Would kool-seal work on the inside of the fiberglass instead of bondo?

Thanks
Chuck

Kool seal is not the right product to use for this repair. Walmart sells Bondo or any auto store like auto zone. I only used a small can that I bought at a speciality auto paint supplier. After a few years the remaining material ate through the can. I can't emphize enough that it has been four years and we have no leaks. Do it once and do it right!!

I have had the front of my trailer collapse on me. I found hidden water damage in the wall. I am newbie to owner a trailer and have sure bought a lemon. the steel frame on the curve at the front of the trailer has broken apart from rust. that cause it to collapse on the frame and bust the fiberglass along the front. This is definitely a fixer upper.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have went and resealed all seams with caulking and also sprayed Flex Seal on all seams and used Cool Seal on the roof. now just have to repair the water damage.

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more picture of the wall frame

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Use a multi tool to get off the wall material until you are down to fiberglass. Treat all rusted metal with rustoleum paint. Treat the inside exposed fiberglass with bondo. Use Heavy Duty liquid nails to glue all your wall layers together. Use expanding foam to fill any air leaks. Shave the foam as needed. All your windows need to be taken out and resealed. This is a big source of water intrusion.

One more tip. Don't use flex seal as I read a review that said it doesn't work. Lexel caulk is to be used anywhere that needs to be sealed up. It is about $8.00 a tube and can be purchased at Ace Hardware or on line. Yes it is pricy,but you get what you pay for.

Thank you about the flex seal. I had used caulking first then sprayed flex seal. I will go and buy some the Lexel Caulk and re-caulk all seams.

Sam,

thanks for the tips. the pictures did not come out to well. But on the left front of the trailer the curve steel part has broken apart because of the rust. Any idea how to repair that. I have pulled all the paneling away and down the foam blocks. I will rip out all the foam blocks where I will only have frame and fiberglass wall.

thanks so much agan

I'm guessing that any broken metal would have to be welded. Some of our metal frame broke by the read door. DH used pipe inside of pipe and stainless steel hardware. We couldn't weld as it would have set the paneling on fire as per our Welder friend. Our repair is quite strong. For any big gaps we used spray can expanding foam and just shaved it flat. I think it comes in a less expanding form. I would highly recommend putting bondo on the interior of all exposed fiberglass. JR repair(HiLo ) place told us to do this. Yes, it is a lot of work. Bottom line it has been several years and we are toasty warm and dry. We didn't have front damage like your pictures show. Our water damage was due to us not understanding the need to take out all windows and resealing them.

you are so right about the flex seal. we just had a big storm here and I decided to go in the RV and start tearing out the foam blocks. well low and behold there was wet areas behind the foam. I must know figure out where they are coming from. The area where you plug in the AC had water leaking down the wall. an area near the bathroom had water leaking down the wall. I have almost completely removed all foam in the wall. also, there was water leaking into the bathtub from the electric vent fan. the roof above the tub is really soft when you push it in.

BTW:

I am ordering the Lexel Caulk on-line today to try and reseal along the seams on top of the RV

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I strongly encourage to bondo the inside fiberglass. This seals up any pinholes you can't even see. For larger gaps you can use greaat Stuff expanding foam. If need be shave it flat. Maybe it comes in a less expanding foam. Remove and reseal all windows. We also had water leaks where our AC outlet was. Both on the inside and outside. Also had leakage around our escape vent that we fixed with new weather seal. Read all the directions on the Lexel tube. I believe it comes in clear and white. 3SamTLPX's Library | Photobucket This is our photo bucket story with pictures to our repairs. We don't claim to be experts. However,I can tell you we are warm and perfectly dry for a lot of years.

Sam,

thanking you in advance. On your photobucket, the 2x4's did you use them to jack up the side of the trailer so you could expose the bottom of the upper part. I cannot get to the bottom of the upper part? I sealed the outside but did not think about the inside. as I had not stripped the wall out yet. will definitely follow your advice about bondo.

Dh says initialy we didn't have enough knowledge to properly seperate the halves. Then we had to replace the seals. DH says to measure on the drivers side how much thread is left on the cable bolts between the wheels. He used long enough 2x4s and the Jack pictured in our photobucket. Write down your measurements. Then loosen the all the bolts to take slack of the cables. We worked with one corner/part of side at a time. We weren't able to get the seal replaced around the Ref. as we were afraid to tip over the RV. Another member did extensive repairs and couldn't get the seperation around the ref. either. One forum member used a forklift to seperate the halves. Cable replacement in my 1998 HiLo 24TD 3-3-2010. Harbor Freight is a good place to purchase the a jack with a 20%off coupon. It will also be used when you have to change a tire.

If anyone has a better way to do or explain how to break the halves apart please add to the conversation.