Oct-20-2013 10:58 AM
Oct-22-2013 06:15 AM
Oct-21-2013 08:46 PM
JCat wrote:
Thanks scott excellent write up, you hit it right on the head.
The cracks or crazing as you define them seem smaller than the ones on your pic, but its hard to be sure as there is no scale in the pic.
I called a lot of paint companies and fiberglass manufacurers today and it is the fiberglass that is cracked, thru the full body paint, and into the clear coat.
So you either grind it down, patch the cracks you can see, wait for more to pop up over time, or replace the entire sidewalls with new fiberglass.
Both options are not cheap.
Oct-21-2013 06:48 PM
Oct-20-2013 07:50 PM
Oct-20-2013 07:40 PM
JCat wrote:
My friend who is not a memeber of the forum asked me to post this for him.
He has a 11 yer old class A, good brand(I don't want to talk bad about the brand) who is still in business, and he has these small cracks in the gelcoat, mostly where the darker colors are located.
The cracks are about 1/8 inch and can only be seen when u are close up to the RV.
He has talked to 2 repair places in CA and one said that the fiberglass was not fully cured whaen the paint was applied and out gassing occured as it cured and this caused the paint to crack which caused the gelcoat to crack.
Another paint place said the manufacturer of the RV used cheap fiberglass and that it has cracked and caused the paint to crack.
One estimate was $22K to grind off the gelcoat, repair the bad fiberglass, repaint and reclear the RV.
Seems like a lot of money and it seems like the manufacturer should be paying since they screwed it up either way.
Anyone seen this and if yes how was it fxed and at what cost ?
Oct-20-2013 06:41 PM
Terryallan wrote:prism wrote:Terryallan wrote:
Unless things have really changed. The "Paint" IS the gelcoat. Gelcoat is a color. It is the color of your RV. Usually with clear on it. And in my experience. The mold is gelcoated, and then the fiberglass is worked onto it. Fiberglass comes out of the mold "painted" the color its going to remain. It comes out waxed as well. That how they keep the gelcoat from sticking to the mold.
In other words. You want a blue fiberglass RV. You spray blue Gelcoat in the mold, and glass to it.
As for the Gelcoat cracking. It will often get spider webbed. But it is highly unlikely the glass itself cracked. It is still water tight.
Thats Not what we are discussing here at all.Diesel pushers are full body PAINT with clear coating.Colour is NOT in the fibre glass on these units.It,s paint over gelcoat and then clear coated and these ar not spider cracking situations
What color is the gelcoat. Gel coat is NOT part of the glass. It is what the glass is attached to. Why would it have gel coat, if it was not colored?
Oct-20-2013 06:32 PM
prism wrote:Terryallan wrote:
Unless things have really changed. The "Paint" IS the gelcoat. Gelcoat is a color. It is the color of your RV. Usually with clear on it. And in my experience. The mold is gelcoated, and then the fiberglass is worked onto it. Fiberglass comes out of the mold "painted" the color its going to remain. It comes out waxed as well. That how they keep the gelcoat from sticking to the mold.
In other words. You want a blue fiberglass RV. You spray blue Gelcoat in the mold, and glass to it.
As for the Gelcoat cracking. It will often get spider webbed. But it is highly unlikely the glass itself cracked. It is still water tight.
Thats Not what we are discussing here at all.Diesel pushers are full body PAINT with clear coating.Colour is NOT in the fibre glass on these units.It,s paint over gelcoat and then clear coated and these ar not spider cracking situations
Oct-20-2013 06:30 PM
Oct-20-2013 06:21 PM
wny_pat wrote:prism wrote:My Diesel Pusher is not full body Paint. Many brands of the later model diesel pushers do have full body paint, but not all of them. In fact, til a couple years back most were still gelcoat, even the highlines like Foretravel. In fact, the OP was talking about a 11 year old Class A which most likely was gelcoat. I think Tiffin was one of the first to go with Full Body Paint, and not all that long ago.Terryallan wrote:
Unless things have really changed. The "Paint" IS the gelcoat. Gelcoat is a color. It is the color of your RV. Usually with clear on it. And in my experience. The mold is gelcoated, and then the fiberglass is worked onto it. Fiberglass comes out of the mold "painted" the color its going to remain. It comes out waxed as well. That how they keep the gelcoat from sticking to the mold.
In other words. You want a blue fiberglass RV. You spray blue Gelcoat in the mold, and glass to it.
As for the Gelcoat cracking. It will often get spider webbed. But it is highly unlikely the glass itself cracked. It is still water tight.
Thats Not what we are discussing here at all. Diesel pushers are full body PAINT with clear coating.Colour is NOT in the fibre glass on these units.It,s paint over gelcoat and then clear coated and these ar not spider cracking situations
Oct-20-2013 06:07 PM
prism wrote:My Diesel Pusher is not full body Paint. Many brands of the later model diesel pushers do have full body paint, but not all of them. In fact, til a couple years back most were still gelcoat, even the highlines like Foretravel. In fact, the OP was talking about a 11 year old Class A which most likely was gelcoat. I think Tiffin was one of the first to go with Full Body Paint, and not all that long ago.Terryallan wrote:
Unless things have really changed. The "Paint" IS the gelcoat. Gelcoat is a color. It is the color of your RV. Usually with clear on it. And in my experience. The mold is gelcoated, and then the fiberglass is worked onto it. Fiberglass comes out of the mold "painted" the color its going to remain. It comes out waxed as well. That how they keep the gelcoat from sticking to the mold.
In other words. You want a blue fiberglass RV. You spray blue Gelcoat in the mold, and glass to it.
As for the Gelcoat cracking. It will often get spider webbed. But it is highly unlikely the glass itself cracked. It is still water tight.
Thats Not what we are discussing here at all. Diesel pushers are full body PAINT with clear coating.Colour is NOT in the fibre glass on these units.It,s paint over gelcoat and then clear coated and these ar not spider cracking situations
Oct-20-2013 05:41 PM
Terryallan wrote:
Unless things have really changed. The "Paint" IS the gelcoat. Gelcoat is a color. It is the color of your RV. Usually with clear on it. And in my experience. The mold is gelcoated, and then the fiberglass is worked onto it. Fiberglass comes out of the mold "painted" the color its going to remain. It comes out waxed as well. That how they keep the gelcoat from sticking to the mold.
In other words. You want a blue fiberglass RV. You spray blue Gelcoat in the mold, and glass to it.
As for the Gelcoat cracking. It will often get spider webbed. But it is highly unlikely the glass itself cracked. It is still water tight.
Oct-20-2013 05:36 PM
Oct-20-2013 04:36 PM
Oct-20-2013 02:54 PM
JCat wrote:
One estimate was $22K to grind off the gelcoat, repair the bad fiberglass, repaint and reclear the RV.
?