On a recent trip I noticed the motor box on our 2004 Bounder seemed to be getting soft. I didn't pay enough attention untill I stepped on it causing it to give a lot and it was obvious something was wrong. The moter cover is located between the passenger and drive seats. It is difficlut to get into the driver seat without stepping on it. I removed the carpeting and found some very serious cracks. I tried to remove the box but it was going to take a lot of work. I decide to brance it on the back side with angle iron and put a couple of layers of fiberglass matting on the top.
Has anyone else have this problem and if so how did you fix yours?
35 ft Bounder
towing 2003 Honda CRV
Herb Wilkerson
A piece of 3/8 or 1/2 plywood cut to follow the contours of the vertical surface will be a lot stronger. You could carpet over it, paint, varnish, etc.
A large relatively thin and flat area of fiberglass has a lot of flex, even putting a couple of layers of mat over it won't last long. The angle reinforcement will concentrate the downward force to the bolt locations. Without large washers and reinforcement they will fail quickly.
Another vote for plywood. You didn't say where the cracks were in the doghouse, but I'm guessing across the flatter areas. If you can get it outside the unit and sandwich with close fitting 3/8" plywood, you should be able to dance on it. If the cracks are closer to the corners, angle reinforcement with fiberglass anchoring will probably be better. Let us know, or show some pics.
Old 78 SRW F350 w/460 54 miles pulling a new(to us)98 28 foot citation 5'er
If it were me, I would remove the doghouse and do the fiberglass repairs from the bottom. It will keep the crack from getting worse and spreading. I have never seen a doghouse that was very hard to remove. Some just have few screws around the base and my Winnebago just had a latch in rear that could be turned with a allen wrench to open. Then I would cover the bottom of the doghouse with the heat and sound insulation kit and you would have a first class repair.
Ron & Libby Gordon
07 Ford F350 Dually Tow Boss Diesel
07 Mobile Suites 38RL3 #3698
02 Winnebago Adventurer 35U V10 (Former RV)
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow
Also be very careful if you use polyester resin for the fiberglassing inside your RV. Aside from the potential mess, the fumes are hazardous to breathe. At least they were with the resins of ~15 years ago. One of the manufacturing processes labs that I developed was one where the students made a simple part from f'glass & cheap resin. We always did it outside, and had a few box fans scattered around if it was a calm day.
Jim, "Mo' coffee"
'06 Tiger CX 'C Minus' on a Silverado 2500HD 4x4, 8.1 & Allison ('Loafer's Glory'); '07 Forester 2.5 ( the 'HANDBSKT'); '95 Toyota SR5 V-6 4x4 pickup, ARB locker, Bilsteins, Warn hubs & M8000, etc;
'94 968, M030 swaybars ('DOPPLER')
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. If the cracks are closer to the corners, angle reinforcement with fiberglass anchoring will probably be better. Let us know, or show some pics.
