Host camper- Can you tell me what this white material is?

[louiskathy]

Hi
It's been a long rainy winter in the PNW...time to do a repair.
We noticed a crack in the siding going from the slideout toward the bottom of the fridge...and covered it until now.

Today we peeled off the outside to take a look underneath. More damage than we expected. There is a white powdery substance underneath the thin wood paneling.
What is it? Drywall?? Not sure I want to cut into it.
Photo 1

3 pics in Album

[louiskathy]

update - Started a claim with Progressive Insurance. Should get some written quotes by the end of next week. Ball park quote from one place (by looking at the photos) said it's a minimum 8 hours labor... and he shot me a $6,000 minimum to do it.

If anyone is interested ... I'll keep you posted.

[louiskathy]

jimh425 wrote:
Kayteg1 doesn't have a Host. I wouldn't copy that fix.

The welds are exposed in several places in a Host. Optimum would be to have Host fix it or at least give you the name of someone who can fix.

I called Host and they said they don't do service work. They did recommend someone and gave me the phone number / contact info. I left a message.

Someone recommended Lafayette repair west of Salem, Oregon. I sent him photos.

I have a feeling this is going to be a real bear to get fixed.

[jimh406]

Kayteg1 doesn't have a Host. I wouldn't copy that fix.

The welds are exposed in several places in a Host. Optimum would be to have Host fix it or at least give you the name of someone who can fix.

[Kayteg1]

Did not take pictures at the time, but I had not that thick SS sheet-metal laying around and from my memory I cut triangle about 5" tall, where aluminium frame is thinner and 3-4" wide to heavier horizontal frame. Lot of SS screws to hold it.
I had smaller hole in siding cut for the repair, so Bondoe-ed it all at the end.
The siding joint eventually cracked, so I follow with Marine caulking.

[louiskathy]

Kayteg1 wrote:
The aluminium weld broke on my camper the same way for no outside reason.
It was less than 1" of weld, holding crucial T joint, so not adequate weld.
I am welder, but I don't do aluminum, so I fixed it by adding triangle stainless steel plate with lot of screws, all bonded with epoxy.
That was 3 years ago and still holding.

Got any pictures on how you did it???

[Kayteg1]

The aluminium weld broke on my camper the same way for no outside reason.
It was less than 1" of weld, holding crucial T joint, so not adequate weld.
I am welder, but I don't do aluminum, so I fixed it by adding triangle stainless steel plate with lot of screws, all bonded with epoxy.
That was 3 years ago and still holding.

[louiskathy]

jimh425 wrote:
That's good news. At least, it's not something for me to look forward to with my similar model assuming I don't have a limb fall on my TC.

We Love our Host Camper. Their cust service response is in a day or two and very short emailed answers. I don't remember actually talking to Cust. Service but they do email.

Pictures of the night the tree branch came down.

KOA refunded the full amount of the cost of the site the next day back to my charge card.

I called them today and got a very fast phone call back from the owner. He remembered this because his office girl documented it when it happened or told him about it. Maybe she was explaining why the refund was given to me.

anyway... I'm now searching for a place to give me a quote to repair this in the Portland Oregon area. I emailed Dave at Host Camper in Bend Oregon and asked for a quote and asked if he wanted to fix it. He didn't get back to me yet.

[jimh406]

That's good news. At least, it's not something for me to look forward to with my similar model assuming I don't have a limb fall on my TC.

[louiskathy]

NEWS FLASH
I have realized that the weld in the slide opening is damaged/broken. We are pretty sure that that damage happened from a tree branch that fell on us last fall at KOA in Utah. I have it documented. I have correspondence with KOA when it happened. Just did not know that it broke the weld. We were not seeing any damage to the roof... no cuts or cracks... at the time.

So I've talked to HOST - sent them photo's. They think it's the weld being broken causing the slide to sag and cause that crack.

Now for getting insurance involved and contacting KOA to cover the expenses.

oh joy.

[SidecarFlip]

I've done the 'guest house thing before with my TC. Nice place for guests to stay and not in the house....lol

[Kayteg1]

Bondo will make outer covering. That is how cars are repaired.
You can sand it if you don't apply it smooth and then need to paint it.
You can buy bondo with fiberglass for extra strength.

[monkey44]

If you're not looking to make it 'pretty as new', fill the damaged area so it's flat - then buy a sheet of white Formica and cut to size. Then laminate the Formica patch into it - it's like bonding two pieces of wood together - should be videos on installing Formica. Then seal the seams.

Won't be the prettiest camper around, but will close up that damage. Formica will shed rain just like Filon - Formica is a plastic coating on composite base. As long as you repaired the areas where the water entered, you should be OK.


ON EDIT: As stated above - an alternative is to get a boat guy to fiberglass over it once the leaks are repaired.

[louiskathy]

Kayteg1 wrote:

louiskathy wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
You should have solid T-frame at this point that pictures don't show, while I see about 1/4" separation.
You need to close that separation, reinforce the frame and then worry about laminating the skin.

I think you're right. so what's the best way to laminate the skin?

I think that even if you don't plan to drive with the camper, using it as guest house, the separation might affect slide since the opening is out of square.
Scrape the rotten plywood to the frame and post a picture of what's behind. With good luck the lumber is still usable and all it needs are new staples with some laminating.
For siding finish in your position I would just use Bondo.

He has done pretty much what you described... and he bought a tube of bondo. My concern is what do we use as the outer covering. Where do I buy the filon and how can we cover the seams where it meets the rest of the outside of the camper? Is there a good video of how to do this type of repair?

[Kayteg1]

louiskathy wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
You should have solid T-frame at this point that pictures don't show, while I see about 1/4" separation.
You need to close that separation, reinforce the frame and then worry about laminating the skin.

I think you're right. so what's the best way to laminate the skin?

I think that even if you don't plan to drive with the camper, using it as guest house, the separation might affect slide since the opening is out of square.
Scrape the rotten plywood to the frame and post a picture of what's behind. With good luck the lumber is still usable and all it needs are new staples with some laminating.
For siding finish in your position I would just use Bondo.