Gelcoat Cracks

[JCat]

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 ?

[prism]

jerseyjim wrote:
My motorhome has (did have) gelcoat. Mine oxidzed to the point where it could not be "fixed". My fault, travelling to the point where I ignored it. But I paid for that....4 grand to have the bottom 1/3rd stripped and painted. Problem was, there was no "paint code" anywhere. Seems the color was "in" the gel-coat and not listed. The painter took about 2 hours to get a match...and get it he did. New stainless hardware all around. Looks better than brand new. And...the upper 2/3rds...white, in color, did not have to be repainted. A compound, and wax. (I do the entire mh once a year.) Looks great, too. I had no cracks, btw......

two entirely different MH and situations.Were talking two entirely differet things here.

[jerseyjim]

My motorhome has (did have) gelcoat. Mine oxidzed to the point where it could not be "fixed". My fault, travelling to the point where I ignored it. But I paid for that....4 grand to have the bottom 1/3rd stripped and painted. Problem was, there was no "paint code" anywhere. Seems the color was "in" the gel-coat and not listed. The painter took about 2 hours to get a match...and get it he did. New stainless hardware all around. Looks better than brand new. And...the upper 2/3rds...white, in color, did not have to be repainted. A compound, and wax. (I do the entire mh once a year.) Looks great, too. I had no cracks, btw......

[JCat]

Gjac thanks for the excellent answer.

Wally the RV has been washed, waxed and covered for the entire 11 yrs,
it is immaculate except for the clear cracks.

I understand it is not covered by a warranty but if this is a prevalent problem then there is a manufacting defect.

[prism]

wallynm wrote:
I know of no one in any field ( Motor Home, Home, Car, Boat, Plane, or you name it) that will warranty a paint job after 11 years. This is a pie in the sky question. Did he keep it washed and waxed once or twice a year for those 11 years?

No one here is asking for warrenty?? he just(poster not owner) opined he thought the manufacturer may be responsible.I agree no one would give him warrenty though.washed or waxed really has nothing to do with the mini cracks were seeing showing up in Dark colour,s on DPMH.He was asking for reasons of cracks and if 22K was a reasonable price.

[Gau_8]

Gelcoat cracks when it is flexed excessively. The cause of the cracks must be eliminated or they will return once repaired.

[wallynm]

I know of no one in any field ( Motor Home, Home, Car, Boat, Plane, or you name it) that will warranty a paint job after 11 years. This is a pie in the sky question. Did he keep it washed and waxed once or twice a year for those 11 years?

[Gjac]

The 2 answers that your friend got are not right. Polyester or epoxy resins for all practical purposes are cured when they are taken out of the molds. They sit around for a long time before they are assembled then finally painted. Uncured resin shows up as small bubbles or blisters under the paint. The fiberglass being cheap is not correct either, fiberglass is fiberglass. Resins can vary greatly with the manufacturing process and how it is applied. If the gel coat is applied too thick it has a tendency to crack because of the difference in thermal expansion, resin will expand much more than the fiberglass substrate. Sitting in the hot sun in Fla or AZ the dark colors can absorb a lot of heat it may get up to 140F and when the gel coat expands the FG restrains it and the thermal stress show up as a crack. It is more prevalent in the end cap radii but can show up in the flat areas also. Sanding the excess resin off and repainting is the only practical solution but I wouldn't pay $22K to fix it .