Community Forums

Ljwt330 · 09-02-2021, 10:51 AM

Those photos are great, not only for Alpines, but as a general view of how the slide opening is built in other coaches as well.

It seems that the first photo shows a gap between the horizontal beam of the slide opening and the vertical beam. That is the place you had welded. Did you add a gusset, it looks like you did?

That tiny movement you could cause in the top beam would likely be amplified during travel, slide extension/retraction, and even leveling.

Thanks for the update and pictures, they will help many others with similar cracks. Let us see the final repair/painting of the skin when it's complete, please.

Theturboman · 09-02-2021, 04:25 PM

Just looking over my coach I have a crack in the same corner of the slide but its about 1/2" and one in the corner below the right tail lamp on the rear cap

Ernieo · 09-02-2021, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ljwt330

Those photos are great, not only for Alpines, but as a general view of how the slide opening is built in other coaches as well.

It seems that the first photo shows a gap between the horizontal beam of the slide opening and the vertical beam. That is the place you had welded. Did you add a gusset, it looks like you did?

That tiny movement you could cause in the top beam would likely be amplified during travel, slide extension/retraction, and even leveling.

Thanks for the update and pictures, they will help many others with similar cracks. Let us see the final repair/painting of the skin when it's complete, please.

1st to the photos. How do I get them to upload properly. They keep ending rotated.

Yes there was a split in the horizontal beam, but that seems to be the way they made the weld. The horizontal beams that runs along the bus where the vertical bean ends is also just tacked in the corners. There is no weld where in the front of the intersection.

Nonetheless, we added a gusset and closed the seam. Let’s hope it works. Today I reattached the panel and tomorrow I will start refiberglassing the cuts. More pics to come.

Ernieo · 09-03-2021, 01:21 PM

Ok, so the fiberglass work is done. I am leaving Oregon tomorrow and it will take me 6 days to get home. Let’s see if the repair holds, before I paint it.

andy29847 · 09-09-2021, 03:27 PM

I've fixed a few spots on my coach where the fiber glass was cracked. I always used some fiberglass cloth and epoxy to bridge the crack. It doesn't look like you did this. I hope you way works. Give us the step you used to repair the wall.

Ernieo · 09-12-2021, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy29847

I've fixed a few spots on my coach where the fiber glass was cracked. I always used some fiberglass cloth and epoxy to bridge the crack. It doesn't look like you did this. I hope you way works. Give us the step you used to repair the wall.

So what I did:
-epoxied the panel back to the bus, making sure I got epoxy under the fiberglass that was not cut as well
-filled the cut with fiberglass putty (can't remember what that is called)
-overlapped the cut about 1" with fiberglass cloth 3 times, getting wider each time
-sanded

to date, we traveled approx 2000 miles with 7 stops and the crack has help along with the repair. This week I am going to find paint shop that can paint the repair.