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Filling holes in fibreglass

Posted: Wed, 01 Oct 2014, 2:08 pm
by The Gomersalls
Now we have a Portafold we need to start fixing it up, the fibreglass doesn't seem too bad and there are only a couple of spider cracks on the roof so although a full respray may happen sometime in the future we would like to keep it as is for the time being.

There are however a few holes (not all the way through) and chips in the surface, what should we use to fill them and depending on what we use will we have to prime/paint etc afterwards.

Cant get the hang of posting pictures yet but can be seen here. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrmerlin/15224306650/

Re: filling holes in fibreglass

Posted: Wed, 01 Oct 2014, 2:34 pm
by The Gomersalls
15224306650_53137d9e83_c.jpg
Done it!

This is probably the largest hole. I have looked on various fibreflass suppliers and there is so many different options, help! please.

Re: filling holes in fibreglass

Posted: Wed, 01 Oct 2014, 7:33 pm
by Admin
First of all, don't do anything with spider cracks on the roof, as a rule they won't leak and it really is a waste of time and a lot of effort trying to do anything about them. I have lots on my roof and I've spoken to my GRP man about fixing them and to fix them correctly requires a full dig down deep into the fibre and it's a whole lot of work for very little gain. Apart from anything, if they're on the roof you don't see them anyway!

Assuming it's still the original gellcoat and hasn't been painted, I would give the roof a good clean, then T-cut it, then give it a good polish with normal car polish, and maybe even some good quality car wax. Sorted.

For filling actual holes you need some gellcoat filler. Find your nearest boat chandlers and ask in there, they'll have some that you simply mix up and use like Polyfiller. Then you polish it up afterwards and it should buff up nicely.

Re: Filling holes in fibreglass

Posted: Wed, 01 Oct 2014, 7:53 pm
by The Gomersalls
Thanks Matthew, our van is the original yellowy creamy colour, is there a colour reference or Ral code that you know of to match to?

Re: Filling holes in fibreglass

Posted: Fri, 03 Oct 2014, 12:36 pm
by Admin
The Gomersalls wrote:Thanks Matthew, our van is the original yellowy creamy colour, is there a colour reference or Ral code that you know of to match to?
Same as mine, fraid not, they basically mixed it on the day, and you'll find that different parts of the caravan are different shades, which can be a tad annoying to say the least!

Mine has different colours all over, generally I think down to bleaching from the sun.