Funny quip about winterizing, and a question...

[{tpc}]

So winterized the rig yesterday as the way things have been working out lately, I just don't seem to be able to find the time to make a last trip.

Anyways, I used the compressed air method, followed by antifreeze. I did this last year and things were fine, so why change, lol. I have the lines blown out, I am pumping in the antifreeze, pump stops so I had to the first faucet in the kitchen area and open the first handle. Pink stuff coming out followed by some spurts of air and stuff, when all of a sudden...pop...the gooseneck part of the faucet pops off and I have a geyser of red pop in the kitchen! LOL

Luckily, I was standing right there with my hand on the faucet, so I immediately shut it off and shut off the pump. It didn't make as big a mess as you would think, and actually was kinda funny, but would have been less funny if I had walked away at the time. It must have loosened during travel, and the threads appeared fine, so I put it back together and tightened it up and it didn't leak, so guess all is good. What a surprise though.


My question is about the front cap of my trailer. I have yet to do a final wash, but since there was some leftover bugs on the front I thought I'd quickly hit it with some detailer spray and get those off to make the final wash quicker and easier. As I was doing this I noticed a mark on one of my decals...look like a rock hit it. Except this rock must have been pretty rough or hit fairly hard, because it looked to have pierced the label down into the filon or whatever the front cap is made up of. It wasn't just a "mark".

So I took a small amount of clear silicone sealant and applied it over the mark (about 1/2 the size of the very tip of my pinky). Just to try and keep any water or anything else from soaking in there.

Any ideas on how to fix this properly? It really is a tiny little spot, and I don't think it require removing the decal and getting all crazy with it, but I don't want it to get any worse. Its on the dark part of the decal so anything I do I can probably cover up fairly easily.

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by {tpc}

My question is about the front cap of my trailer. I have yet to do a final wash, but since there was some leftover bugs on the front I thought I'd quickly hit it with some detailer spray and get those off to make the final wash quicker and easier. As I was doing this I noticed a mark on one of my decals...look like a rock hit it. Except this rock must have been pretty rough or hit fairly hard, because it looked to have pierced the label down into the filon or whatever the front cap is made up of. It wasn't just a "mark".

So I took a small amount of clear silicone sealant and applied it over the mark (about 1/2 the size of the very tip of my pinky). Just to try and keep any water or anything else from soaking in there.

Any ideas on how to fix this properly? It really is a tiny little spot, and I don't think it require removing the decal and getting all crazy with it, but I don't want it to get any worse. Its on the dark part of the decal so anything I do I can probably cover up fairly easily.

Silicone is the worst possible thing to use here. Once applied, it's virtually impossible to get it all off. Even if it's all gone to the eye, a thin coating remains on the surface. That means that nothing else will stick to the surface where the silicone was.

The best fix for something like that is the sign painter's trick. Either a dab of matching paint, or a coat or two of clear satin poly, or both.

[{tpc}]

Well since the area is small enough, I can remove as much as I can, which is very little, apply a similarly colored decal of some sort just larger than the area and then go over that with the paint.

Thanks.

[bsmith0404]

You could use a gel coat repair kit. Boat dealerships and auto parts stores have them. 2 part mix, just like epoxy and bondo. Once you have the chip filled, touch it up with a paint pen to match your decal.

[theeyres]

Guess I would do a little more research about the silicone issue. I'm not sure at all that the very small knick you are talking about would suffer at all. I'd leave it the way you fixed it with the silicone unless you can find some real research with facts saying it shouldn't be so. You may mess it up more by trying to change what you did...JMHO