crack in outside motorhome wall

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don7299

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2017
Posts
6
The ouutside wall of my motorhome has cracked from the refrig. access door all the way to the roof. I am thinking of cutting it out and replacing wall with Filon material. Has anyone done this and or how would you do it?
 
First find the reason for the crack. Often times you see small stress cracks, bit yours sounds more like frame damage.
 
The crack is only on the outside, interior wall is OK. Don't see any other issues. The crack started after extreme cold weather and them the sun hit the sidewall. I live in northern NM. The motorhome as lived most of its like in Florida and Texas. There is some signs of moisture damage in other areas but not here. I took a router and cut away the outside gell coat and re-fiberglassed the crack. Crack reappeared next to the repair the next year after another cold freezing spell and then the sun hitting it. I used to work with fiberglass in the Boat repair business. Its go me baffled.
 
by the way, this is on a National Islander 40ft on a Country Coach Chasses . Thanks for any inputs.
 
Extreme temperature and humidity variations can impact outside finishing, for sure. Maybe some pictures of the cracks would help to better diagnose the issue.
 
Just went out and took a couple. See attached. Thanks
 

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I'm no expert, but looking at the pictures it appears the outer skin has completely cracked in a large "U" My first priority would be to seal the cracks to prevent any water ingress. Unless there has been some sort of external impact, I would definitely think that there is some serious structural issues to be addressed.
 
I am wondering what year your Islander is as I believe that National RV had a bunch of materials problems involving exterior walls a few years before they went into bankruptcy in 2007. I did some exploring on the internet but was unable to find anything about those problems but there was a lot published at one time.
 
Won't argue that point. It is a 2001. It was in storage, under a carport, for 2 years as the couple I bought it from lost there health and could not use it. Did not have any problems with it until the first winter, February, that I brought it up to NM. I repaired the only Crack on the right hand side and traveled up through Colorado all summer and was good. Then that next, past winter, both cracks appeared also in February. I'm thinking it just doesn't like the COLD. LOL.
 
I would at this point find someone who could Xray the wall looking for structural damage. Especially since you say you attempted a repair once already.
 
OK guys, I'm back. had some other projects that needed my attention first. Did a little more research and found that he braces are actually steel. there are none in this area, close but not thru this area. The other side of the motorhome is the exact same configuration, no cracks there either. There are no cracks in the inside wall behind the cabinets. The only time this crack happened, twice now is during the winter when the temp drops below freezing at night and then the sun hits it the next day. Weird, there is no problem that i can detect at the roof line either. I am still open to any suggestions. Thanks for the follow-up guys.
 
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