Bubbles

[Rosemary]

Our new/used 2001 hurricane came with bubbles on the outside. It was a Florida owned unit before it got bought in auction in calif. The dealer resealed all the windows and resurfaced the roof. I am still concerned about the bubbles growing. Granted we know of the bubbles when we purchased it, but it was a really good price and everything else is in great condition. Any suggestion on home repairs?

[Ray,IN]

Please describe the bubbles. Exactly where are they, how large, and how many? Bubbles in a laminated side-wall can be quite serious, bubbles under the rubber roof may or may not be of concern.

[Rosemary]

The bubbles are on the side. I read your info on the guy who used a tree to fix them. My husband is very handy and was thinking of a way to fix. He liked the idea. What was put inside of the bubble? The roof was completely redone by the dealer, they buy auctioned mh and repair them. The roof looks really good and we are going to get gutters to install asap.

[Ray,IN]

Delamination is caused by water leakage. That issue must be resolved before any further repairs will be successful. If the wall interior is wet/damp, repairs will not go well.
Repairing Delaminations explains how to repair bubbles in a laminated wall (using the page back button unveils much more about such repairs), but the part about using a tree or other solid item( as a brace), for using a hydraulic jack or other means to put pressure on the bubble while the resin cures was from a forgotten source. One must exercise care not to break the gelcoat with too much pressure, as it does not flex.

[MyLife]

I had a bubble on the driver side between both slides. In reading all the bubble posts, I decided to have a professional repair the bubble. This way we can see where the leak was coming from and repair that too. You do not know what going on behind the bubble. The tech took pictures before repairing the job to show me. If you can have a professional take a look, it is better. You might not get a good estimate until they see behind the bubble and see the real damage. Look at my earlier posts and you see some pictures. Now the RV look great.

Fiberglass Bubble

[Rosemary]

The dealer told us about the water leakage and they took out the windows, re sealed and resealed the roof entirely. I am just feeling that perhaps it was a mistake buying it. My husband is not of the same mind. We got it for $28,000 and it only has 35,000 miles on it. Plus new top of the line generator. So... I just am concerned and saw your post earlier. We are getting gutters for the windows which will help. I will keep pictures of the bubbles and not panic until they start to grow and just pray they don't.

[Pirate]

I had extensive water damage under the driver window on mine, but no bubble or exterior indication of a problem. I pulled my wall apart from the inside which left the fiberglass intact. Once all the damaged wood was removed, I put bracing on the outside to hold the wall tight and then rebuilt using CRP panels and marine plywood. The wall is nice and solid now.

All of my Windsport windows need to be removed and resealed using black rubber butyl. Never had this problem with my Winny, I should have kept it.

Of course, they build them all like junk though. I was at my local RV body shop last Thursday discussing water damage with the owner. He took me in the back and showed me a $700,000 RV with a hole in the side about 3'x3'. It bubbled up so they started grinding off the fiberglass. It had the same type water damage inside that I had on my junky 70,000 RV. Money doesn't buy quality in the RV market.

[Rosemary]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MyLife I had a bubble on the driver side between both slides. In reading all the bubble posts, I decided to have a professional repair the bubble. This way we can see where the leak was coming from and repair that too. You do not know what going on behind the bubble. The tech took pictures before repairing the job to show me. If you can have a professional take a look, it is better. You might not get a good estimate until they see behind the bubble and see the real damage. Look at my earlier posts and you see some pictures. Now the RV look great. Fiberglass Bubble

Hi, thank you for your post. Would you mind sharing how much the repair cost? I have several bubbles and am rather nervous about the possible cost. Thanks.