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Topic: Depressing!!!! Fiberglass help. (Read 1517 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Depressing!!!! Fiberglass help.

Reply #25 –
Ouch!  I'm just glad I'm not the only one on this forum not paying as much attention as I should! :P

A few posters have talked about paint.  In the videos I've seen, most talk about gel coat repair as just color matching before application and then sanding and buffing for the shine.  Think that part is confusing me a little.

Quote from: John Haygarth –
Benjie, this is to make you feel a lot better about your little scrape. Here is what I did in Mexico to mine and the door was totalled (bust right thru' inside also) I replaced it at Xtreme with another off another unit and removed decals and some of the hardware from mine to make it good. They then painted it for me.
Works great.
John h
Benjie, Ashley, Zoey, Fallon, and Lake
Round Rock, TX
In search of our next monster...

Re: Depressing!!!! Fiberglass help.

Reply #26 –
that is why I said in an earlier post that just use fibreglass filler and then paint. The original coach  was a gel top layer then buffed (if I am not mistaken)
John H
Coachless, now use aircraft. 2003 Ford Travelair TC280 class C. Super shape. Just for 1 yr .
1994 Ford E350 ClassC,total renovation inside and out. Now sold.
2000 U295  36' Cummins 350 c/w Banks Stinger, Resonator upgrade,Solar, LED lites.Residential fridge with slide out pantry. Build 5674. Sold
ex 92 GV 022C ored Cummins. Sold
ex 95 GV240 cat 3116. Sold
2017 Mini cooper s & 2016 land Rover LR2 HSE  LUX.
jhaygarth@aol.com    SKP #130098
treat everyone as you would like to be.

Re: Depressing!!!! Fiberglass help.

Reply #27 –
Quote from: acousticart –
Kent,
I don't want to hijack this thread by anymeans, but I am wondering if you have a sense of the coverage of epoxy resin for reattaching the belly skin of the basement on our U270, which is roughly 108 square feet. Of course I know that there are many varibles involved, but I am trying to get a feel for how much of the West System 105 resin and the slow cure hardner I need. A quart of the resin is $40 and the gallons are about $100. So if I need more than a quart, it would pay to get the gallon instead... Just interested in your "educated" sense of it. My gut tells me that it will take closer to a gallon than a quart, but that may just be a belch trying to escape :D
Don

This may help Benjie if he decides to do his own fiberglass work.

Don, it sounds like you are just going to recoat the fiberglass and use the epoxy as an adhesive. If so, and you spread it with a flexible plastic applicator or squeegee you will probably average 8 to 10 mils wet film thickness. That works out to a theoretical coverage of 160 to 200 square feet per gallon. You will usually leave 10% in the can. If you use a 1/4" nap roller it will be about 300 sq. ft. per gallon.

To calculate coverage, there are 1600 mils of any liquid in one US Gallon. If you know your desired mils of wet film thickness, simply divide 1600 by the number or mils you desire, that will give you your square foot coverage. To figure dry film thickness, do the same and the multiply that number by the percent solids of a product. For instance if a paint is 20% solvent, it is 80% solids so 1600/200 sq. ft./gal = 8 mils X .80 (80%) would give you 6.4 mils (DFT) Dry Film Thickness of a coating. Paints are usually applied at less than 2 mils (WFT) Wet Film Thickness and coatings applied at more than 2 mils WFT.

You want to insure that you are using 100% solids (no solvent) resin to avoid damaging the foam core. Most epoxy hardeners will not damage foam or plastic. Many polyester and vinylester catalyst will melt foam and other plastics so if you should use one of the esters, make sure it is foam safe.

I hope this helps you.
The selected media item is not currently available.Kent Speers
Locust Grove, OK
1993 U300 SSE 40' (Restored at FOT 2009) Build 4323
720 watts Solar
6V92TA DDEC Silver Engine
2014 Subaru Outback

Re: Depressing!!!! Fiberglass help.

Reply #28 –
Thanks Kent! That is exactly the info I was looking for. I believe that a gallon will do what I need it to do. The diesel-melted polystyrene foam insulation is going to be replaced with a polyurethane type (rigid polyisocyanurate foam insulation). It comes with a foil face on both sides, which is fairly easily removed... though I am considering leaving it on on the bottom. The ease with which the bottom fiberglass skin came off (at least from the cargo compartment forward-where there was no wood to glue it to) leads me to think that its structural contribution was minimal. Probably not worth worrying about adding the radiant barrier unless I was to replace all of the underside foam... nah, not going there. I need to finish this project!

I have attached a couple of pictures of the removed under belly skin. You can clearly see the framework layout and the discolored part is where the diesel apparently melted the insulation. This section is from the cargo compartment forward on a 36' U270. The discolored area is the curbside part under the propane and fuel tanks. This section is about 8' wide by 10' long and I managed to get it off intact. It will be an interesting challenge to glue it back on! I managed to clean the old glue and foam remanents up to facilitate that process... that was not easy!
Don
Quote from: Kent Speers –
This may help Benjie if he decides to do his own fiberglass work.

Don, it sounds like you are just going to recoat the fiberglass and use the epoxy as an adhesive. If so, and you spread it with a flexible plastic applicator or squeegee you will probably average 8 to 10 mils wet film thickness. That works out to a theoretical coverage of 160 to 200 square feet per gallon. You will usually leave 10% in the can. If you use a 1/4" nap roller it will be about 300 sq. ft. per gallon.

To calculate coverage, there are 1600 mils of any liquid in one US Gallon. If you know your desired mils of wet film thickness, simply divide 1600 by the number or mils you desire, that will give you your square foot coverage. To figure dry film thickness, do the same and the multiply that number by the percent solids of a product. For instance if a paint is 20% solvent, it is 80% solids so 1600/200 sq. ft./gal = 8 mils X .80 (80%) would give you 6.4 mils (DFT) Dry Film Thickness of a coating. Paints are usually applied at less than 2 mils (WFT) Wet Film Thickness and coatings applied at more than 2 mils WFT.

You want to insure that you are using 100% solids (no solvent) resin to avoid damaging the foam core. Most epoxy hardeners will not damage foam or plastic. Many polyester and vinylester catalyst will melt foam and other plastics so if you should use one of the esters, make sure it is foam safe.

I hope this helps you.
The selected media item is not currently available.
Don & Tys
1999 U270 3602 WTFE #5402
Xtreme Stage 1 w/Headlight, Step Conversion, etc.
2009 Honda Fit Sport with Navi
Freedom is NOT "just another word for nothing left to lose"... with apologies to Kris Kristofferson
 

Re: Depressing!!!! Fiberglass help.

Reply #29 –
Don, If I understood correctly you might try taking sheets of plywood supported by 2X4s jacked up against the underside of the coach while the epoxy cures. The adhesion of the fiberglass to the foam may not have been too strong when you peeled it off but it adds a lot of restriction to lateral movement and stiffens the coach chassis. You should attempt to get the glass bonded to as much substrate as possible. I would be particularly careful to reglass the edges, not relying on just the epoxy.

Good Luck. It looks like quite a job. 
The selected media item is not currently available.Kent Speers
Locust Grove, OK
1993 U300 SSE 40' (Restored at FOT 2009) Build 4323
720 watts Solar
6V92TA DDEC Silver Engine
2014 Subaru Outback