Fiberglass Repair – Stitching the Wound

From what I gleaned from dozens of fiberglass repair YouTube videos is that fiberglass damage should be repaired from both sides if possible.

It was not possible in our case as there is only about 6 inches a space behind my RV’s damaged rear cap. Not nearly enough space to work in. What to do?

First, I used an angle grinder to grind down each side of the wound into a sort of V-shape.

Next, I cut several pieces of 1/2″ x 4″ Balsa wood strips to fit in back of the damaged rear cap. Balsa wood is very porous allowing fiberglass resin to penetrate.

Each wood strip was liberally coated with PL 400 adhesive and then lifted up into place with a metal string. Very, very clumsy.

I used six Balsa wood “stitches” to hold both damaged sides together:

Even though I took great lengths to prevent the PL 400 adhesive from contacting the wood stitches, I was still worried that it might, and that removing stitches could be very difficult.

Needless worries it turned out.

Each stitch came off effortlessly (even the paper cloth) and each bolt was pushed back until it fell on the ground.

Next Step – Glassing

Waiting for the temperature to warm up . . .

Catching’ Up

As they say, it’s been a month of Sundays since our last post.

2023 RV Trip

We leave on May 15th and return in August. So far we’ll be camping at about 40 campgrounds. However, most of these campgrounds aren’t “destinations” just stops between them.

Some of or major destinations are shown on the map below. Click on the map to enlarge it.

RV Fiberglass Repair

I’ve started repairing last summer’s damage to our RV’s fiberglass rear cap. Here’s what the damage originally looked like:

At first, all I wanted to do was to hide the damage, but then changed my mind. But after getting a $6,000 quote to fix the damage, I decided to do it myself. More on that in later posts.

However, here’s a video of a test I made using fiberglass resin . . .

But Wait, There’s More!

In the coming weeks . . .

About that California Rain . . .

This just in . . .

This Monday morning was Take-Flirt-to-the-Groomer day. And at about 7:30 am we did. Our dog groomer lives up Highway 49 about 8 miles from us in Bootjack.

What a mistake.

Meanwhile Back Home at Idlewheels . . .

2022 Goes Out with a Deluge

As of about 10 PM PT this evening, Mariposa has received over 4″ of rain today . . . over 10″ this week . . . 18″ this month . . . with a grand total of almost 28″ of rain this year.

December has been wet. Very wet.

Mariposa averages 32″ of rainfall a year, but during the drought (since we’ve been here), rain has been scarce. So these December rains have been a godsend.

Happy New Year!

Christmas and New Year’s Eve Rain Effects on Mariposa Creek

In the video below . . .

Seconds 0 through 27 – Christmas Day

Seconds 28 to the end – New Year’s Eve

Land of Fire and Sometimes Water

When it rains it pours? Yep.

Our last two Decembers have been wet months and this December looks no different.

Currently, it’s rained about 8 inches so far which is nearly half the total rainfall for this year.

In other news . . .