Cracking panels

[Rectumfire]

Hi folks. I own a 2011 Keystone Outback Sydney Edition (325FRE) In the last 3 years my front panels around the pinbox and front storage compartment door have developed cracks. Keystone says the panels are no longer available. I dont believe the issue to be structural. Anybody else have experience with this ?

[wiredgeorge]

The plastic panel in the 2nd pic is just a plastic panel and there is nothing structural about it. It just covers the pin box for the sake of pretty. Hard to tell where on the front the first picture is showing.... is this the panel that your front compartment sits in? There isn't much stress on either of these panels so can't help much. Some folks have been known to put a sheet of diamond plate over messed up fronts on travel trailers. You could use pop rivets.

[Rectumfire]

I agree. I dont think its structural. The other 2 pics are from around the front compartment door. One commenter on another group said his was parked at site since purchase and never moved. He had the same cracking issues. Not sure why my pictures are sideways in the post.

[JRTJH]

Welcome to the forum. What you have is cracked FILON sheeting (or a similar plastic sheeting). It is not structural, but in the current condition, water intrusion is going to be an issue sooner rather than later. If you tow in rain, you can expect the insulation under the front overhang to get wet, start to mold and lose its ability to keep the trailer warm/cool depending on the temperature. It's more than just an appearance issue, but not a structural issue, at least not yet.

FILON sheeting is used on many, maybe even most RV's since aluminum siding has gone out of style.

There are several grades of FILON sheeting, starting with the type with visible fibers on the surface, a "mid grade" with a smoother surface and a "top grade" which is similar to what's in your photos. You can read about the grades of FILON here: https://cranecomposites.com/cci-rv/filon/

It's going to be a "labor intensive but not skill demanding job" to replace the panels (it looks like it was installed as two separate panels, one on the front of the lower part with the access hatch and another under the bedroom area and around the pinbox)...

The "labor intensive part is going to be removing the moldings along the front sides of the trailer, the access door and the pinbox enclosure, cleaning them and then installing the new FILON sheets and getting them trimmed/sealed properly after which you'll need to reinstall the "cleaned and prepped" aluminum moldings.

Plan on "working on your head, while twisted like a pretzel" so you'll need a lot of hot showers and aleve or Advil in the evenings. It's a challenge, but the FILON is available at most RV parts and service centers as well as online.

As an "alternative" that may not give you satisfactory results, but worth mentioning, is the new, "plastic diamond plate". There are some self adhesive types that you can "peel and stick" to the existing cracked panels. Depending on your preparation efforts, how "professional you want it to look when finished" and how closely you want to keep the "factory OEM look", you might take a look at "self adhering diamond plate".

[Rectumfire]

Thank you. Im pretty sure im going to end up repairing this myself. A little bummed about the piece around the pinbox as it has moldings in it that i wont be able to replicate.