Fiberglass body panel cracking
Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Warranty, Service and Recall Bulletins
Forum Discription: Have a warranty or service experience to share?
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=11168
Printed Date: 28 Apr 2024 at 6:59pm
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Topic: Fiberglass body panel cracking
Posted By: PilotPodder
Subject: Fiberglass body panel cracking
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2018 at 7:16pm
Hey guys, I’d appreciate the collective feedback from my fellow Podders on this one. Doing a winter escape in FL just now and this morning I noticed hairline cracking in the fiberglass in the lower corner just behind the solar panel connector. The Pod has never been hit or hit anything. It’s been very warm lately in the mid 80s each day. Pictures at the links below. I’m open to suggestions and comments.
https://instagram.com/p/BfhSa9SFuJb/ - https://instagram.com/p/BfhSa9SFuJb/
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Portage, MI — 2017 RPod 179 - sold / 2017 Toyota Tundra — https://johnmarucci.com/r-pod-video-list/ - My RPod YouTube Videos
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Replies:
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2018 at 7:37pm
Haven't seen that before
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Leo & Melissa Bachand
2017 Ford F150
2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk
Previously owned
2015 Rpod 179
2010 Rpod 171
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Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2018 at 7:41pm
I have seen some cracks in the fiberglass gel coat, but not that extensive. I am sending you a PM..
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Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2018 at 8:13pm
Will be interesting to hear what FR says as to the cause of this. That is extreme!
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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
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Posted By: mjlrpod
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2018 at 7:36am
That looks to me to be an impact. You of course might not be aware of when, how it happened, but I would say it got hit. Maybe an extreme corner? A really tight back-in? The cracks all seem to eminate from a central point. I would look really good at that area and see if there is a mark. It's hard for me to tell from the photo but i think i can see a slight depression in the trim about where the center of the stress cracks come from. Thats my opinion
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2017.5 Rp-172
2020 R-pod 195
2015 Frontier sv 4.0L 6cyl
I'll be rpodding
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Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2018 at 8:09am
Looks like stress or "spider" cracks to me, have seen boats do this, not so much RVs. My 72 Vette gets these at stress points.
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Mike Carter
2015 178
" I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability."
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Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2018 at 10:39am
That is for sure gel coat cracking, and it does look like it was from an impact. I'm going to speculate that it's not a structural issue, but I would keep an eye on it.
Attempting to repair it will be almost impossible to match the color up.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost
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Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2018 at 1:10pm
Something has stressed the fiberglass, probably an impact. A good boat shop or a body shop that does a lot of fiberglass work should be able to match the gelcoat for a repair. You might also be able to get some gelcoat or epoxy paint of this color from Forest River if they make the panels in house. GlueGuy is right that matching the color will be your biggest problem.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost
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Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 24 Feb 2018 at 8:52pm
mcarter. You remind me when i had my '69 vette, did not suffer any cracks like that but the '68 (first year with the mako shark body) were notorious for those around the rear wheels. Fortunately GM did something right as I never experienced that with mine.
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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
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Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 25 Feb 2018 at 2:07am
Definitely some improvements, with mine I think has something to do with age of the car and paint. I've seen Vettes crack if you jack them wrong.
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Mike Carter
2015 178
" I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability."
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Posted By: PilotPodder
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2018 at 7:29pm
Quick update. I was able to get the 179 to FR in Goshen IN and they did a fantastic job with the fiberglass repair and color match, besides taking care of a few minor warranty issues. Thanks to Furpod for helping me out in this. Couldn't be happier.
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Portage, MI — 2017 RPod 179 - sold / 2017 Toyota Tundra — https://johnmarucci.com/r-pod-video-list/ - My RPod YouTube Videos
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Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2018 at 7:39pm
Great to hear that it got taken care of!!
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Leo & Melissa Bachand
2017 Ford F150
2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk
Previously owned
2015 Rpod 179
2010 Rpod 171
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Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2018 at 8:55pm
So . . . . . . . . . . don't keep us in suspense. Did they give any possible reasons as to why this happened or the cause thereof?
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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
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Posted By: PilotPodder
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2018 at 9:22pm
The person I worked with at FR said that they had never seen it before. I don't doubt that. So I think it is a mystery. My hypothesis is that it was built in Feb 17 when it was very cold and the panel was likely not given enough expansion room. When we were in FL it was sitting in full sun at 88 degrees several days, so with the sun and dark color, I'm sure the surface was well over 100 degrees and the panel had nowhere to expand. Something had to give, so the surface cracked.
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Portage, MI — 2017 RPod 179 - sold / 2017 Toyota Tundra — https://johnmarucci.com/r-pod-video-list/ - My RPod YouTube Videos
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Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2018 at 6:59am
Did Jimmy look at it? I forget the name of the fiberglass guy, it's been a couple years since I saw him. But he was/is good.
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Posted By: PilotPodder
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2018 at 8:01am
I don't recall the name of the person my rep mentioned, but it was a local company that does a bunch of their fiberglass work and the guy came in for a day to do the repair. You'd never know there was an issue. The work and color match are that good. Very pleased.
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Portage, MI — 2017 RPod 179 - sold / 2017 Toyota Tundra — https://johnmarucci.com/r-pod-video-list/ - My RPod YouTube Videos
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