Another side separation

[Jim Davis]

A couple years ago I had similar separation issues where the fiberglass side popped up above the black trim and sheared. It seems to be about 3/8 of an inch of fiberglass that lifted up and settled back down shearing it.

Any thoughts on how it happened or a repair. The first time it happened Jayco paid for it but no one would give me any answers.

[Jim Davis]

OK I've got it apart and I'm thinking about the fix.
Several observations about the problem.

1. The side wasn't cut evenly with the bottom, in the back portion it is a 1/4 inch short.

2 The bottom of the floor doesn't reach the wall for the middle half of the trailer, there is a gap between the floor and the wall that is a half inch wide.

3 The trim is 3/4 x 1 1/4 and they had to drive a lot of screws at an angle just to get a bite into the floor.

4. The trim wasn't even fully caulked to the body. The bottom had butyl tape but the side was bare with a small bead along the seam.

My current plan is to use 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 aluminum angle and glue it with 3M 5200 in addition to screws. . I'm also considering filling the gap with thickened epoxy.

Needless to say I'm not a happy camper.

[spoon059]

I can't tell whats wrong from that picture, let along diagnose it

[Jim Davis]

If you look at the black trim you can see white fiberglass that has "jumped" over the trim and sheared. This runs intermittently for much of the back 2/3 of the trailer. The width of the protruding fiberglass is 3/8 of an inch. The screws holding the trim are tight and about every four inches. It doesn't photograph well.


Also except for roads inside camp grounds it hasn't been off road.