Exterior siding damaged by vehicle; looking for suggestions for how to repair.

[grrrrraham]

Hi all, our camper recently got a hole put into the side of it by a another vehicle's rear-mounted bike box.

There are two holes in the side of the camper, one quite small and one a bit larger. I'd like to repair this myself. I'm not concerned with making it look perfect or even the same as it used to look. Primary objective is to just make it watertight again.

Pics are attached.

Thank you all for any and all suggestions.

 

[Tarkus]

OUCH! What is the outer skin material, the white stuff?
ABS, paint, aluminum?

It doesn't look like any real structural damage, but hard to really tell.
To me it looks like popcorn paint on thin plywood. I would clean it up and blend in thin sheet plywood for starters, using Gorilla glue, then apply a good primer and paint to match. You may be able to match the texture using a large natural sponge.

I would also suggest searching on line how boats or wood canoes are repaired. My guess is it would be very similar.

 

[Dugk44]

That looks like frp paneling, they stock sheets of white and almond at home depot.

 

[grrrrraham]

Thanks for your replies. At first I too thought it was FRP but I looked into FRP and they state its not meant for outdoor use—can get brittle and yellowed.

I routered off a couple bits and I have attached photos. It looks like 1/8" Luan or particle board with a fairly robust white plasticky coating glued to the board. It could very well be FRP but it's quite thin maybe a big 1/32" or so.

The photos show a piece of the wood and plastic coating as one piece plus some of the wood and plastic coating separated.

 

[SheaLoner]

Do you want it to match? Easiest at this point would be to use a piece of thin plywood to patch the panel and coat it with something to waterproof.

 

[Mark60]

By some bondo with fiberglass at auto parts store and fill her up sand and fog in the spots with paint

 

[xxxapache]

I'd probably seal it with bondo or eternbond tape then then cover it with some kinda vent like a soffit vent or similar.

 

[Ladiesman]

That is FRP the same as they use in refrigerated trailers or some bathrooms that apears to be glued to luan. You can actually buy 4x8 sheets at Menards. They make patch kits we used to use them on trailers its a two part epoxy type stuff and you press the pebbled texture in it once its applied with a sheet that comes with it. You can find it online. I think the company was Key polymers If I remember correctly. That stuff works and is water tight.

 

[JiffyPopJunkie]

Go to the corner and take the STOP sign. It will cover the holes and maybe prevent the next person from backing into it!

 

[grrrrraham]

Do you want it to match? Easiest at this point would be to use a piece of thin plywood to patch the panel and coat it with something to waterproof.

not at all worried about it matching, no... just curious though what would you use to coat it?

 

[SheaLoner]

not at all worried about it matching, no... just curious though what would you use to coat it?

Bondo. Or sometypr of fiberglass.
100% agree with the stop sign Idea. Do that.

 

[TimAZ]

Many choices for repair, but I’d skip the Gorilla glue because it’s not for outdoor use. Exterior plywood, marine-grade epoxy, and Bondo for filler would be my choices for the materials.

 

[GalsofEscape]

so why is the other vehicle's insurance not taking care of this?

 

[grrrrraham]

Thanks all for your ideas. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet but will definitely be taking all of your tips to heart when the time comes to repair. For now I have some 6mil plastic and duct tape protecting the area.

One thought I had was taking the panel out of the door and using part of that as a patch. Then I can just replace the door panel with anything really and it won't look too out of place.

If I'm patching the ABS-lined wood with part of the door panel's ABS-lined wood, would you still use Bondo to fill the gaps? Or would caulking do the trick too?

 

[grrrrraham]

so why is the other vehicle's insurance not taking care of this?

They are friends of ours. It's likely going to cost $50-100 to fix this and they will cover the cost. 100% not worth bringing insurance into this..