Bought a used 2005 Scamp 19, and it has a canoe rack we want to remove (we don't have a canoe, and we're getting rain through at least one of the mounts). Any recommendations for filling/repairing the holes? Lots of rainy weather here, and no garage for it, so we either need to fix it fast or take it to someone (but who? --the trailer repair place here doesn't do fiberglass). Thanks for any advice!
Wed, 11/28/2018 - 14:18
#1
How to repair holes in fiberglass from removal of roof rack
Hello Otto, and welcome.
If you want to get it repaired a Marine shop is where you will want to go get estimates.
If you want to DIY you'll need to do several steps.
It isn't a difficult thing to repair holes and gel coat, mostly labor and gaining some experience. Since these are on your roof and no one will probably see them, best place to get some experience.
Our Trailers:
2015 19 Escape
Buying or Selling Molded FG Trailers:
Fiberglass-RV-4Sale
Thanks very much for your reply, Greg, A., as well as the links to the needed materials. About how many hours of dry weather would we need for the DIY repair?
The putty step is pretty quick, but needs about 24hrs cure time. Gelcoat usually hardens in about 4 hrs, but I’d give it a day to cure up before sanding. I smooth and tape an acetate sheet over the fresh gelcoat as it has to be covered to cure. If you are careful with the right amount of gelcoat and cover with the acetate, you’ll have very lil wet sanding.
There are numerous You Tube videos on how to repair gelcoat that are helpful.
Our Trailers:
2015 19 Escape
Buying or Selling Molded FG Trailers:
Fiberglass-RV-4Sale
Greg, It sounds like you are suggesting a "like new" type of repair. But if these mounts are on the roof, then I for one would not be so concerned about aesthetics. Matching the finish and color of the gel-coat is a challenge, but a structurally sound, and very waterproof patch that looks unappealing is easy. Would you agree?
Hey Gordon,
You’re correct, being on the roof you could just stick a marine putty patch and be done with it, but what happens when you need to do a gelcoat patch in a visible area and you’ve never tried one? I view this opportunity as a great learning ground and if it doesn’t come out perfect no one will know. Each one you do will be better and it sounds like he has a few holes to learn on. Patching dings, etc in gelcoat is really pretty easy, but patching them really well takes some experience and is a great skill to have if one stays in molded fiberglass trailers.
Our Trailers:
2015 19 Escape
Buying or Selling Molded FG Trailers:
Fiberglass-RV-4Sale
cant argue with that.. the roof is a great spot to learn on, if that is what one wants to do. If I were to remove the A/C on my Scamp you would see one of the ugliest patches ever.. but thats OK with me.
We have a 19 and it came to us used with a tv antenna mounted through the roof along with a series of rivets through the roof holding the cable on then a hole through the roof allowing entry for the cable to be connected. About 8 holes altogether, two being bigger than a silver dollar and six being just under a quarter inch. We pulled all junk and mixed up a batch of resin with baby powder as a thickener smeared it as deep as we could into each hole and smoothed them over you can't possibly see them from the ground worked a charm, done in about 2 hours. Cure time in TX at ambient temp of 75 was under twenty minutes.
Thanks, all, for the tips. Since we had only a short dry window during a rainy week, we opted to fill the holes left by the canoe rack bracket bolts with 3M Marine Adhesive/Sealant 4200 Fast Cure. We also replaced some rivets up top whose caps were loose. We've had no leaking since.