Pop Up, ABS Repair and Hitch and Bumper Paint
When we brought our camper home that first fall we had it, we parked it at my brothers home in the country.
To tackle the cracks in the ABS, we ended up purchasing MEK and some airsoft bb's. I combined these is a old glass pickle jar. The MEK solvent is toxic so even though I was outside I still wore a respirator, gloves and eye protection. Cover the mixture with the lid and let it set awhile and the solvent breaks down the plastic and a goo is created. This is what the container looks like after the leftover goo hardened.
While it as workable, I used a wooden popsicle stick to stir and test it out. It took awhile to break down well. But when it did, I slapped it on the crack in the trunk and tried to smooth it out.
This did not look very good at first. But when it cured, I was able to sand it down with the palm sander and apply a bed coating.
Another project I tackeled was the hitch and bumper. There was rust and in some places bare metal.
I sanded down the bumper and applied a primer and painted it black. My brother talked me into giving it another light sanding and painting it again. There was a huge improvement in the appearance. And I repeated the same steps on the hitch.
The camper set for awhile at my brothers because I really enjoyed spending time there. It's so peaceful in the country! But when the weather started turning colder, I knew it was time to get it winterized. My husband ended up towing it to a RV place that winterized it in November. They had storage options so he had them store it inside until April.
This gave us the opportunity to look it over and for me to get his opinion about any repairs that needed to be made. There were a few things we needed to get to right away. We'd found some hairline cracks in the storage trunk and a split piece in the panel located near the bottom of the trunk. We got on the pop up portal and studied to see how others were dealing with simlar issues.
To tackle the cracks in the ABS, we ended up purchasing MEK and some airsoft bb's. I combined these is a old glass pickle jar. The MEK solvent is toxic so even though I was outside I still wore a respirator, gloves and eye protection. Cover the mixture with the lid and let it set awhile and the solvent breaks down the plastic and a goo is created. This is what the container looks like after the leftover goo hardened.
While it as workable, I used a wooden popsicle stick to stir and test it out. It took awhile to break down well. But when it did, I slapped it on the crack in the trunk and tried to smooth it out.
This did not look very good at first. But when it cured, I was able to sand it down with the palm sander and apply a bed coating.
Another project I tackeled was the hitch and bumper. There was rust and in some places bare metal.
I sanded down the bumper and applied a primer and painted it black. My brother talked me into giving it another light sanding and painting it again. There was a huge improvement in the appearance. And I repeated the same steps on the hitch.
The camper set for awhile at my brothers because I really enjoyed spending time there. It's so peaceful in the country! But when the weather started turning colder, I knew it was time to get it winterized. My husband ended up towing it to a RV place that winterized it in November. They had storage options so he had them store it inside until April.