notsobigjoe
southeast
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adamis wrote:No, the fiberglass itself is in good condition. It is just bulging out. Below is a photo that shows what is happening. The bulge is larger than it appears in the photo, the lighting was less than ideal to show it properly but essentially it continues to just below the pass through window.
I did get a response from Grant at Bigfoot and this is what he said.
This is the basement. The bottom horizontal under the main floor is glass in support walls.
The upper walls are glued in with 2 vertical plywood strips up each side of the 4 ft wide center section.
Seems like the bond above floor level gave way from the plywood.
Grant
So there is wood in it. That explains everything.
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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I’m no camper expert and idk what I’m looking at in the second to last pic, but if that’s where the issue is from the back side then idk why one would attack it from the front side.
Also as a structural engineer and part time gear head, it still seems highly unlikely that a bit of sag (can you even see a belly across the front edge of the tub when sitting on jacks?) up front would rack the back enough unless you’re compensating with one front jack for an entire camper that is twisting.
Try the first. Put camper on jacks then put a solid support under it just across the front edge, like a saw horse. Put the front camper weight largely on the support and not the jacks. If that fixes it, then I’m quite likely wrong and it may fix the door issue.
But please stop using the “it’s cheaper than $50k for a new camper” thing. That is wholly an excuse used by those who are unable to compare apples to apples. Guys do it with trucks all the time…. “$10-15k for new everything is cheaper than a new $80k diesel…” well no shart Sherlock. Now compare it apples to apples….lol. Lots of good trucks and campers that don’t have issues/have low miles that aren’t $50 or $80k…. It’s just a flawed means to justify significant expense.
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
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mbloof
Beaverton, OR
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Ahh... this sort of thing happens to both Bigfoot and Northern Lite campers - the area you have circled is part of what folks call the "T-Wall".
Forgetting for the moment that fiberglass with the proper thickness and properly saturated with resin all the way through (it is my understanding that both companies "blow" fiberglass and spray resin into/on the insides of their molds - not an exacting method) is "HARD like a boat hull" and would rather BREAK or CRACK rather than "bubble" or "bulge", both Bigfoot and Northern Lite at times (~1/2 dozen NL's have reported the issue over the years) seem to have difficulty getting enough fiberglass+resin in this critical vertical section of their molds resulting in just that - ether what owners describe as a "bulge" or "bubble" in the front vertical wall of the lower section of their campers!
There have been a number of different DIY "fixes" or "work-a-rounds" for this issue posted in the various forums over the years generally involving removal of the 'pass through window' and most/all that is directly behind the wall and ether injecting resin or glue and/or adding plywood/metal sheet and/or using clamps through the window to squeeze both sides until the resin/glue cures and reassembling the inside of the camper and reinstalling the window.
One owner was able to snake a tube to dispense resin/glue into the wall section (between the fiberglass and insulation) and was able to clamp the bulge so that it was flat and then upon removal of the clamp was able to reassemble without to much of a tear down disassembly of that area of the inside of the camper.
I think one owner was still within their structural warranty period and took their camper to the factory for repair.
Thankfully both companies are generally good at fiberglass+resin coating their molds and out of the all the units ether company has shipped over the years there have not been a large number of campers having this failure.
- Mark0
(owner of a 2014 NL 9.6)
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adamis
Northern California
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mbloof wrote:Ahh... this sort of thing happens to both Bigfoot and Northern Lite campers - the area you have circled is part of what folks call the "T-Wall".
Forgetting for the moment that fiberglass with the proper thickness and properly saturated with resin all the way through (it is my understanding that both companies "blow" fiberglass and spray resin into/on the insides of their molds - not an exacting method) is "HARD like a boat hull" and would rather BREAK or CRACK rather than "bubble" or "bulge", both Bigfoot and Northern Lite at times (~1/2 dozen NL's have reported the issue over the years) seem to have difficulty getting enough fiberglass+resin in this critical vertical section of their molds resulting in just that - ether what owners describe as a "bulge" or "bubble" in the front vertical wall of the lower section of their campers!
There have been a number of different DIY "fixes" or "work-a-rounds" for this issue posted in the various forums over the years generally involving removal of the 'pass through window' and most/all that is directly behind the wall and ether injecting resin or glue and/or adding plywood/metal sheet and/or using clamps through the window to squeeze both sides until the resin/glue cures and reassembling the inside of the camper and reinstalling the window.
One owner was able to snake a tube to dispense resin/glue into the wall section (between the fiberglass and insulation) and was able to clamp the bulge so that it was flat and then upon removal of the clamp was able to reassemble without to much of a tear down disassembly of that area of the inside of the camper.
I think one owner was still within their structural warranty period and took their camper to the factory for repair.
Thankfully both companies are generally good at fiberglass+resin coating their molds and out of the all the units ether company has shipped over the years there have not been a large number of campers having this failure.
- Mark0
(owner of a 2014 NL 9.6)
Thanks for the great insight. Do you have any links you can point me to that would show some of these other repairs? Would be great to get some ideas on what others have done.
1999 F350 Dually with 7.3 Diesel
2000 Bigfoot 10.6 Camper
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mbloof
Beaverton, OR
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please delete.
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mbloof
Beaverton, OR
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adamis wrote:
Thanks for the great insight. Do you have any links you can point me to that would show some of these other repairs? Would be great to get some ideas on what others have done.
Sorry but no.
You might check the different groups on Facebook. I've seen a number of posts in both the NL groups there and on a search see there is a 1/2 dozen or more BF groups there that may (or not have) posts about it.
Since I don't have a BF I've never joined one of these groups.
- Mark0.
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3 tons
NV.
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Assuming you know where the wood substrate is, what I might consider is drilling a small hole (or several) thru the FG and re-gluing…Small holes might then be fiberglassed over using a small area FG repair kit available at West Marine… Either way, that’s quite an ambitious repair you’re taking on!!
3 tons
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adamis
Northern California
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3 tons wrote:Assuming you know where the wood substrate is, what I might consider is drilling a small hole (or several) thru the FG and re-gluing…Small holes might then be fiberglassed over using a small area FG repair kit available at West Marine… Either way, that’s quite an ambitious repair you’re taking on!!
3 tons
Yeah, I've thought about this method as well. Going to the shop today to see what the guy says about it and will report back with what he says.
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HMS Beagle
Napa, California
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Most of the walls of a Bigfoot are fiberglass, glued to foam insulation/core, followed by 1/8" luan on the inside. This makes the "sandwich". Around the basement it is thicker plywood rather than foam. I've never been inside the front bulkhead, but if Bigfoot says it is plywood then it probably is.
The difference between this and boat construction is the use of contact cement. On a boat, the fiberglass would be directly laid up on the plywood (or foam), bonding to it with the resin. In some methods, the core is added after lamination using a wet bonding agent (like thickened resin). You will never see contact adhesive used for this purpose in a boat (well, perhaps a very, very cheaply built one).
The difficulty this creates when trying to fix delamination is that both surfaces (inside of fiberglass and surface of core) are covered with (failed) contact adhesive to which nothing will stick, except perhaps more contact adhesive. More contact adhesive will have solvents in it that may melt and reactivate the failed adhesive, or it may just make a mess. In a boat, the first attempt at repair is usually to inject epoxy into the void through small holes and clamp it together again. Epoxy will not stick to the adhesive in this case. The second attempt in a boat is to cut the delaminated skin off so the surfaces can be prepared, then either relaminate new glass, or bond the cut out piece back, then scarf the joint. That is a lot more work because of the finish work required. If the core is rotted due to water intrusion, then the core has to be removed to the edge of the rot and replaced with new.
if you have time, repairs of this sort aren't rocket science, the only hard part is the finish work to make it look new again. The bulkhead isn't that visible, so maybe a less than perfect job would be acceptable there.
I am surprised that you cannot get the door open on the jacks. For sure one thing that can happen is you can cross load the jacks, twisting the shell which will distort the door frame and bind the door. You can keep that from happening by watching the lower corner of the door carefully as you raise the jacks to keep the margin between door and frame the same on the side and bottom. The movement is fairly obvious.
Bigfoot 10.4E, 2015 F350 6.7L DRW 2WD, Autoflex Ultra Air Ride rear suspension, Hellwig Bigwig sway bars front and rear
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