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Old 05-07-2014, 01:31 PM   #1
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Spider Cracks in Fiberglass Gel Coat

Near the end of last season the exterior bathroom door on my new 2013 Cruiser Viewfinder Signature 28BHSS developed a series of radial cracks in the fiberglass gel coat. The pattern fits within a 2" diameter circle.

I brought it to the dealer, but they informed me that Cruiser denied the claim and would not authorize repair.

Any recommendations on what to do about the cracks? My concern is that left alone they may continue to expand, water may get in, and eventually become an issue to the structure of the door. So far I have just applied an automotive wax to seal the exterior surface and protect it over the winter. I've heard of Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure. Anyone have experience with that?
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Old 05-07-2014, 02:35 PM   #2
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i would push more .. if they tried to pass on you that fast then you may not be alone in this

i have the past side wall cracks

in a hand full of months and now 75 to 90% of my hole RV has this all over the place

if your door is cut form the same side wall as all of the RV you can ... may.. see this starting to happen every where

if you can i would add a pic for every one here to see and i am sure you well get alot more info
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Old 05-07-2014, 09:02 PM   #3
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What is causing the cracks?
In a door, it's easy for them to say it's "user error" like slamming the door.

As far as repair, not sure where you live but I would go to a nearby marina as they usually have good fiberglass repair resources.
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Old 05-08-2014, 01:33 PM   #4
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Here's a little more detail on the spider cracks. I've uploaded two files; a picture and a letter I sent to Cruiser RV regarding the issue.

In my initial phone conversation the gentleman I spoke with at Cruiser was very dismissive. His position was the crack was caused by an impact. I provided what I felt was a convincing argument that it was not due to impact, but more likely due to material defect. His response was "We'll just have to agree to disagree".

To date I have not received a response from Cruiser regarding my letter. I sent a copy directly to them and also a copy to my dealer who forwarded it through their rep. Recently, I also sent a copy to Trailer Life for their RV Action Line. I'm still hopeful that if I get this to the right person we'll come to a successful resolution.

In the meantime I want to take what reasonable precautions I can to protect the area.
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Old 05-09-2014, 06:48 AM   #5
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What is on the inside of the door at that spot? I've seen door hardware poke through and cause (begin to cause) similar damage. It's also difficult to see from the picture how large that area is. Maybe tape a coin to the door for scale.
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Old 05-09-2014, 10:06 AM   #6
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that looks like impact damage from the other side. A good example would be when my track car throws a rock into the underside of its fenders, I get similiar appearing spiderweb cracks. That being said, on the inside of a camper you would deffinitely know if you did that as the required impact is well like a rock being flung out of a tire at 120 MPH on the track.... IE a metric butt load of force is needed to do that.

Chances are it was damaged either at the dealer, or while in trasit to the dealer and because the impact was new, no dirt had crawled into the crack to make it visible to your eyes prior to purchase.

good luck on the claim.
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Old 05-10-2014, 05:55 PM   #7
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Hmmm...come to think of it the cause may not be what's directly on the inside of the door, but what's near it that goes through the door. This group of cracks is about 2" in diameter and not too far away from where the a fish eye peep hole has been installed. Possible this could have been caused by stress on the door when the hole was drilled.

The thing that bugs me most is how unresponsive Cruiser RV has been regarding this issue. The warranty administrator just dismissed me completely when I spoke to him on the phone, and my letter (copied attached to earlier post) has been ignored. I would think given the number of other workmanship issues I've had to get corrected on this trailer they would want to make this right just for customer good will.
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Old 05-10-2014, 06:29 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kenn_chan View Post
that looks like impact damage from the other side. A good example would be when my track car throws a rock into the underside of its fenders, I get similiar appearing spiderweb cracks. That being said, on the inside of a camper you would deffinitely know if you did that as the required impact is well like a rock being flung out of a tire at 120 MPH on the track.... IE a metric butt load of force is needed to do that.

Chances are it was damaged either at the dealer, or while in trasit to the dealer and because the impact was new, no dirt had crawled into the crack to make it visible to your eyes prior to purchase.

good luck on the claim.
yeah i feel the same way

if its a door then the wind could have made the door hit some thing

or some one pushed or hit the door really hard
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