Boy do we have problems now

[betsytom]

I need advice.

http://www.betsy-tom.smugmug.com/

The sidewall delaminations are my biggest concern as I don't have the money to fix the multiple areas, using the estimate that we got for the first failure we would have to pony up about 5g's and right now that is out of the question.

About the only thing I can think of is to seal the areas up with silicone and hope for the best, should further damage occur we could do repairs when they become absolutely necessary, thoughts??

As to the seams that were never caulked my thinking is this, I can fab an angle of heavy gauge steel, galvanized?? and bed this into an application of wax based undercoating. The easiest material to use would be aluminum angle as I have a good supply of that on hand, but I would be concerned about galvanic action, does anyone have input on this??

Some damage to the osb flooring is evident but the swelling appears to be very minor and it is in a very inconvienient area so this also will have to wait.
My thinking is that with no additional water being blasted into the area the damage is as advanced as it could be but any thoughts here would be appreciated also.

I realize that alot of you are sick and tired of reading about the issues with our Phoenix Cruiser and we ask only that you put yourselves in our situation for a moment and think about how you would handle the nightmare that having a Cruiser is.

[jimbo]

From what I have seen with delamination on fiberglass walled campers is that it usually gets worse. A freind had one that had a bubble and when driving thru Ohio the outer lamination peeled off going down the road. It is my understanding that delamination results when moisture get trapped between layers of the laminated materials. I would almostthink that sealing it would trap the moisture in and make the problem worse. As for the angle I didn't really understand what youn want to do but I would believe the aluminum would be much lighter and less prone to corrosion.even with reactions. You could put a silicone bead underr the aluminum to reduce the action. We did this with our fire truck when we had the corrosion proplem from the different metals attached together. It seemed to help but we sold the truck before it reached the age that it was when the corrosion reared it's ugly head. Would it be possible to get some of the siding material and cut and install it yourself on a piece by piece bassis. That way you could spread the cost out over a longer period.

[betsytom]

Jimbo, the only action we can take with the fiberglass issues is to wait and see just how bad it is going to get. We are in an unusual-the summer has been incredibly wet- dryspell here in the Northeast and every day I have moved the rv from under the tent and parked it with the wall facing the sun, in the pm I turn it around to face the pm sun; the moisture reading has gone down from the out of range value of 40%, I have a Delmhorst J2000 moisture meter, to just under 22%. I realize that the value is skewed due the the fact that I don't know the species of wood used, but I taken an average of six readings selecting six likely species of wood. The pins of the hammer probe I have fit into two screw holes perfectly.

I share your thoughts about sealing in moisture, but should I get to under 12% we probably will just caulk it up and check in the spring..

The question about using pieces of angle; I only have roughly 14" in front of, and in back of the dual rear wheels to cover. Its difficult to see in the pics but there is about a 3/16 space (X 14") where the creeps at Phoenix failed to get the sealant into. I take a few more photos and perhaps you can get a better idea of just what I am dealing with.

As always I appreciate the help..

[betsytom]

I have posted pics about what I am thinking of doing with the angle, and we also have found out why the valence pulled down, very very thin wood does not hold wood screws very well.
How thin you may wonder, about one eighth inch thick.

Discovered more problems with the battery cables, too tight bends caused three large cracks in cable insulation.

New pictures on smug mug.