HELP!!

I've been told that the severe blistering on the exterior storage area doors of my '87 32' Regal SE is due to electrolysis! I'm told that it cannot be stopped. Love this rig and am hoping that there is a solution to this problem.
Can this corrosion be stopped? Is there any chance that the coach's body frame is being compromised?

Appreciate any suggestions...

Tim

The blistering is filal or filialform corrosion - it's not electrolysis. It's pretty much restricted to the interface between the paint and the aluminum, and is essentially surface corrosion caused by incomplete prep before painting. It may spread a bit, but all it'll do is blister the paint.

Other than affecting the appearance, it's benign. My Barth has several places where this is occurring, and I plan to leave it alone.

Rusty,

Thank you for your reply! The diagnosis I got for my Barth had me wondering what the next year or two was going to bring. For 20 years old, this rig has really held up, now I know that it isn't going to crumble underneath!
Thanks for your help!

Tim

You're most certainly welcome!

There's a useful thread here.

quote:

Originally posted by tim S.:
Appreciate any suggestions...

I'm going to cut the two bottom corners and pull out the strip that holds the panel in. I'll cut up another white panel and slide this all back together again. Then I'll reweld the lower channel back into place. This was suggested to me by a fellow Barthmobile member "Carl H Buckstad". He did this to his coach and said (I didn't see it) it came out nice, so, I'm going to do it too.

Will post pictures after I "Get around to doing it".

Bill N.Y.

It's more than simply surface corrosion. It has penetrated the skin in three places on one of my doors. I repaired it the auto body shop way last year & it didn't hold. Now I've got to pry the Bondo out as well as refinish, refill & repaint.

I've already bought the Alumaprep & Alodine. When my new spot sandblaster gun arrives I'll sandblast with soft media & do the job right.

I'm lucky that of 7 large doors, only one is badly infected, & one more developed a small spot over the winter. The rest are OK. If the Alumaprep/Alodine/sandblast route doesn't hold, I'll have to replace the one skin.

This is a common problem with these Barths, but compared to the fall-apart problems of similarly aged & newer SOB's, it's a minor annoyance.

Overall, given proper equipment & skills, the method suggested by Bill N.Y. is quicker, easier, & probably cheaper than my shade tree solution.

Furthermore, the problem has nothing to do with overall structural integrity, nor do the instances where rivets corrode where the aluminum is riveted to steel substrates. A hardware store pop rivet gun & an electric drill make short work of those.

olroy, if you've has the doors apart, I'd like to know what the core's made of (mine are quite heavy) - if it's wood, there could be some moisture that'e causing galvanic corrosion. It's on the basement door frames where the filiform is worst.

I don't have the doors apart, but there are holes large enough to disclose that the substrate is plywood. The wood next to the corrosion is fibrous, probably also the result of galvanism. Wood will deteriorate from galvanic corrosion, too. I've dealt with that, as well as a lot of rot, on old wooden boats.

I'm sure what I have is indeed galvanic corrosion. What is strange is it only severely effects one door, & the noted small spot on one other. I have no evidence of the filiform corrosion you describe on your door frames, but I have replaced a lot of corroded rivets, & each trip seems to disclose a few more.

Along the top of the door I ran a strip of closed cell foam weatherstrip that squeezes against the door frame when it closes, & I'll run a bead of sealant around the inside door panel in hope of halting the water intrusion.

I had all my storage doors re skinned by an aluminum fabricator. Cost was about $65.00 a door as I recall and it was all over in one day. Plywood cores were still fairly sound. Storage doors was the only place there was any corrosion but it was fairly bad there.

Tomorrow I'm gonna drill holes in the under edge of my doors to let out any water.

My one bad door already has holes along the bottom. I haven't checked the others. Had no reason to inspect them. I'll do it next time I get up to the Barth.

Last night at a traffic light I pulled up next to a 20' straight truck with box van body. The box had a small access door in the front side corner that was absolutely identical to my Barth storage doors - down the the hinges, perimeter extrusion, mounting, latches, cladding, finish, etc....only difference was dimensions.

....Tried to get van box manufacturer's name as we pulled away, but with rain & adjacent agressive driver it was a no-go......

...Maybe Bill NY or another trucking pro could follow-up regarding the fabricator...might be a source of OEM knock-offs for Barth doors.

I visited All-Rite in Conway GA on my last trip, to see if they had a stock ladder for my Breakaway (they don't), but the sign there said something to the effect they specialize in parts for older motorhomes, and there was a lot of aluminum shapes in the shop.

Actually, looking at the basement door construction, total refurb would be easy for anyone relatively handy. The only real work would be prepping for repainting and the color coats. If I have to do that, I think I'd go for unicellular rigid foam instead of plywood.

I'm presently trying to fix the bay door corrosion on our 95 Regal 28'. I've talked to Dave B. about it and read the string on this forum.
I started sanding and then grinding the pox off the doors and then filled with epoxy. By the way mine also has plywood cores. After sanding the epoxy and leaving for the night , I'd come back in the Morning to new blisters..rather frustrating. I also wondered why I only have the pox on some doors and not others...on a hunch I got a strong magnet and checked the hinges on all the doors. As expected, the hinges on the affected doors are steel..the unaffected doors are something else, probably brass or maybe aluminum. So before proceeding any further I'm going to attempt to replace the steel hinges with brass if I can find ones with the correct hole spacing.
If anyone has noticed this , I'd like to know as I have not heard of this before. Any hints will be gratefully appreciated.


Thanks
Greg Hamilton
Burnsville, MN
95 Regal 28'

Burnsville, MN

quote:

Originally posted by gregH:
I'm presently trying to fix the bay door corrosion on our 95 Regal 28'. I've talked to Dave B. about it and read the string on this forum.

Any hints will be gratefully appreciated.

Try reading this to see if it's something you want to tackle.

DIY:Lower Compartment Doors