Stripped/broken exterior screws

[gfield63]

I have several stripped or broken screws on the exterior of my Sunstar 32ye. The furnace cover, screws around the slides, and the slide awning bracket.

Any tips for repairs? I assume most of this hardware is screwed into fiberglass?

Thanks in advance!!

Greg

[Oldchinahand]

Mix up an oz or so of fiberglass resin. Dip toothpicks in the resin and force as many as needed into the stripped holes to fill them. Allow resin to harden. Then drill pilot holes and replace screws. Works perfectly in fiberglass, wood or aluminum (or even steel for purposes you're describing). Works perfectly for all the usual screw sizes - #4,6,8,10,12. Altho, for wood, usually we'll use white glue instead of resin.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

[gfield63]

Thanks for the tip!!

[powercat_ras]

On my 2015 Winnebago Vista Winnebago used zinc plated steel self tapping screws rather than stainless and where they are driven in such that they make contact with the insulation panel behind the extrusions they are screwed into they corrode so badly that you can't even remove them, the heads just twist off, I had noticed this beginning after the coach was 5 or 6 years old and it has gotten worse over time.

The ones with the disentigrating zinc plated screw issue includes all the screws fastening the sidewalls into the floor framing behind the horizontal trim strip, the ones fastening the front cap sides to the edge of the sidewall, etc. It seems to be a reaction between the foam and the screw, the ones not touching the foam don't seem to be disentigrating.

So beware if you start messing with them chances are you are going to not be able to remove them cleanly and you will have extra work to replace the fasteners that you twist off the heads on.

So beware if you start trying to remove those.

[gfield63]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

On my 2015 Winnebago Vista Winnebago used zinc plated steel self tapping screws rather than stainless and where they are driven in such that they make contact with the insulation panel behind the extrusions they are screwed into they corrode so badly that you can't even remove them, the heads just twist off, I had noticed this beginning after the coach was 5 or 6 years old and it has gotten worse over time.

The ones with the disentigrating zinc plated screw issue includes all the screws fastening the sidewalls into the floor framing behind the horizontal trim strip, the ones fastening the front cap sides to the edge of the sidewall, etc. It seems to be a reaction between the foam and the screw, the ones not touching the foam don't seem to be disentigrating.

So beware if you start messing with them chances are you are going to not be able to remove them cleanly and you will have extra work to replace the fasteners that you twist off the heads on.

So beware if you start trying to remove those.

Thanks for the info!!

[BobC]

Definitely use stainless. Also, pieces of appropriately sized, plastic wire ties will also work.

[MadMaxWinny]

That's my biggest b!tch with the factory. It would have cost them a few hundred dollars to use SS on everything. I'm four years into a 2003 model, and I'm STILL finding crap hardware to replace. Unacceptable!

[BobC]

I found that the lack of SS screws is especially problematical with the screws attaching the inner skylight in the shower. I replaced mine and anytime I work on a fitting, I replace all the screws with SS.

[Gkiesel]

What do you do to secure the screws into the Styrofoam. The outer skin is very thin, followed by very thin plywood. There is nothing to bite into.
I'm replacing my outdoor speakers on the View, and the screws appear to have blue thread sealer on them.