Trailer has a disease

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

After the winter was over. I noticed a problem with the trailer. The trailer looks like it has some kind of disease. Is there a cure for this disease ? Who do I need to see for a repair ? There is two places with this disease. One side is worst than the other side. The picture that you see is the worst side. What would the cost be for the repair ?

Thank you for any help,
Al

[I'mdonewiththis forum]

I hope I m wrong, but that looks to me like there was moisture behind the finish and it froze. If so, you need to stop the moisture first. After that I would see what a body shop has to say.

[Darryl&Rita]

Seen it before, never heard the final diagnosis. I'd guess bad fiberglass batch. The last trailer I seen it on had it appear in Galveston area over the winter, in it's first year on the road. It's now 11 years old, and the pimples haven't gotten any worse, despite being stored in the frozen North for the last 2 winters. 

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

What Alan has is a form of http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/hull/eliminate-osmotic-blisters-your-hull

Osmotic blisters- Water trapped between the gel coat and fiberglass underneath. 

http://www.materialstoday.com/metal-finishing/features/osmotic-blisters-in-coatings-and-adhesives/

[I'mdonewiththis forum]

11 hours ago, Alie&Jim's Carrilite said:

What Alan has is a form of http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/hull/eliminate-osmotic-blisters-your-hull

Osmotic blisters- Water trapped between the gel coat and fiberglass underneath. 

http://www.materialstoday.com/metal-finishing/features/osmotic-blisters-in-coatings-and-adhesives/

That would certainly explain it.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

In the marine world, it's common.  Believe it or not, Gelcoat is not a water barrier.  There are microscopic pores that will allow water to pass thru over time.  Usually, on the boat side, the gel coat is a "Mil" or 1/1000 of an inch too thin in that area, or the gel coat is exposed below the waterline and stays wet.  Think a run about type boat being left in the water for the summer without bottom paint.

In Alan's case, I wonder if there was something touching/covering that side or area that trapped moisture.  It doesn't take much.  The other above explanation of water that froze after being trapped between the wall layers could be the culprit as well.  That issue is where is the water penetrating the structure at?

[alan0043]

11 hours ago, Alie&Jim's Carrilite said:

What Alan has is a form of http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/hull/eliminate-osmotic-blisters-your-hull

Osmotic blisters- Water trapped between the gel coat and fiberglass underneath. 

http://www.materialstoday.com/metal-finishing/features/osmotic-blisters-in-coatings-and-adhesives/

Hi Jim,

Thank you for posting the articles. I did do some reading. My next question would be. Is the trailer worth the repair. The first article talked about letting the area dry out. Or you could use vacuum with heat to remove the moisture. How would someone do the repair on a trailer ?

For most reason, there seems to be something wrong with this trailer every year. I am more than disappointed about my choice of trailer. I know that I am crying the 'blues'. I still own the bank money on this trailer. Enough of this talk.

Is the trailer repairable ? Will the repair hold up or will this problem come back some other place ?

Looking for insight,
Al

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Yes, it's repairable, but that area will never match the rest of the RV unless you want to repaint the entire rig.  Or add some graphics over that area.  All you do is protect the area for a few warm days, heat the area to dry out any moisture, do a little light weight grinding of the fiberglass and gel coat, and do a standard fiberglass repair.  Most auto body shops should be able to, and any marine repair should have a guy that can.  

[Randyretired]

A good fiberglass repair shop should be able to repair this and match the gel coat very close to the rest of the trailer.  The shop near us fixes RV's and boats and usually the repair matches and can't be easily detected.  They mixed some gel coat for me that matched nearly perfectly.    Unless you are looking for it it isn't easily detected.

[alan0043]

8 hours ago, Randyretired said:

A good fiberglass repair shop should be able to repair this and match the gel coat very close to the rest of the trailer.  The shop near us fixes RV's and boats and usually the repair matches and can't be easily detected.  They mixed some gel coat for me that matched nearly perfectly.    Unless you are looking for it it isn't easily detected.

Hi Randy,

Do you live in Ohio ? What city is the repair shop in ?  I might need to look for someone in the Cleveland area.

 Al

 

[TreyandSusan]

Mike's Custom Painting(Bremen, IN) can make this repair. Very pleased with fiberglass repairs (different) they did for us.

[kayakbob]

I believe any good boat fiberglass shop can fix , as said above !   My father in law had something similar but close to the ground , turned out it was gravel thrown by his lawnmower !

[Randyretired]

ala0043,  We are in Colorado but as others have stated any boat or fiberglass repair shop should be able to do it.  RV and boat fiberglass repair is a common thing. The local shop also mixed some gel coat to repair a couple of dings on our boat fiberglass with a lot of gold flake.  Last time I was there they were fixing a MH that was in a pretty serious accident.

[Heavymetal]

On May 15, 2017 at 8:03 AM, kayakbob said:

I believe any good boat fiberglass shop can fix , as said above !   My father in law had something similar but close to the ground , turned out it was gravel thrown by his lawnmower !

BOAT and RV body shops will charge three timesthat of a good auto body and at a boat repair place you will be low man on the totem pole while they get all the boats ready for summer. We had about 600 blistered repaired on our 53' sail boat. It set on the hard for six months drying out the blisters were only 1/8" deep max on a 1-1/4" thick hull, but man they were ugly and expensive. 

[N TX Dave]

Mid 2000's Alpha Class A's are noted for that. 

[spindrift]

Any possibility of getting it back to New Horizons?  They might be more willing to work with you on price since it's their unit.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

15 minutes ago, spindrift said:

Any possibility of getting it back to New Horizons?  They might be more willing to work with you on price since it's their unit.

Probably not on an 11yr old unit.

[alan0043]

12 hours ago, spindrift said:

Any possibility of getting it back to New Horizons?  They might be more willing to work with you on price since it's their unit.

It would be tuff to get the trailer out to Kansas for New Horizon to take a look at it. They would be more than to take my trailer in trade for a new trailer.

Al