Where to find window rock guard?

Gdetrailer wrote:

GrandpaKip wrote:

shades9323 wrote:

drsteve wrote:
Ah, you have the smooth surface kind... that should not be too difficult to repair.

If the rv dealers won’t do it. Where else would I look?

Body shop or boat repair shop.

Until you price it out.

Last time I had a body shop do some work 15 yrs ago, the shop rate was $120 per hr.

To have one half of a car door repaired (remove dent and clean up rust) labor, paint and consumable materials like sand paper, masking paper ect that door cost $800!

Keeping in mind, labor cost, material and paint cost HAS gone up considerably in 15 yrs..

Doubt you will find a boat or body shop that would be willing to do this sub $800 now days.

OP could DIY repair this per the instructions I gave in my previous post, provided that the polyester resin will make a good adhesion to the existing material.

Then a min of three layers of boat cloth and resin applied to the BACK SIDE (inside of the cover), making sure each layer extends out bigger than the first layer. This gives the repair strength and holding power.

Then it is simple mater of some Tiger Hair followed by body filler.

Do not rely on plastering body filler in the hole, it WILL SHRINK AND CRACK if layered on too thick, that is why Tiger hair is used first.

I would however after looking at the photo recommend opening the hole a bit bigger to get past any cracks there may be in the existing material. Failure to remove those will result in the old material cracking further.

This can be DIYd as a weekend project, have maybe $100 in materials total.

But not everyone is interested in DIY, which is the reason repair shops exist.

After doing some googling for fiberglass window rock guards I found that Tri-State Surplus in Hudson, MI, south of you has some used ones. You might give them a call.

Window rock guards

Tri-State Surplus

If they have the right size you might be able to swap just the hinged cover and not the frame too. You could call contact Fun Finder for a new decal.

If you can find out who manufactured yours, you might contact them directly and see if you can get just the cover. It might be Lippert.

Lippert rockguard-window

GrandpaKip wrote:

shades9323 wrote:

drsteve wrote:
Ah, you have the smooth surface kind... that should not be too difficult to repair.

If the rv dealers won’t do it. Where else would I look?

Body shop or boat repair shop.

Until you price it out.

Last time I had a body shop do some work 15 yrs ago, the shop rate was $120 per hr.

To have one half of a car door repaired (remove dent and clean up rust) labor, paint and consumable materials like sand paper, masking paper ect that door cost $800!

Keeping in mind, labor cost, material and paint cost HAS gone up considerably in 15 yrs..

Doubt you will find a boat or body shop that would be willing to do this sub $800 now days.

OP could DIY repair this per the instructions I gave in my previous post, provided that the polyester resin will make a good adhesion to the existing material.

Then a min of three layers of boat cloth and resin applied to the BACK SIDE (inside of the cover), making sure each layer extends out bigger than the first layer. This gives the repair strength and holding power.

Then it is simple mater of some Tiger Hair followed by body filler.

Do not rely on plastering body filler in the hole, it WILL SHRINK AND CRACK if layered on too thick, that is why Tiger hair is used first.

I would however after looking at the photo recommend opening the hole a bit bigger to get past any cracks there may be in the existing material. Failure to remove those will result in the old material cracking further.

This can be DIYd as a weekend project, have maybe $100 in materials total.

LarryJM wrote:

bobndot wrote:
If someone originally made it then someone can duplicate it.
Professional body shops that I know of can do a fabrication like a rock guard.

Yep and one isn't trying to duplicate the hardest part which IMO is the "frame". Knowing how mine was constructed and out of what and seeing westend's description of what he did I would consider this a mid level DIY skill project and lower if you dodn't want westends fancy "ridges/bends" in his side panels:B. I might have left them flat and found some vinyl stickers to decorate either just the center, the side panels or even all three to "fancy it up". I simply kept repainting the original graphics semi free hand with some light sanding to smooth out the paint during each "refinish".

Larry

Yup, mid-level DIY level. It took me maybe 15 minutes to make the three pieces. They're fancy because I duplicated the original that had corrugations. That also adds strength to the longest panels. You're right about decoration. I'm trying to enlist #2 Daughter or anyone else "artsy" because, an artist I ain't.

The OP could cut an FRP panel and either glue or fasten the panel as a replacement. The frame dictates the installation scheme. I'd be tempted to lift the decal on the damaged panel and see if it could be reused on the new. A marine service dept. could replace the guard if that's deemed the easiest.

Good luck to shades, I hope this helped.

shades9323 wrote:

drsteve wrote:
Ah, you have the smooth surface kind... that should not be too difficult to repair.

If the rv dealers won’t do it. Where else would I look?

Body shop or boat repair shop.

drsteve wrote:
Ah, you have the smooth surface kind... that should not be too difficult to repair.

If the rv dealers won’t do it. Where else would I look?

Ah, you have the smooth surface kind... that should not be too difficult to repair.

Pics of the damage



https://imgur.com/a/eDff0Cn

bobndot wrote:
If someone originally made it then someone can duplicate it.
Professional body shops that I know of can do a fabrication like a rock guard.

Yep and one isn't trying to duplicate the hardest part which IMO is the "frame". Knowing how mine was constructed and out of what and seeing westend's description of what he did I would consider this a mid level DIY skill project and lower if you dodn't want westends fancy "ridges/bends" in his side panels:B. I might have left them flat and found some vinyl stickers to decorate either just the center, the side panels or even all three to "fancy it up". I simply kept repainting the original graphics semi free hand with some light sanding to smooth out the paint during each "refinish".

Larry

If someone originally made it then someone can duplicate it.
Professional body shops that I know of can do a fabrication like a rock guard.