Caring for cracks in fiberglass sides

[figallegro]

There have been a few threads about Newmar MH that have developed cracks or checking in the fiberglass side walls. We have these cracks in the darker painted area and was wondering what the recommendations you have to care for the fiberglass sides to prevent further deterioration of the side walls. It seems as thought the fiberglass strands are working their way to the surface of the paint. I don't want to end up with an entire sidewall that looks like it needs a shave.

[RJay]

I don't have an answer to your problem but I am a Newmar owner and concerned that one day I may suffer the same problem. I would suggest calling Newmar and discuss the problem with them. But if there is one place that knows about fiberglass it is a boatyard. As I recall when a fiberglass hull was looking rough they would spray it with an epoxy coating and it would be as good as new. I don't know if that would solve your problem but it may be worth a phone call, they might be able to tell you what is causing it.

[mdouglass55]

There is no way to prevent this from happening. It happened on my 04 Dutch Star and the factory removed the sidewalls, repaired them and repainted my entire coach Memorial Day weekend 2008. You need to approach Newmar with this "checking" problem. It happens mainly on the dark sections from the heat. If all Newmar owners would complain about this problem, they would have no choice but to make it right. You also do not want them to outsource the paint job and insist they do it themselves at the factory so if you get any blisters you can have them redo right there. The problem only gets worse with time and the sooner you address this problem with the factory the better chance you have of getting it corrected. Some factory personnel have changed and they are not as customer service friendly as they once were. After they repaired my exterior, as soon as I got home one of my bay doors began to develop pockets or large indentations, and it has now spread to other bay doors. All bay doors are dark brown. I notified the factory and they were willing to fix at a reduced price but would not warranty the work they previously did. They also allegedly repaired my subfloor, but when I told them it was not fixed, again they would not stand behind their repair work. Don't know what is going on at Newmar, but am very dissatisfied compared to work that was done by personnel that are no longer there.

[read & learn]

mdouglass55
Sorry to hear about your problems with Newmar. As someone who is going to have my MH redone due to the checking problem I hope you can answer a couple of questions.
You said they did the work over Memorial Day Weekend? confused about weekend work or did you mean a different time? how many days Did it take. What did they do to your bay doors? Were they also checking.
What was the problem with the sub-floor as I also have a problem with sqeaks that are here today, gone tomorrow and then come back a week later.

[jbeck]

We had our sidewalls replaced a year ago. The entire process included removing the old side walls and replacing them with c-tech, and a complete repainting job. They allowed us to pick out a new color scheme. They also replaced the fiberglass skin on our compartment doors with aluminum skins. The entire process took nearly one month. We are extremely happy with the work done at Newmar.

[cowboy2]

i have some of same problem with dark finish, the fiberglass has cracks, is this a warranty issue or out of the pocket issue

[allegro5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbeck We had our sidewalls replaced a year ago. The entire process included removing the old side walls and replacing them with c-tech, and a complete repainting job. They allowed us to pick out a new color scheme. They also replaced the fiberglass skin on our compartment doors with aluminum skins. The entire process took nearly one month. We are extremely happy with the work done at Newmar.

Could you tell us about what such a deal will cost us? It would be a help to many of us to have a bench mark price! Many thanks, Allegro5

[jbeck]

I cannot help you with the cost as ours was done under warranty.