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Motorhome body repairs South East England


firedecisions

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So my 4 year old Elddis majestic 175 went to a local garage for its annual service and they have managed to punch a hole in the side of the vehicle, they have admitted liability (bit difficult not to when my wife saw them do it) and notified their insurers.

 

Given the 10 year warranty on the body work and the way it is constructed I am looking for any recommendations to get it repaired down in Kent/East Sussex area? Have been told of West Motorhome hire in Essex, any recommendations for them?

 

I have been in contact with the dealers Marquis who have said they don't do body repairs like this - so not helpful there, but typical of Marquis so be warned if buying from them.

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Hi Fire

Have you tried looking at Marine repairs ? If it is only bodywork, they would be able to do it.

There are plenty around Sussex/Hampshire.

We had a boat repaired , a large hole, and when done you would never know it was damaged.

We also had a small hole repaired on our MH, that was done by Adams Morley fiat garage.

The main problem with body repairs , is not the actual repair, that is usually invisible after. The problem is matching the paint work, so get the whole side sprayed! and new decals

 

PJay

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See advert in MMM recipe motorhome bumpers. They are at Canvey Island,former boat repairers.They should

be able to help.Just had new rear bumper made by them, nice people to deal with and they can do all types of body repairs Contact AW Marine 01268680606 ask for Anton

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I’m doubtful that firms that are used to repairing the thick gauge of glass-fibre used in boat construction would be the best place to look for repairs to the thin GRP skin employed for motorhome body-panelling.

 

I’d initially investigate businesses advertising repairs to caravan (and/or motorhome) bodywork and there are evidently several of these in the Kent/East Sussex area. (GOOGLE on “kent caravan bodywork repair” and “east sussex caravan bodywork repair”)

 

For example:

 

https://www.caravantech.co.uk/body-repair-workshop

 

https://www.caravantech-shop.co.uk/page.php?page=body-repair-workshop#.XBKjL610fIE

 

If repairers can be identified who are felt might do a good job, forum-members may be able to comment on them based on personal experience.

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Derek Uzzell - 2018-12-13 6:27 PM

 

I’m doubtful that firms that are used to repairing the thick gauge of glass-fibre used in boat construction would be the best place to look for repairs to the thin GRP skin employed for motorhome body-panelling.

 

.

 

Derek,

 

I think you would be surprised. Down here in the Plymouth area there are a couple of marine repair firms that have a thriving secondary business of repairing motorhomes, and they have good reputations. Pauline and Mick seem to know of others in the right area for the OP. These firms are probably much more used to working with GRP and probably more willing to undertake repairs, whereas dealers are more likely to want to undertake complete panel replacement.

 

Fire needs to be sure it is GRP rather than plastic outer skin, as there are a lot of plastic panels out there now.

If it is plastic, it is best to find a firm that has a dedicated plastic repair facility and can undertake plastic welding.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

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Laurence - 2018-12-13 6:58 PM

 

...Fire needs to be sure it is GRP rather than plastic outer skin, as there are a lot of plastic panels out there now...

 

 

As far as I’m aware no motorhome manufacturer has used body-side panelling with an ABS ('plastic’) skin. Besides which the Elddis brochure relating to Fire’s motorhome highlights that it has GRP-skinned bodywork and (Dare I say it?) it’s obvious from the photos of the damage that the skin is thin GRP.

 

I didn’t suggest that a motorhome dealership undertake the repair - in fact I’d expect a dealership to subcontract the task to a specialist. I just said that I’d be looking at caravan repairers first rather than boat repairers. But as Mickt can recommend a company to carry out the repair, Fire should follow up that lead.

 

https://motorhomebumpers.com/

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Derek Uzzell - 2018-12-14 8:40 AM

 

Laurence - 2018-12-13 6:58 PM

 

...Fire needs to be sure it is GRP rather than plastic outer skin, as there are a lot of plastic panels out there now...

 

 

As far as I’m aware no motorhome manufacturer has used body-side panelling with an ABS ('plastic’) skin. /

 

Part of my Laika side panels are plastic. I know this because I had to have a repair done!

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The various types of materials employed for motorhome bodywork are referred to in this Practical Motorhome article

 

https://www.practicalmotorhome.com/advice/32255-motorhome-construction-guide

 

and, besides the ‘skinning’ of sandwich-construction body panels in aluminium or glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) there’s also “AluFiber” that comprises a thin aluminium outer skin bonded to a thin GRP underlayer and was used by Home-Car (and on Lunar Champs) and for the rear panel of some Rapido models.

 

As mentioned on the above link, instead of using GRP for motorhome moulded bodywork elements, motorhome converters began to use Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) because it’s light and provides an excellent appearance. It’s commonly used for the complete front panel of caravans but, to the best of my knowledge, has never been used for the MAIN bodywork panels (ie. the large-area side, rear or roof panels) of motorhomes.

 

There no standardisation as to what material will be used for smaller bodywork elements (eg. wheel-arches, side-skirts or bumpers) - my Rapido has ABS side-skirts and an ABS rear bumper, whereas my previous Hobby motorhome had aluminium side-skirts and a moulded GRP rear bumper. But all the Rapido’s main bodywork panels have a thin GRP skin (termed “polyester” in French camping-car parlance) like Fire’s Elddis, and all the Hobby’s main bodywork panels had an aluminium skin. It’s also fairly common nowadays for motorhomes to have aluminium-skinned side and rear main panels with the roof being GRP-skinned to provide protection against hail-damage.

 

So, while I’ve no reason to doubt that your Laika motorhome has PARTS of its bodywork made of ABS, I’d be very surprised if its main body panels involve use of that material.

 

What was the ‘plastic’ part of yoour Laika’s side bodywork that was repaired?

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I don’t think there’s much doubt that the holed body-panel of Fire’s Elddis motorhome has a GRP skin - the attached photo of the lower part of the damage clearly shows the GRP ‘strands’ that lie beneath the outer gel-coat.

 

Elddis motorhomes had aluminium-skinned body-panels until reasonably recently, but damage to an aluminium-skinned panel would look nothing like the photo.

 

Interestingly, on-line comments about ripples in Elddis motorhome roofs suggest that the roofs of current Elddis motorhome models may consist of a ‘floating’ aluminium sheet.

damage.jpg.38479f933a17d8c0fe86e7be0f0bfbc7.jpg

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Hi

 

Couple of places that do body repairs who have done work fo us but not actual body repair work.

 

Mercury RV

Conyer Road

Sittingbourne

ME9 9HH

01795 522272

 

Motorhomes Repaired

Unit 26

Lamberhurst Farm

Nr Whitstable

Kent

ME13 9EP

01227 751300

 

Suggest you vist them before proceeding.

 

Hope you get it all sorted.

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