# Fiberglass Panel Replacement: Cost, Hours and Process in Hacienda Heights Fiberglass panel replacement removes a laminated wall or skin section and installs new stock in its place. It is the correct answer when the existing skin is crazed or cracked across a wide area, when the substrate behind it has failed, or when a delaminated panel cannot be pulled flat by injection. ## Specifications - Price band: $1,500 to $15,000 - Shop hours: 10 to 70 hours - Turnaround tier: Structural - Insurance billable: yes - Parts lead time: 15 to 40 business days for OEM laminated sidewall stock, longer on discontinued floorplans, in house layup where stock is unavailable - OEM brands: Filon, Crane Composites, Lamilux, Lippert, Alpha Systems, ITW Plexus ## When a laminated wall gets replaced instead of repaired We would rather repair a panel than replace one, because repair is faster and cheaper and does not depend on a supply chain. There is a line past which repair is a deferral you pay for twice, and this leaf exists for the coaches on the wrong side of it. The clearest trigger is area. A void or a crazed field that covers most of a panel has no sound laminate left to bond a repair to, and a repair that large is a full skin of overlapping patches with a stiffness discontinuity at every boundary. The second trigger is the substrate. If the luan comes away in wet plies and the framing behind it is corroded, the skin has to come off regardless, and once it is off the question is simply whether the old skin is worth putting back. The third trigger is repair history. A panel carrying two previous layups has already been ground thin twice and has two boundaries where the next crack will start. A third repair in the same panel is money we will tell you not to spend. ## The OEM channel for laminated stock and what waiting actually costs This is where the parts channel becomes the whole job. Exterior RV skin is not a generic material. The common stock is gel coated fiberglass reinforced sheet, and in this market that means Filon or Lamilux from Crane Composites, or a Lippert laminated wall assembly where the manufacturer sourced a complete panel rather than the sheet. Alpha Systems supplies much of the adhesive and sidewall material behind it. Lead time on that stock is 15 to 40 business days in normal conditions. It is longer on a discontinued floorplan and longer again on a color or texture that has been superseded, because a gel coated sheet is made to a batch and the batch you need may no longer be run. That is not a shop delay and there is no expediting it. It is a manufacturing calendar. The practical implication for a Hacienda Heights owner: if you need the coach for a specific trip, tell us at intake. There is often a sequencing option where the substrate work happens first, the opening gets closed weathertight, and the panel goes on once stock lands. That splits the downtime into two shorter stays rather than one long one, and it is a decision that has to be made before the order goes in rather than after. - Gel coated Filon sheet, the common replacement for a painted or gel coat sidewall - Lamilux high gloss sheet where the original finish was a gel coat gloss - Lippert laminated wall assembly where the coach used a complete factory panel - Alpha Systems sidewall material and structural adhesive - ITW Plexus methacrylate where a bonded joint has to carry load immediately - In house layup on a mold or pattern where no stock exists at any lead time ## Laying up a panel here when the factory no longer sells one Plenty of coaches on the road are twenty five years old and the company that built them either no longer exists or no longer supports the floorplan. For a flat sidewall that is not a problem, because sheet stock is cut to size. For a curved skirt, a wheel well surround, a compartment surround or a contoured lower panel, there is nothing to buy at any lead time, and the answer is fabrication. The process is to take a pattern off the coach or off the damaged part, build a plug and pull a mold, then lay up a new part in that mold in polyester with a gel coat surface. It is slower than ordering and it is not cheap, but it is the only path on a part that does not exist, and the mold stays here, which matters on a coach where the same panel has failed on both sides. We are honest about where this makes sense. Fabricating a curved lower panel for a 1998 diesel pusher with a sound interior and good drivetrain is money well spent. Fabricating the same panel for a coach that also has a failing roof and a soft floor is not, and we will show you the total before you commit to the first piece of it. ## Bonding new stock to the frame, and the pressure that decides whether it lasts A replacement panel is not fastened on. It is bonded, and the bond is the part that determines whether you are back here in five years. The framing gets cleaned to bare material, the adhesive is spread at the rate the system specifies rather than by eye, and the panel goes down under even pressure across its whole area while the adhesive cures. Even pressure is the hard part on a coach. A panel clamped at the edges bridges in the middle and leaves an unbonded field that becomes delamination on schedule. We use vacuum where the geometry allows it and battened cauls across the panel where it does not, and the coach stays still for the whole open time and cure window. Joints matter as much as the field. A new panel meeting an existing one gets a scarfed and bonded joint under a batten rather than a butt seam under sealant, because a butt seam is a hinge and a hinge in a sidewall telegraphs through paint within a season. Where the panel edge lands under a trim rail or an awning rail, that hardware comes off and goes back on fresh butyl rather than being worked around. ## Hours, lead time and the order the work has to happen in The band on this page runs from a single flat skirt section at the low end to a full height sidewall section with substrate and framing work at the top. Labor is $210 per hour across ten to seventy hours. Parts carry the posted markup schedule, and a special order laminated panel takes a full deposit at order because it is cut and shipped to your coach and cannot be returned to stock. Sequence is what keeps the calendar honest. Teardown and moisture reading first, because the panel size cannot be ordered until the boundary of the bad substrate is known. Then the order goes in and the 15 to 40 business day clock starts. Substrate, framing and core work happen during that window rather than after it, so the coach is not sitting idle waiting on a truck. Panel bond, cure, fairing and refinish close it out. Total downtime is three to eight weeks on most of these, and the majority of that is the parts clock and the cure windows rather than labor hours. If the panel is being fabricated here instead of ordered, the mold work adds one to three weeks depending on how complex the curve is. ## Not included - We do not bond a new panel onto framing that reads wet or onto a corroded stud. Substrate work happens first. - Interior wall panel, cabinet and trim reconstruction is quoted as interior work rather than as part of this line. - We do not laminate panels at a customer location. Adhesive open time and clamp pressure both require a controlled bay. ## Questions **How much does replacing a section of RV sidewall cost?** The band on this page covers it. A single flat skirt or lower panel section sits near the bottom at ten to twenty hours plus stock. A full height sidewall section with wet luan, core replacement and a corroded stud sits at the top. Labor is $210 per hour, and a special order laminated panel requires a full deposit at order because it is cut to your coach. **What happens if the panel for my coach is discontinued?** For a flat wall it rarely matters, because gel coated sheet stock is cut to size and the original panel dimension is not a constraint. For a curved skirt, wheel well surround or contoured lower panel there is nothing to buy, and we take a pattern, build a mold and lay the part up here. That adds one to three weeks and the mold stays here in Yorba Linda, which helps if the same panel fails on the other side. **Is replacing the panel cheaper than repairing delamination?** Sometimes, and it is worth asking rather than assuming. Once a void reaches a panel edge, covers most of the panel, or sits over luan that has to come out anyway, the skin is coming off regardless and the marginal cost of new stock over reusing a brittle eighteen year old skin is small. Below that threshold, injection and bagging is substantially less money. **Will the new panel match the rest of the coach?** Structurally and dimensionally yes. Visually it depends on the finish. New gel coated stock arrives at factory gloss and the panels around it have been fading in Southern California sun for years, so a blend into the adjacent panels is almost always part of the job. That refinish is quoted through the paint department so you can see the two costs separately. **Why does the panel have to be bonded rather than screwed on?** Because the wall is a bonded assembly and its stiffness comes from continuous adhesive contact between skin and substrate. Fasteners concentrate load at points, and a point load in a thin laminate is where the next crack starts. A bonded panel under even pressure across its whole area behaves like the original wall. A fastened one behaves like a cover over a wall. **Can panel work be split so the coach is usable between stages?** Often yes, and it is worth planning at intake rather than mid job. The common split is substrate and framing work first with the opening closed weathertight, then a second visit to bond and finish the panel once stock lands. That turns one six week stay into two shorter ones. It has to be decided before the panel order goes in, because the order sets the clock. --- Source: https://ocrv.club/rv-fiberglass-repair/fiberglass-panel-replacement OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887 Phone (949) 799-3387. Email info@ocrvcenter.com. Serving Hacienda Heights and the surrounding area. 18.4 miles, 24 to 38 minutes via SR-60 west to Fullerton Rd, then south to La Palma Ave. In shop work only. All estimates are priced and credited against an authorized repair.