Keystone cap fading issue

[grampscamper]

I know this has been covered many times before but wanted to vent my frustration. It seems some of the Keystone 5th wheel and travel trailers front caps are fading badly. I have read a few posts of customers that have had Keystone repaint these caps, some have been covered out of warranty.
They seem to be selective on who they will help. I noticed mine starting to fade at about 22 months after I took delivery. I didn't contact Keystone immediately because we were using our 5th wheel almost every week and it wasn't very noticeable at the time. It is now fading quite rapidly.
I decided to contact my dealer a couple of weeks ago. They told me it was a known problem and they thought Keystone would likely cover it. My dealer asked me to send pictures for them to forward to Keystone. A few days ago I got a call from my dealer saying the claim was denied. I called Keystone directly and was told I'm outside the warranty period therefore it wouldn't be covered. They suggested I purchase a product to remove the oxidation.
I now have a 2 year old 5th wheel that looks much older. I was hoping for them to except responsibility. I know they have warrantied trailers that were built before ours but for some reason ours was rejected. I sent an email to Keystone and my dealer expressing my disappointment.
I haven't given up hope yet. I will be contacting management at my dealer to see what they will do to help.
Wish me luck.

[Veebyes]

Uncared for the white is going to chalk too. RV gelcoats are very thin. Age gets to all of them.

Mine is a late 2007. No care given sitting in a lot somewhere till summer of 2009. Might have been sitting facing north, minimum sun exposure, because it was in good shape when I got it & gave it the first coat of Mequires Flagship.

Still looks good. Cap gets waxed twice a year. Sides, once. The cap might get a cleaner wax first to get get the last of the bug residue off. It spends over 6 months a year indoor storage so that helps too.

The older they get, the more care they need to keep looking decent.

[Paul_Clancy]

My cap took until the third season to turn colour. I was waxing once a month with some pretty advanced products. Made zero difference. I can promise you the manufacturer would never have paid $1500 for paint and clear 2 years off warranty if they could have blamed lack of maintenance. It is a manufacturing flaw. I had a white Cougar that did this as well but because it was white chalk on a white cap it was far less obvious but yes it can happen to well cared for white caps as well. BTW waxes have far less uv protection than you may think.

[d-mac1]

Our trailer has gel coated front cap...its white as you can see in my sig. It is inside our garage when its not being used. I wax the rig with Meguiars once a year, but some are saying wax has no effect.

Our gel cap looks like new...other than a few bug marks. Will the white start turning chalky too at some point or is it just an issue for non-white gel caps?

[Veebyes]

The standing joke in the marine industry says that a boat can be any colour, as long as it is white.

That holds true with RVs too. Colour simply does not hold up to the ravages of the sun. Add this to manufacturers who, in an effort to minimise weight & costs, spray very thin gel coats into molds. A new unit may sit, with no maintenance, no wax, in a lot for a year before it is sold. The dealer uses something cheap & easy before sending it out the door then the owner either does not maintain it or also uses something cheap & easy which typically does not last very long before it is chalking again.

The darker it is, the faster it will chalk.

[B_O__Plenty]

CJW8 wrote:

Paul Clancy wrote:
Yes wax makes absolutely no difference In this scenario. Paint / clear is the only fix long term.

This statement doesn't make any sense to me. If a quality wax is applied and maintained when the unit is new, it should delay the fading for years. A lot of quality waxes have UV inhibitors in them.

You might think so but unfortunately that is not the case. Like I stated earlier, you can load it up with wax and it will have little to no affect on fading. Poor quality gel coat fades no matter what. Most manufacturers have switched to painted caps for this reason..

B.O.

[CJW8]

Paul Clancy wrote:
Yes wax makes absolutely no difference In this scenario. Paint / clear is the only fix long term.

This statement doesn't make any sense to me. If a quality wax is applied and maintained when the unit is new, it should delay the fading for years. A lot of quality waxes have UV inhibitors in them.

[mudmaker]

B.O. Plenty wrote:
I have been paying close attention to this fading issue and how different manufactures are dealing with it. So far it seems that about the only one that really seems to care on a longer term basis is Cedar Creek. There have been several owners that reported that Cedar Creek has not just painted but has replaced the entire cap for this. They claim to be using a different gel-coat starting with their 2015 models to prevent this. If this is working for them they will get my business the next time I buy a new trailer. I'm really tired of spending my money to correct issues that never should have happened to begin with.

B.O.

I assume you have a grey Big Country. All the brown colored Heartland products are painted. Maybe they learned their lesson with grey.

[goducks10]

You shouldn't get any fade on a painted cap. It's the cheap gel coated ones that are fading. I had a painted bed toneau cover on a Ranger for 12 years and zero fade. And that's a horizontal surface that was never parked under a cover.

[mileshuff]

Paul Clancy wrote:
Front cap fade is failure of uv protection in gelcoat. Indoor storage would delay it but not prevent it. My 5th appears new except for front cap when gel coat failed. Now after paint and clear all new again.

Cap on my 5'er is factory painted. 2 years old, so far no fading.

[Paul_Clancy]

Front cap fade is failure of uv protection in gelcoat. Indoor storage would delay it but not prevent it. My 5th appears new except for front cap when gel coat failed. Now after paint and clear all new again.

[mileshuff]

Are most that have had bad fading storing their trailers in sun? I store mine in a covered storage facility. Front sees very little sun while stored. Our prior trailer looked like new after 10 years. Trailers stored in sun looked old after only 1 or 2 years.

[garyp4951]

B.O. Plenty wrote:
I have been paying close attention to this fading issue and how different manufactures are dealing with it. So far it seems that about the only one that really seems to care on a longer term basis is Cedar Creek. There have been several owners that reported that Cedar Creek has not just painted but has replaced the entire cap for this. They claim to be using a different gel-coat starting with their 2015 models to prevent this. If this is working for them they will get my business the next time I buy a new trailer. I'm really tired of spending my money to correct issues that never should have happened to begin with.

B.O.

Cedar Creek has agreed to paint or replace my 2013 Silverback front cap, but they are booked up for 6 months. I will gladly wait my turn since they have been so honest in reporting the UV problem in the gel coat.

[bad99ram]

My 2013 Jayco Eagle Premier was 5 months past its 2 yr warranty when I noticed the front cap was fading. Jayco fully covered the entire cost of repainting the front cap and decals.

[Paul_Clancy]

Yes wax makes absolutely no difference In this scenario. Paint / clear is the only fix long term.

[B_O__Plenty]

azdryheat wrote:
I don't see much talk about folks putting wax on their painted surfaces. Would that help? The manufacturers must be using the cheapest paint, like everything else in these trailers. I just took one of my electrical wall sockets apart - I rest my case about cheap.

The ones that are fading are not painted. They have a gel coat finish. Gel coat is the first colored layer of fiberglass that is sprayed into the mold. From what I was told, there was no UV inhibitor in this first layer which caused it to fade quickly. You can wax til the cows come home. It might prolong the finish for a short time but it will fade for sure. Once it starts it changes to a chalky white finish very fast.

B.O.