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Old 11-13-2016, 08:26 AM   #21
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We were boaters for 25 years and used both 3M 5200 and Marine Tex. The real issue with the front cover is the fiberglass and the metal bracket likely expand and contract at different rates from either the heat of the sun or the cold. As a result, any rigid sealant such as fiberglass or Marine Tex will eventually fail. 5200 is an marine adhesive/sealant and retains flexibility when cured. For that reason, it is able to accomodate different expansion/contraction rates between different materials. It is my choice for holding things and has never let me down. I think you will find many ex-boaters here who are also strong proponents of 5200.
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Old 11-14-2016, 06:14 AM   #22
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We were boaters for 25 years and used both 3M 5200 and Marine Tex. The real issue with the front cover is the fiberglass and the metal bracket likely expand and contract at different rates from either the heat of the sun or the cold. As a result, any rigid sealant such as fiberglass or Marine Tex will eventually fail. 5200 is an marine adhesive/sealant and retains flexibility when cured. For that reason, it is able to accomodate different expansion/contraction rates between different materials. It is my choice for holding things and has never let me down. I think you will find many ex-boaters here who are also strong proponents of 5200.
Those reasons and more is why I suggested 5200 early in this thread. Marine Tex is a machinable product more than an adhesive. As an alternative to 5200 they do make 4000 which is not as tenacious as 5200 because boaters complained that they were unable to ever remove items attached with 5200,
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Old 11-14-2016, 09:51 AM   #23
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Those reasons and more is why I suggested 5200 early in this thread. Marine Tex is a machinable product more than an adhesive. As an alternative to 5200 they do make 4000 which is not as tenacious as 5200 because boaters complained that they were unable to ever remove items attached with 5200,
Why would you ever want to remove some thing that you used some good quality adhesive on it, in the first place, supposedly for a permanent bond?
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Old 11-15-2016, 05:11 AM   #24
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Why would you ever want to remove some thing that you used some good quality adhesive on it, in the first place, supposedly for a permanent bond?
Scott
because things break or wear out on a boat. boater for 50 years so I can speak from experience. certain items on a boat should only be affixed with a flex type adhesive and other with both a sealant like 5200 plus bolts with locking nuts. 5200 would remove the gelcoat when an item was replace.
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Old 11-15-2016, 05:24 AM   #25
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because things break or wear out on a boat. boater for 50 years so I can speak from experience. certain items on a boat should only be affixed with a flex type adhesive and other with both a sealant like 5200 plus bolts with locking nuts. 5200 would remove the gelcoat when an item was replace.

Sometimes as you are looking at it
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Old 10-23-2018, 05:45 PM   #26
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Had hood inner bumper piece fall off my ‘16 31C Brave this week. Same stupid deal; would it kill Winnebago to embed the metal part in the fiberglass lay like Porsche does? Anyway, we’re on the road, so I used JB Quickweld and let it cure 4 days. Maybe it’s still there, or maybe not. What a chintzy build feature!
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Old 10-23-2018, 11:26 PM   #27
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After this post came out in '16, I drove a couple thousand miles and then discovered that I too was having parts of the fiberglass rear covers start to detach from the brackets. Instead of bothering with re-glue I just drilled holes for 6-32 hardware, flat head Philips screws, stainless, with lock nuts. Almost two years later the rear panels are holding fast with no tendency of the screws to crack the fiberglass. Last month, the front pieces began to detach from the glue so I did those panels too. This picture is of the screws (2 of 3) holding the front hood in place:




And here you can see the two screws on the right where I reattached the bracket that holds the hood...it had come loose too.



I'm pretty happy just using SS flat head screws without bothering with any epoxy compounds and soon I'll dab the heads of the screws with matching paint. I think it's a permanent fix, since the job I did on the rear is working great, no problems at all so far.
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Old 10-24-2018, 07:41 AM   #28
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Just a note on clamping odd shapes. I have had success using inner tubes. Just get close to a wall, telephone pole, other vehicle, or other sturdy object. Insert tube in between and inflate.
I have 3 tubes in my arsenal, a small one from HF, an old wheelbarrow, and a car tube.

Inflate to desired pressure, and wait.
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Old 11-10-2018, 01:32 PM   #29
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Had hood inner bumper piece fall off my ‘16 31C Brave this week. Same stupid deal; would it kill Winnebago to embed the metal part in the fiberglass lay like Porsche does? Anyway, we’re on the road, so I used JB Quickweld and let it cure 4 days. Maybe it’s still there, or maybe not. What a chintzy build feature!
ras,
Yeah, there are, as you've read, a few fiberglass to metal detachments on here and maby other RV forums but, I'm wondering, of the thousands and thousands of Winnes and Itascas that have been produced and are still running around on Americas less than perfect roads, how many of them have had, are having, or will have detachment issues? In other words, what kind of ratio of the units built vs defects have taken place? Not sure anyone can answer that one.

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Originally Posted by Jim_HiTek View Post
After this post came out in '16, I drove a couple thousand miles and then discovered that I too was having parts of the fiberglass rear covers start to detach from the brackets. Instead of bothering with re-glue I just drilled holes for 6-32 hardware, flat head Philips screws, stainless, with lock nuts. Almost two years later the rear panels are holding fast with no tendency of the screws to crack the fiberglass. Last month, the front pieces began to detach from the glue so I did those panels too. This picture is of the screws (2 of 3) holding the front hood in place:




And here you can see the two screws on the right where I reattached the bracket that holds the hood...it had come loose too.



I'm pretty happy just using SS flat head screws without bothering with any epoxy compounds and soon I'll dab the heads of the screws with matching paint. I think it's a permanent fix, since the job I did on the rear is working great, no problems at all so far.
Jim,
Yeap, I considered that kind of repair too. And it's not out of the question either. Since I did this thread back in '16, I've had my left head light bracket come loose. It was a bear to get clean and prep for whatever type of "glue/adhesive etc." I was going to use. I finally ended up using Gorilla Construction adhesive. Gorilla's been advancing in the glue and tape market very rapidly in the last few years. They have a product for everything. So, I thought what the heck, I'll try their construction adhesive.
Well, that repair was oh, about 6-8 months ago or so and, that headlight is holding like it was welded on. So far, I'm extremely happy with that adhesive.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rgvtexan View Post
Just a note on clamping odd shapes. I have had success using inner tubes. Just get close to a wall, telephone pole, other vehicle, or other sturdy object. Insert tube in between and inflate.
I have 3 tubes in my arsenal, a small one from HF, an old wheelbarrow, and a car tube.

Inflate to desired pressure, and wait.
rgvtexan,
Not a bad idea Pal. Air pressure is pretty powerful in various forms. We had "Air bags" on our fire trucks that we used for rescue purposes. If you haven't seen them, they're flat when deflated, about 1" thick. Then, slide them into a predicament where you need to lift a car off of a patient or, move some collapsed concrete etc. once in place, you apply air pressure and they begin to look like a football. And, we'd stack them to get more height/distance in travel for the application. So, your "inner tube" thought is very similar. Not bad, not bad at all.
Scott
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Old 11-11-2018, 08:45 AM   #30
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Originally Posted by FIRE UP View Post

Jim,
Yeap, I considered that kind of repair too. And it's not out of the question either. Since I did this thread back in '16, I've had my left head light bracket come loose. It was a bear to get clean and prep for whatever type of "glue/adhesive etc." I was going to use. I finally ended up using Gorilla Construction adhesive. Gorilla's been advancing in the glue and tape market very rapidly in the last few years. They have a product for everything. So, I thought what the heck, I'll try their construction adhesive.
Well, that repair was oh, about 6-8 months ago or so and, that headlight is holding like it was welded on. So far, I'm extremely happy with that adhesive.
GAH! So the headlight brackets are held on with epoxy too??

I haven't looked under there but you're probably right. Dang. More work, probably have to crawl under the rig to work on those brackets here soon.

But an update, the pictures I posted back in mid-September (it's now mid November) show the screws I used on the front of the RV. After installation drove 650 miles on highways (as opposed to freeways) to my new location (where it's warmer).

I was a bit worried that over that long drive on less than perfect road surfaces that the front screws might start cracking the fiberglass because they are supporting more weight then those that have done so well over the last couple years on the rear of the RV.

But as luck would have it I don't see any tendency for that to happen so I'm pretty satisfied with drilling holes and using 6-32 hardware to hold things.

Nice to hear that Gorilla Glue is working too. I just might double up on a couple of my brackets and use both the glue and screws.
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Old 11-11-2018, 07:09 PM   #31
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AS bob said the 5200 wont fail EVER If I were you id butter over what you have done
I also did the brackets on the rear lower valence . And used 5200 on boats for years . Only problem you may have is not being able to seperate them in the future if ever needed
But it will take a couple days to properlly dry & cure
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Old 11-11-2018, 08:44 PM   #32
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As you say...if they (the brackets) need to be removed with the dried Gorilla glue on them, it's likely they'll rip the fiberglass.

No thanks, I'll just stick with the screws. Easy, not messy at all, no prep needed, and no worries about removing them and replacing with 8-32 screws if necessary OR slobbering on goo if that's what's called for eventually. And I like the probablility that they'll pull right through the fiberglass instead of ripping it in case of an accident.
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Old 11-14-2018, 09:59 AM   #33
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I haven't read all three pages but has anyone suggested 3M's VHB tape? It's used by manufacturers to adhere body panels to frames.
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Old 11-14-2018, 11:51 AM   #34
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Bob... I have some 3M VHB tape ..perhaps there's a surface prep beyond an alcohol wipe because I have found the hold less than stellar. There may also be a batch age issue. I have had mine for a few years.

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Old 11-14-2018, 02:27 PM   #35
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I haven't used it much but haven't had problems. I suppose your's could be too old but, although its stated shelf life is two years, 3M's technical data sheet says "Performance of tapes is not projected to change even after shelf life expires; however, 3M does suggest that 3M™ VHB™ Tapes are used prior to the shelf life date whenever possible."

You might want to try it on a surface that you know to be clean of all contaminates before tossing it. Roughing the surface with fine sandpaper might help as well. Silicone residue or anything waxy or oily could be problematical.
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Old 12-26-2018, 03:44 AM   #36
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I used West Marine Six-10 adhesive epoxy to solve this issue (both headlights had come loose on my 04 Vectra) Roughed up the existing epoxy with a dremel cleaned both surfaces with some acetone then applied the Six-10 with a caulking gun. I removed the headlights from the brackets and was able to clamp the mounts to the fiberglass. I left the clamps on for about 36 hours. Has been solid

The nifty included nozzle mixes the epoxy as it is dispensed so you don't have to do it by hand unless you want or need to in situations where getting the nozzle in might not be practical.

Also, you can buy extra nozzles for additional applications. Has worked like a charm.
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