What is the best way to repair belly rips?

[poodlepeople]

I tore a few holes in the corrugated belly cover of my Sabre when I ran over some road debris (it could have been a much worse accident!). What is the best way to repair holes that are less than about one foot long?

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by poodlepeople

I tore a few holes in the corrugated belly cover of my Sabre when I ran over some road debris (it could have been a much worse accident!). What is the best way to repair holes that are less than about one foot long?

Well as Red Green would say, "use the handymans secret weapon, Duct Tape!" Or maybe Gorilla Tape, supposed to be even better but I haven't tried it yet.

"The women may not find you handsome, but at least they should find you handy" -Red Green

[LadyWindrider]

Since it is a corrugated cover, find an old sign made out of the same stuff, or try a print shop for some scrap. Use Liquid nails, or P&L construction adhesive, and glue over the tear. Use duct tape to hold it up till the glue dries. Otherwise I would find some very thin metal sheet, maybe even tin roofing, and try to cut and and place a piece above and below the the tear, and "pop rivet" in place. Will be tricky getting the first two rivets in and lined up. Will need to draw a "center line" on the top sheet for alignment.
Good Luck.

[rockwood06]

Originally Posted by NWJeeper

Well as Red Green would say, "use the handyman's secret weapon, Duct Tape!" Or maybe Gorilla Tape, supposed to be even better but I haven't tried it yet.

"The women may not find you handsome, but at least they should find you handy" -Red Green

And duct tape comes in colors. If you use duct tape as a repair make sure the surface is clean and once applied use the edge of a credit card to smooth it out, then you can spray a clear coat over top of it to keep the edges of the tape from peeling back.

[Bama Rambler]

I've used Gorilla tape and it's amazing at the amount of hold it has.

I've also used black sign material as mentioned by Windrider. The coroplast (sign material) is hard to find in black to match the underbelly but you may get lucky.

If they're narrow tears I'd just clean the surface with Acetone and apply Gorilla tape over them.

[poodlepeople]

Thanks for all the ideas. I am also exploring sites that may have products specifically for this problem. One I am checking out is Mobile Home Depot. If anyone has any experience with them, I would appreciate learning about it.

I will let you know how this all turns out.

[commander ryker]

you can buy repair tape at most rv dealers, ask for Darco repair tape.

[poodlepeople]

Some other sites have indicated the Darco repair tape (I guess Darco is a sheet material used in some RV's) does not work well on the corrugated plastic used on FR underbellies. Other suggestions are Gorilla Tape and Nashua Select flashing tape - both available from places like Home Depot. In any case, an Internet search could not initially turn up anything specific on a "Darco repair tape."

Since I have a little while before I head out to wet roads, I will keep searching.

By the way, Mobile Home Depot says they have nothing for this problem.

I guess I never said how this all happened. Here goes: A rear bracket that holds the step bar on the right side of my truck "fell" off, bounced along the road (at 60 mph!) tearing holes in the underbelly, and finally lodging in the back of the trailer. I am very lucky it did not hit a tire on the truck or trailer. No one can figure how both bolts that hold this on could have fallen out with no symptoms (e. g. rattle?) until the bracket dropped. One of these bolts even holds the body to the frame! Important safety tip: spend some time underneath checking to see if bolts are tight or drive really slow!

[Bama Rambler]

Your best bet for finding the actual material is a local sign shop. It's called Coroplast. Since they can print on it I'd assume it'd hold paint pretty well so you could paint it black in case they didn't have that color.

Here's a place on the net that carries it. corrugatedplastics.net

[PumaPro]

Rubber roof patch tape will stick to ANYTHING!!!!

[Travel Hog]

Gorilla Tape works great when applied to a plastic or rough surface or where you can wrap and stick it to itself. It won't work that well on a smooth surface such as the belly pan unless you get it very clean (like with acetone) and then apply the tape in warm weather. It might stay on if you sealed the edges with a good quality caulk but would eventually start peeling off due to age and exposure.

Your best bet is to find some thin corrugated metal and screw it on sealing the edges with silicone or caulk or even thin flat metal bent to fit (thin aluminum) and fill in the gaps with caulk. Any tape or like product will eventually fall off from dirt, wind, temperature changes or a combination of the 3.

[commander ryker]

Darco make a tape for their darco underbelly, if yours is corrugated you can cut a piece of corrugated plastic and screw and silicone it over the whole, sign shops have the corrugated plastic (used in campaign signs).