Total Re-skin. Possible?

a few years after we bought our new Itasca Suncruiser (and AFTER it was out of warranty) our dealer discovered that there were many spots on the exterior where the fiberglass was 'popping'...small pencil eraser sized areas. they contacted Winnebago who agreed to replace the entire fiberglass exterior for us...nose to tail, both sides...at zero cost to us. all we had to do was remove everything from the interior, deliver it to and pick it up from forest city.

the point is that the exterior fiberglass *can* be replaced by Winnebago but I have no idea what it would cost. won't be cheap.

good luck.

Cruiseomatic wrote:
I've got a '06 Cavalier. The skin is in rough shape. Thought about patch panels for some areas. Then I got to thinking about just replacing all the skin with a more common type and for the fresh paint. So not only does the current skin need patches, It also needs paint. What would I be looking at with this? Thanks.

It's approximately $12,000.00 to re-skin and $12,000.00 to paint on a 40' motor home... Not cheap... This is for a fiber glass re-skin quote...

Tim

Isn't a Gulfstream Cavalier an aluminum sided rig? If so, the above pricing doesn't apply. You could get replacement siding for the bad areas and repaint all of it. You can also hire a competent tin bender (siding professional) to replace all of it. I painted mine after I threw some aluminum panels in the places where windows no longer exist.

It is all aluminum. I was told of a place called Macs aluminum and the panels come pre-painted. I just can't see shipping 20+ ft. of siding... Would a siding company have the panels I need for this? A lot of the body is banged up. A replacement panel here and there wouldn't really do it. Thanks.

Thank FEMA for this one. "Good job Brownie".

Cruiseomatic wrote:
It is all aluminum. I was told of a place called Macs aluminum and the panels come pre-painted. I just can't see shipping 20+ ft. of siding... Would a siding company have the panels I need for this? A lot of the body is banged up. A replacement panel here and there wouldn't really do it. Thanks.

Probably the best replacement would be a vinyl coated aluminum panel. These are generic to the residential siding business. They come in different profiles and colors so choice is endless. Your local siding distributor will carry them.

If you were closer, I'd be dropping off a bid for you. I would think that any competent siding installer could do the job. They just need to be somewhat conversant with RV's so that window and door openings are set up correctly and that the roof-->siding joint is established well. Otherwise, it is very similar to siding a house.

I'm in Houston,TX. I just called "Mac's Aluminum" and gave her some ballpark numbers. I'm looking at $950 for the panels on one side or $4.11 per sq. ft. Lets not mention trucking it in. As far as it being FEMA, ANY RV is prone to the damage this one has.

I had bang up our TT a number of years ago and the skin was really bad. I ended up contacting the TT manufacture and buying replacement skin to install. It was really easy to do. The paneles can be shipped in a tube to potect them from damage during shipping. Just make sure that you inspect the the panels for damage, prior to signing the shippers ticket

Bump...

It's important to understand that siding a house has NOTHING to do with siding a trailer. I have sided too many homes to count, and re-skinned two "sticks n' tin' trailers. The big difference is that residential siding is "hung" on a building as a exterior finish, NOT a water tight skin. trailer siding is tightly attached with a lot of sealing and detailing at every point where water might enter. Building siding is quite the opposite. The ends and edges of home siding panels are loosely slid into various trim pieces to hide them. I guarantee that if you decide to let a local siding contractor take a shot at it you will have one of two outcomes. First, the honest, competent ones will refuse the job, the others will give you a job that will leak like a screen door, and rot the structure out in a hurry. As for any type of aluminum siding being available at a local distributor, good luck. Here in the northeast, my local guys can order a few limited styles and colors of the stuff. In this area, it pretty much disappeared as a commonly used product about 25 years ago.