to meet up over a campfire someday soon if possible.

HMS BEAGLE, you have an excellent grasp on the subject of fiberglass construction. I used to own a solid fiberglass boat without the new 'hamburger helper'(term coined by Yacht Survey.com) foam cores being used today.