Deleting camper shell side windows.

Anything goes in the world of fiberglass and plastic



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PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 4:49 am
Hi, my cousin want's to remove the side windows from his camper shell and cover the holes to make it like a window less shell. Can he use PVC flat sheet or abs plastic to cover the hole and add fiberglass over to smooth it out? He doesn't want to use just fiberglass cause it'll get pricey.

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:48 am
Fiberglass isn't going to bond very well to either of those materials especially over time with heat/cool cycling. Why not use a thin foam board or even a tri-laminate finish plyboard (that stuff is like $12 a full sheet at Home Depot) and fiberglass that in? Either of those materials will be stable when combined with fiberglass resin/matt/cloth combo.
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:42 am
Is there a specific foam board that he should get? We could just use Polyester resin right?

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 9:23 am
Polyester resins will react with most foam board. You could just get some foil faced polyisocyanurate (typically yellow foam in most big box stores) sheeting.
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 8:07 am
Hi there it's been a while, so my cousin & i never finished his project on deleting the side windows on his trucks camper shell due to getting rear end & ended up getting totaled.

For me I finally ended up finding a shell for my truck on Letgo. It came off a single cab mazda b2200, only issue is my truck is cab plus which it's 1.50" shorter & don't like the side windows design. So here's my questions, should I cut the shell 1.5" meet them together & feather the edges to blend in the fiberglass mat layers? Other question, should I use like a heavy duty masking tape on the inside & lay the fiberglass mat on the outside against the tape? Also should I use 1.5 oz or 2.0 oz mat? Here's some pictures of shell on the truck & a picture of how I want it look.

shell.jpg


shell2.jpg


720.jpg

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 12:45 pm
So if I'm getting this right.... you want to cut out a 1.5 inch section then join the remaining pieces back together? Yeah, if that's what you are doing shouldn't be too hard. I'd probably be using duct tape instead of masking tape. Tougher but can be messy to remove. Nothing gets through it though.... Difference in mat weight on something like is no deal breaker...get what's cheap and available.
If you are going for the look of that blue truck it's going to take some time and blocking out those sides so they are straight with no waves. Long blocks and guide coats will be your best friends by the end of it.
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:12 am
Already started covering window holes with hardboard & fiberglass. Just need to sand down add new gel coat. What body filler should I use over the gel coat to block down & sealer? was planning to get truck painted soon but might have to wait again, would it be bad to have primer exposed for a while?


fiberglass 1.jpg
fiberglass 2.jpg
fiberglass 3.jpg
fiberglass 4.jpg

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2017 12:09 pm
So I just want to make sure I'm talking same terms with you at this point....What I am looking at right now is just fiberglass mat and resin, right? If you are going to use a "real" gel coat over what you have there it must be an "air dry" style and not an "in-mold" type of gel coat. Normal gel coats cure in the mold and wont' cure properly in open air. If you are indeed putting a gel coat over this that will make the body filler much easier to level out. I'd guide coat the gel coat itself, do body filler, and guide coat that. If the truck is just going to set in-shop and not be driven you could get by with just about any decent grade primer. IF you plan on driving it.... the ONLY primer you can seal it with is epoxy. And at that, epoxy is prone to UV degradation. I wouldn't want it in epoxy for more than a few months at most. As for body filler....your choice...I like Evercoat Rage Ultra and a lot of guys like the Marson Platinum (that is now a 3 M product). Hey, just curious, are those rivets, staples, screws around the perimeters of these panels?
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 12:29 am
I added hardboard on the inside & added layers of fiberglass chop mat. Im going to sand down all the old gelcoat from the shell due to never had been painted & have some cracks. The gelcoat im using is i believe air dry gelcoat its from fiberglasssite. I didn't add rivets,staples or screws on the perimeter, its sharpy marks to know where to add the fiberglass. Just brushed polyester resin on the hardboard & added 2x4s on the back to add pressure.

I was planning on driving the truck with primer exposed but heard that its bad cause it'll get moisture.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:54 am
Good, yeah, that's all fine right there. If you got it from fiberglasite it is the right stuff. I would not be inclined to remove all that factory gel coat. Simply repair the cracks in the gel coat and feather out. Factory gel coats were applied "evenly" in the mold and will require a lot less blocking and trying to level if you just sand it all off. When you sand off a gel coat like that you unevenly cut into the underlying mat/cloth and it can be a bear to try and re-establish a flat even surface. I'd just make sure it was clean/degreased and sand it back to 400 grit or so.
The reason I recommended an epoxy primer is that it will not take on moisture and you could indeed drive it for awhile. When it comes time to move on to paint you would then clean/degrease it, scuff or sand it up good, apply another coat of epoxy (thinned as sealer) and go with your high build primer and paint system.
Oh, yeah, and I just wanted to make sure those sharpie marks weren't any type of metal that could heat load under the fiberglass. Also, loose the sharpie and pick up a china bowl marker or grease stick. The sharpies have the old india ink them which can easily bleed up through some paints.
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