Exterior Repair hole in fiberglass

[Shane74]

Hi all,

After a day on the road I've gone to set up and noticed a hole punched in the fiberglass shell top left of door. Not sure how it could have happened, only thought is catching a low hanging branch when pulled over at various stages.

Hoping a professional repair is fairly straightforward. Has anyone had a similar experience and repair?

Cheers,
Shane

 

[bigcol]

no, I cannot say I have ever needed to repair something like that mate

top job though.......................

 

[Tricky]

Never seen a hole like that before. I'm sure a professional repairer could fix it without a problem.. Suggest your seal it with something to prevent water soaking into the raw edges of the damage.

 

[achjimmy]

Yeah they'll fix it no worries. It'll just take a bit more prep and trying to get a bit of glass to stick to the back like a patch. On our expanda I repaired a lot of chips with a all in one coloured gel coat I purchased from a chanderly. But nothing as large as that.

 

[Shane74]

Thanks folks. Yes, wasn't happy when I found it. Have put some duct tape over it until we get home. Thinking a boat repairer would have it covered. Will try through my insurance also. Cheers.

 

[Wombat6]

I recommend you not use silicon glue to repair it though. Recently our Expanda had a close encounter with a long hanging tree. Whilst fortunate it did not cause more damage than it did the top corner was damaged which will require the entire front and side panels of the caravan to be replaced (luckily covered under insurance). However, the guy at Melbourne Caravan Repairs (thoroughly recommend them) said that silcon glue would only provide a few years of protection before it discoloured and started to come off. It also would cause problems doing a proper job later with fibreglass (I suspect the silicon doesn't come off properly and stops the fibreglass sticking).

 

[Drover]

Had a couple of holes bigger than that when a truck tried to take me out, once repaired you couldn't see it..........good quality Gaffa tape or fabric 100mph tape over it will be okay as mine did a few miles with band aids................Best off getting it done by a fibreglass fella as it needs to have good contact with the rest of the panel so it doesn't crack when flexing as you go down the road.
Could have been something like a bit of dunnage off a truck slamming into it.

Alternatively you could just bog the hole and fit a nice alloy plate over it and mount an external speaker or light .

Get some quotes before you go insurance sometimes the cost is less than the excess.