delamination repair

[kellyfretz]

Hi All! My FR Surveyor Cadet BH is showing signs of delamination on the front cap. I have watched a few repair videos and have some questions. My first question, is it possible to find something that shows what my camper looks like under the skin? While I don't think doing the repairs is really difficult, I don't have any place where I can do this myself. So, I am trying to get as much information as I can before I look for a repair shop. Second question, if you have had this type of repair done, and you don't mind sharing, how much did it cost? TIA

[ES_FR]

kellyfretz,

We would be happy to assist you with your Surveyor. Because your ongoing satisfaction is very important to us, we invite you to contact Danielle Beber in our Customer service department through the following personalized and direct link: http://www.forestriverinc.com/Direct...94319070286056.

This direct link is provided for your convenience in order that we may resolve your concerns as quickly as possible. We will strive to respond to you within 24 hours of receiving your correspondence.

Respectfully,
Forest River

[bikendan]

My questions are:
What year is it?
Have you been doing regular inspection and maintenance on the roof caulking?

[kellyfretz]

It's a 2014. Around year 2 of ownership, I noticed the sealant looked worn although not cracked. I took it to Camper's World and they resealed it. They never mentioned delamination, so I didn't give it a second thought. They are the professionals, right? I have learned recently that the marker lights (and any other lights) should be re-caulked, which I did a couple of months ago.

[lswartz]

Wow, I didn’t expect that. I thought that I was just hosed on mine. It just looks bad now & I have learned to live with it. Wish I had known and I would have asked when it was new. My dealer was not much help.

We did look last month at new TT’s at the MD state fairgrounds RV show & picked out the same model as our favorite.

[upflying]

Originally Posted by kellyfretz

Hi All! My FR Surveyor Cadet BH is showing signs of delamination on the front cap. I have watched a few repair videos and have some questions. My first question, is it possible to find something that shows what my camper looks like under the skin? While I don't think doing the repairs is really difficult, I don't have any place where I can do this myself. So, I am trying to get as much information as I can before I look for a repair shop. Second question, if you have had this type of repair done, and you don't mind sharing, how much did it cost? TIA

I think your skin is called Filon and that is glued to a wood substrate called luan..that is bonded to wood or aluminum framing with a foam core.
Water leaked onto the luan which released the bond to the Filon.
I guess adhesive injection is a down and dirty fix but the proper way to fix it is remove the wall. Adhesive injection products aren't repairing the water damaged luan.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by kellyfretz

I took it to Camper's World and they resealed it. They never mentioned delamination, so I didn't give it a second thought. They are the professionals, right?

Sorry, but calling Camping World service departments "professionals" is somewhat funny. I hope you were being tongue in cheek.
Have you checked the caulking since CW resealed it? That's 3 or 4 years ago, if you bought it new.
And sorry to say but even though FR has reached out, I seriously doubt that they'll cover anything, on a 6 year old TT that"s had spotty roof maintenance.

[Feel Swift]

Originally Posted by upflying

I think your skin is called Filon and that is glued to a wood substrate called luan..that is bonded to wood or aluminum framing with a foam core.
Water leaked onto the luan which released the bond to the Filon.
I guess adhesive injection is a down and dirty fix but the proper way to fix it is remove the wall. Adhesive injection products aren't repairing the water damaged luan.

On most TT's that do not have a solid fiberglass front cap but filon as on the OPs, there is no luan substrate and minimal framing. The filon is laminated to what is essentially a sheet of cardboard. The framing is horizontal and the laminated piece is attached at the top, then bent around and secured at the bottom and sides under the corner trim. It is not attached anywhere in the field of the piece.

If you go look on used lots you'll find many older ones with the same type of construction that look the same, and many a lot worse.

It does not take a leak to cause it to happen.

.

[KyDan]

We owned a Rockwood Ultralite about 8 years ago. It never delaminated but I discovered that the marker lights nearly all leaked. Some had been installed upside down. If you look very carefully you may see there is a weep hole in the edge of the removable lens. My rig had some mounted with the weep hole facing UP and some facing Down. BOTH orientations leaked on the front lights. I know they leaked because I either found water inside the light or a high water mark where there had been water at one time. I surmised that long drives in the rain was blowing water into them.

NOTE- they were carefully caulked on 3 sides from the factory. They had apparently left the caulk off the bottom edge in order to drain but it let water blow up into them when driving in the rain.
In one afternoon (really a 1 or 2 beer job) I removed them all one at at time and caulked them all the way around AND I ALSO PUT A TINY BEAD OF CAULK AROUND EACH LENS AND THEN SNAPPED THEM BACK ON.
This 1 hour job totally stopped all leakage around the marker lights. I just used white Dap Alex bathroom caulk which is water clean up until it sets. I wiped my fingers and any excess squish out off with a damp rag.
They never leaked again and I could still pry off a lens if I needed to change a bulb.