Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

So, first major damage to our 12-year-old woody. Coming home from camping today on a very rutted, rocky road, managed to pull a fender bolt all the way out of the wall of the tear. It is 3/4" solid birch plywood walls with multiple coats of epoxy followed by 4 coats of spar varnish. We will be doing the repair, as we figure since we built the thing, we can repair it. Looking for any suggestions and ideas on how to repair this awful, making me cry damage.

Ouch! I don't have any ideas of how to fix the plywood but I think there are some epoxy putty products out there that will do the job. I'm thinking there are folks here that can help out there with the right product and technique.

Once repaired, if it were my TD, I would have a welding shop cut half moon shapes from aluminum or SS plate to fit on the outside under the fender and another inside against the wall to reinforce that repair. Maybe 1/8" thick on both sides would be enough to make it look good again and beef it up. If you go this route have enough cut for both fenders. Of course you want to be sure the outside plate allows for tire clearance.

If the plate follows the profile of your fender but just a bit proud of the fender's mounting edge it will look like it was meant to be there. Good luck!

What does the inside look like? If it was me I'd try to use a large washer like plate and the same bolt. I'd clean the outside up and press it back together testing it out. Then again with epoxy, peal ply and a large plate washer outside. Reinforcement as suggested above would be a good idea also.

I would set up a router with a plunge base & inlay a solid block into the bad area (3/4" plywood shaped to fit). After that, set it with epoxy to glue it in the hole, then re-glass the bad spot & refinish it. It will take a bit of time, but the bad spot is inside the fender, so no biggie once it's glassed & re-finished.

Agree about putting some type of metal between the exterior skin & the fender for an extra layer of protection. Must have been a big rock or snag to have pulled the bolt like that through the entire wall! Our fenders are welded in place, but I still added a piece of diamond plate to the wheel well to protect the inner area of the fender from rocks & road trash.

I would do a stepped repair. It would take longer but be a lot stronger that just cutting out and replace. What I would do would be to cut the bad area out squarish with rounded corners. Then take a router and route out half way thru the surface about 2 or 3 inches out from the edge. Even better would be to do this on the inside but that would be a lot harder. Then I would take the "patch" that is cut to the size of the routed area and rout it to fit. So basically creating a scarf joint all the way around the patch, this gives you 2 or 3 inches of glue joint all the way around.

The re finish to match the rest of the trailer, then find a way to plate the inside bolt to stop it from happening again.

Bolting my fenders on Yesterday, This was a Night mare going trough my mind
Cut the broken stuff out and get back to us looks ez. I Forgot the woody part!


Smooth outside what's inside

Weren't you planning to build another one this is a great reason to build one or two more. After your repair . don't like the look could add some accents around the base. Flames would be cool but someone might think your trailer was on fire

Danny's suggestion of a clamp gave me an idea. It's a little easier than using a long clamp and uses an easily plugged hole or two to let you use a small clamp. Grab one or more of this type of clamp. This is just a cheap Harbor Freight model.



Grind the retainer button off the end so the clamp will come apart.



Now drill a strategically placed hole or holes (3/4" for this clamp) to run the end of the clamp through the wall and reattach the clamp screw end. With a backup piece of plywood or plate steel you will be able to squeeze the wound. Add your epoxy or other repair material between waxed paper and the wound will come out nice and flat and ready to sand smooth. Plug the hole you drilled with the appropriate wood dowel.

Ideally the hole you drill will be hidden in the wheel well below the fender. More than one clamp may be required to get the compression pressure you need. I hope you can follow this thought.

A little surprised to see only 3 mounting bolts. I would recommend 5 per fender. Hope all goes well with the repair!

TimC wrote:Danny's suggestion of a clamp gave me an idea. It's a little easier than using a long clamp and uses an easily plugged hole or two to let you use a small clamp. Grab one or more of this type of clamp. This is just a cheap Harbor Freight model.

Now drill a strategically placed hole or holes (3/4" for this clamp) to run the end of the clamp through the wall and reattach the clamp screw end.

Neat idea Tim! Lot's of possibilities besides the immediate issue.

Tom

Wondering a few things about this job.
Do you have steel of plastic mudguards (fenders)?
Looks like the bolts were fairly big?
How did the repair go?