Gjac
Milford, CT
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Joined: 08/16/2006
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I had some success using the side of a building, plywood caul plates, and car jacks to apply pressure. Drying the area to be bonded is crucial. Removed windows and used wedges and acetone, and heat to dry bond line also parked it sun for several days. Used polyurethane adhesive because it reacts with water. Worked good on smaller areas that were dryer. In larger ares where I could not get all the moisture out the adhesive foamed too much and did not bond as well. My advise is to use a good 2 part epoxy system with low viscosity. There is an old resin called water glass that was almost the viscosity as water. This can be accomplished by adding more solvent to the 2 part resin. The solvent will flash of quickly anyway leaving the epoxy. It will weaken the bond but will still be stronger than the substrate that you are bonding to. Hope this helps.
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bingford
Utah
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Joined: 09/25/2011
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Gjac wrote:I had some success using the side of a building, plywood caul plates, and car jacks to apply pressure. Drying the area to be bonded is crucial. Removed windows and used wedges and acetone, and heat to dry bond line also parked it sun for several days. Used polyurethane adhesive because it reacts with water. Worked good on smaller areas that were dryer. In larger ares where I could not get all the moisture out the adhesive foamed too much and did not bond as well. My advise is to use a good 2 part epoxy system with low viscosity. There is an old resin called water glass that was almost the viscosity as water. This can be accomplished by adding more solvent to the 2 part resin. The solvent will flash of quickly anyway leaving the epoxy. It will weaken the bond but will still be stronger than the substrate that you are bonding to. Hope this helps.
It's my understanding that Composet Products came up with a special epoxy formulation to cover all the items you decsribe. Their epoxy is based on a tried and true formulation brought over from aerospace and high end marine applications. It's not cheap, but then nothing good is ever cheap.
It's worth a look. Worked great for me.
www.delamrepair.com
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TonyMin
Walnut Creek CA
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Joined: 01/25/2005
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I am using G/flex by West Systems. They have thin and thicker versions. Their website and their technical adviser I called recommended it as it stays somewhat flexible.
As you can see in the pictures. I already have it parked next to the house. With 2x4's, wedges and sheets of plywood I can excert a lot of force for the clamping part of the project.
It is over 80F here and in my last picture you can see I have the area wide open for drying. I am replacing the rotten luan with marine plywood and will epoxy the whole sandwich together. Then I will let it sit for up to a week to cure.
As I progress I will keep this thread going with pictures. All rotten wood is being removed and replaced. Except for some small areas where I am going to try gitrot before doing the epoxy work.
'98 Shasta Cheyenne 280 highrise, widebody
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Almot
Vancouver BC
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Joined: 03/02/2010
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I really wonder whether replacing the whole thing with 1/8" or 3/16" fiberglass wouldn't be easier. 1/8" weighs about 1lb per square foot, 4x8 ft sheet will be just 32 lbs. 3/16" sheet will be about 50 lbs, though.
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punomatic
Pacific Northwest
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Joined: 08/28/2006
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larry cad wrote:...We like to use the excuse that they do it for cost, but many times it just looks like plain stupidity and you end up asking yourself, "WHY???". There is no real quality competition in the industry and folks have no choice when it comes to buying a quality unit. No matter what you buy, it is a******shoot...
One of our dear friends works at the local plant of a nationally known RV manufacturer. He complains that most of his co-workers are "drug-addicts" and "parolees." They are also paid minimum wage plus a bonus based on how many coaches they get out the door. Any questions about "stupid" construction?
Apparently, the management doesn't inspect the work or hold the employees to any particular quality standards. Our friend says he has become a pariah among his co-workers because he tries to uphold some quality standards in his crew.
DW me,Pogo(the neurotic terrier)and Lulu (the Moxie with moxie!)
1988 Hawkins Motor Coach 301Q
2008 Nissan Versa Toad
I used to work for the department of redundancy department, formerly.
Travels With Sadie
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TonyMin
Walnut Creek CA
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Joined: 01/25/2005
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Both corners are now totally dried out. The left rear corner piece needed replacing. Here is a picture of the new corner wood glued and screwed in place using the thicker G/flex. It is the consistency of honey and worked really well.
Next will be replacing some of the luan that I removed with 1/8" marine plywood and I will use the thinner G/flex with some of the thicker G/flex where I think there will be gaps between the old and the new.
I will keep updating so others might see this is doable. Not easy, but doable.
The corner will structurally be better than new. If I can get the filon to sit nice and flat it will be a total success.
I have things braced against my house to get the wall back in place.
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TonyMin
Walnut Creek CA
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Joined: 01/25/2005
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Here is a picture of the next step. The 1/8th inch marine plywood has been test fitted.
The next step is to apply the G/flex to the wall, install the plywood, coat the plywood with G/flex, and lay back the filon. Then a layer of 3/4" plywood will be braced from the house wall to the rv for pressure.
I think this is going to come out real nice. The biggest danger is gluing the temporary plywood to the outside of the filon. I will cover it in packing tape and then a layer of wax paper. Hopefully I can remove it all later.
I hope to get the gluing done in the next few days.
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Almot
Vancouver BC
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Packing tape will glue itself to the sticky side if you put it on any glue, but the other side should be alright - except that it will be glued along the edges. For small areas I use clear polyethylene grocery bags, so shrink-wrap should be alright for larger areas. Never had problems removing polyethylene film from between any glued surfaces.
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TonyMin
Walnut Creek CA
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Joined: 01/25/2005
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I thought of that so was going to do an edge overlap on the tape. Put it on the good side of the filon before doing the gluing. If any glue seeps out it should glue the tape to the temporary plywood. The plywood should then come off along with the tape leaving maybe some residue from the tape that I can take off with a solvent.
I am a bit worried about it but it's the best I can come up with since my area is rather large. Even if I use polyethylene I would have to tape the edges down.
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TonyMin
Walnut Creek CA
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Joined: 01/25/2005
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I did the gluing today. It was a huge chore. Temps were low 80's which shortened my work time. But I think it is going to come out real flat. (I hope)
Notice the 2x4's to the wall putting on the pressure. I will leave it like this for a few days.
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