We're in the process of replacing the aluminum skin with a fiberglass skin on our 1991 Palomino pop-up truck camper.  Over the years, the joint moldings and caulking have failed, allowing water into the camper shell and rotting out several sections.

The cabover bottom skin was built by laminating some 10 ounce fiberglass cloth to a sheet of 3/8" exterior grade plywood.  The fiberglass cloth weave was filled by applying 3 coats of catalysed West System epoxy resin spaced out every four hours.  When fully cured, the panel was block-sanded with 80 grit coarse sandpaper and primed with several rounds of Feather Fill polyester primer.  This was followed up with a final block-sanding with 100 grit sandpaper and topcoated with Sherwin-Williams urethane black primer-surfacer.

We rabbetted the panel edges with a dado blade mounted to the radial arm saw.  This will create a pocket for lapping fiberglass cloth along the panel joints.

An inline air file is an indispensable tool when fairing the fiberglass panel.

The panel was block-sanded with 180 grit sandpaper, prepped and shot with several rounds of DuPont urethane white primer-sealer.  This will make a good substrate for the final topcoat.

The camper repair was torture tested on our trip to the Glen-L Boatbuilder Gathering at Lake Nickajack, Tennessee.  No more leaks at the pop-up roof joint !   (13-SEP-2012)

Time to repair more water damage on the camper.  The passenger side box wing was replaced in 2011.  The rotted out sections in the lower section of the back wall will be repaired next. (06-SEP-2013)

The rotted framing material was removed and replaced with new wood.

A partial section of the driver side box wing (under the fridge) was cut out and replaced with 1/2" plywood skinned with a layer of 10 ounce fiberglass cloth.

The box wing interior was also covered in 10 ounce cloth. (06-SEP-2013)

The 5/8" Aspenite floor was replaced with 5/8" exterior grade plywood and covered with vinyl flooring.  The exterior skin was covered with 10 oounce fiberglass cloth.

Here we are at the Glen-L Boatbuilder Gathering at Lake Nickajack, Tenneessee, Sep 19-21 2013.  Photo was taken in the Hale's Bar and Marina RV Park. (22-SEP-2013)