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Outer Hull damage


Yukon

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Not sure what is going on here, stone throw damage “ seems like a unlikely location for that, as we have not been off asphalt. The hole only penetrates the outer jell coat. Discovered after l lubricated the suspension. May want to put on your coveralls. .....Yukon

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Wow - that certainly is a strange location for that kind of scar.  I'm a bit hard pressed to think of how that would be possible via a stone hit given that the axle would actually tend to protect that area at least a bit.  But, depending on the types of road and the size of stones - anything is possible.  THAT was one heck of a hit!

 

Bill

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2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

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Yukon, I would refer that damage back to Oliver, while it may well be a stone or other projectile strike, it looks more like a bonding issue to me. For whatever reason the fiber glass didn’t bond with the gel coat and formed a blister and it popped, it could have been an air pocket in between the glass and the gelcoat ( most likely) or the gelcoat got contaminated somehow. That should be a pretty straightforward fix, they just need to sand that out and re gelcoat that area, goodluck

 

Steve

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STEVEnBETTY

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Yikes, I agree, that looks very much like a cavity behind the gelcoat which should not be there. Start a service request with the Mother Ship and get a local fiberglass repair specialist, such as a marine yard NOT a kludgy RV dealer, to evaluate at it. Hopefully “cross fingers” it is very localized and not indicative of a bigger problem. I definitely would not ignore it. Gelcoat by itself has very little strength. You need to make sure that water and debris does not start to collect in there.

 

BTW rock strikes can occur in the strangest places due to ricocheting off axles, frame or bumpers. They can even shatter rear hatch glass on the TV. And they occur on fine paved highways as well as on gravel roads. On a road around construction areas (new home building and road repair in particular) it is often a bit of metal like a bolt or a small tool which can really poke a hole... in a tire or in the trailer. I pulled a 3/8” allen wrench out of a tire one time! The key is to slow the rocks down by absorbing energy, and directing them back toward the ground. This is real overkill for most Ollie owners but it is extremely effective. I call it Chaos Management.

 

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Good luck.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

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SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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Looks like a strike to me, there’s a lot of things on the road that could kick up more so than rocks, anything and everything. There are a lot of careless drivers out there that don’t secure items while driving down the road.  I feel for you, that sucks hopefully it wont be to hard to repair, good luck

 

 

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Grant  2022 GMC Denali 2500 HD 2019  Elite 11😎

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Bill the hole is not as deep as I initially thought, as it hit a tank we think “ after talking to Jason. Have appointment at mothership in a couple of weeks for maintenance and they will have a look at it. Goes to show one needs to crawl under your unit once a year if not more.

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Good point never considered that” I remember during our factory tour they said they could remove tanks if all hell broke loose, let’s hope that we need not go in that direction. But that brings up another thought we would not want any repair to adhere to the tank itself. I would loose that option.....

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More to the story, discovered a additional circle mark (thought it was dirt) I ran my fingernail across it and could scrape away uncured fiberglass filler of some sort, Oliver Had to have had issues during production my guess. I doubt stone hit now, they are the same size holes.

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Interesting, my trailer is a 2017 hull number 208 and has two unusual patched holes between the two axles as well. I believe that one of my holding tanks had to be replaced due to one or both of these holes going through it. Interesting.

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2017 Elite II, Hull #208

2019 Chevy HD 2500 Duramax

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More to the story, discovered a additional circle mark (thought it was dirt) I ran my fingernail across it and could scrape away uncured fiberglass filler of some sort, Oliver Had to have had issues during production my guess. I doubt stone hit now, they are the same size holes.

 

Well, I find this to be VERY disturbing, you have you wonder how many other places are affected on your trailer, and on other trailers. If the hull has to be raised up off the frame for a proper repair that could take a while. It's not a job I would want anybody but the factory attempting....  Oliver is in the molded fiberglass business, if this is truly a mixing error they need to look closely at the quality control for all their products.

 

This is a useful page discussing what to look for on a boat hull. Osmotic blisters look very similar to yours, but those are caused by water absorption from sitting in the lake long term. ..  https://www.boatingmag.com/boats/inspecting-your-boats-finish

 

I need to grease my suspension, I guess I will look at everything under there a lot more closely now.

 

Good luck. Please keep us advised. I am sure that the factory will treat you right and fix this correctly. OTH I would not make any critical appointments for that week since they may need to keep the trailer for a while....

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

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SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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John got that” I figure we will need to leave it, good news it’s still under warranty so I see no issues on that end. I agree with you it appears to be quality control issues. Hopefully it’s a small area. The rest of the belly looks fine, and have never noticed any water loss from any unauthorized locations. If I had not lubricated the suspension system I would have discovered the issue . Will keep you advised on how this turns out.

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Yukon, you really need to read this article. It has to do with fiberglass boat hull construction, but most of the ideas transfer to an Ollie hull. There is no reason we should worry that parts of the Ollie’s hull halves are primarily chopped fibers sprayed with a resin gun. That method is adequately strong for a trailer when done correctly. I would love to see an Ollie with all hand laid, vacuum bagged, long fiber cloth, but that will never happen, it is just way too costly. This is interesting and more than a little scary.....:

 

https://www.yachtsurvey.com/Fiberglass_Boats.htm

 

BTW I had a 1988 SeaRay with incredibly bad delamination problems, I can relate to this article, and others at that website... like their review of the beyond appalling Carver.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

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SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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John, thanks for the article I am familiar with fiberglass boats, having spend 22 years in the Coast Guard. During my day we used steel, and fiberglass boats pretty much for search and rescue. Boston Whaler were the hand lay boat hulls of choice and tough as hell .  I actually restored a 13 ft last year, the boat was in great shape for a 90. As you mentioned the Oliver does not need the strength of a Whaler but must be construction correctly in order to be able to give many years of trouble free use. I am spooked over this issue and will insist that they Oliver will make good or replace the unit if so determined. As you can imagine I will be monitoring the hull like a hawk. I at this point have no reason to think they will not uphold there end of the agreement. One of the main reasons we purchased a Oliver was the fact it was a fiberglass unit, as Oliver puts it to be handed down to the next generation. Let’s hope it’s a minor issue, jury’s still out.....Ed

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Yukon -

 

Here's the Oliver warranty on your hull:

 

Limited Lifetime Warranty to the original purchaser on the fiberglass body being free of defects in material and workmanship under normal use.

 

Bill

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2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yukon, if you are coming to the rally please look me up. My wife is helping with the rally so we should be easy to find. As I showed in the above attached photo, I have the same mysterious holes in my trailer and they look to be in the similar location. I would like to hear your take on them. I heard two explanations for them. 1. A new employee accidentally drilled the holes in the wrong location (?) and 2. Drilled on purpose (?). Anyway, mine were not painted over so I was able to clearly see them.

2017 Elite II, Hull #208

2019 Chevy HD 2500 Duramax

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I just spent an hour crawling around under my trailer, looking things over and then lubing the suspension. Guess what I found 3 inches behind the centerline of the front axle, about in the center of the hull (left to right)....

 

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One hole is filled and sanded flush, the second one is more more ragged and you can see chipped gelcoat. The second pic shows what it looks like after I scratched it with my fingernail. It is really soft and appears to be similar to Bondo, which is not a material I would use to patch a misdrilled hole that is exposed to a high pressure water spray when towing.

 

I would really like to hear the story behind these holes, and what is directly above it. A tank support perhaps?

 

I will probably leave mine as they are and if they start to get worse I will drill them out neatly with a step drill and patch them with some 3M 5200 and send the receipt to Oliver.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

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SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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I will get. Back to you as soon as I have some answers, the 3m stuff works well they have many different types, our situation seems much worst, as the hole is really jagged....... drop the Oliver off  Monday..........thanks john

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John, don’t know if you could see the photo of mine but, yours is very similar. I thought the very same thing that Bondo was used instead of grinding out and filling with fiberglass resin/fiberglass material and ground/sanded flush and gel coated. Anyway I think that both of my hole plugs are still in place.

2017 Elite II, Hull #208

2019 Chevy HD 2500 Duramax

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Ok here is what I have been informed, in my case I had what is called production holes, it’s how the hull are mold work together in some fashion.  I also had a twist” of a air pocket formed and blew out. Bottom line things were not done correctly. A correct hull should be smooth and white with a clear coat of gel coat. To correct this deficiency the holes must be enlarged and fiberglass layers should be used for repairs. Then gel coated  to match. If not completed correctly then the issue would resurface. So what I got out of them for you guys with exposed production holes with no cracks, it’s a matter of a coat of Gell coat, And for those such as me with blowout holes it more extensive enlarging the holes and filling with layers of  fiberglass. Hope this helps.......Yukon

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I started lubing my suspension late Saturday afternoon and found 2 zerk fittings that would not take grease.  So I took them out and they still wouldn’t take any grease .   I went to NAPA after church yesterday and handed the fittings to the NAPA man and asked for 10.  He pulled 2 packages of 5 each and I was on my way.  We celebrated Mother’s Day with my mother-in-law and I crawled back under the trailer late yesterday and found the fittings would not screw in.  Crawled back out into better light a found the were press-in fittings.  Back to NAPA today and traded 10 press-in for 10 screw-in fittings.

 

While waiting for the rain to clear, I read some more of this post and saw JD's posting about finding 2 holes in his hull also.  I finally got back under the trailer and install the 2 zerk fittings and finished the grease job.  Then I started inspecting hull #193 and found 2 spots behind my front axle.  They are nearly perfect circles about  65% of the way around.  When I rubbed the, my first thought was it was a sticker about the size of a nickel.  I started rubbing them with some solvent and a rag and found out the are not stickers but holes in the gel coat.  Funny thing is that one turned green and the other pink after the solvent.

 

Now I see Yukon's last post and will wait and see what the process for repair will be.

Mike and Krunch   Lutz, FL  
2017 LEII #193 “the dog house”

 

 

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You can add my name to the list too, two spots in approximately the same area. I don’t intend to do anything about it, unless the damaged spots start enlarging. The next time I’m at the mothership I’ll have them address it, if it gets worse before then it’s an easy fix and I’ll deal with it. If they were in a more visible location or close to a structurally important spot I would be more concerned.

 

Steve

STEVEnBETTY

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