Question to those WITHOUT Gelcoat

Hi: Question to those with ordinary filon sides (without gelcoat):

Has the filon started to yellow or to fade badly? How long have you had it, and do you store in direct sunlight (i.e., not under roof)?

I saw a new BigHorn without gelcoat and it looks perfectly fine to me. But I don't know how the filon will change with age. I don't think the reported gelcoat advantages of "slightly easier to clean" and "more classy looking" are important enough to me to plop down $1600 extra. But I will do it if the rig will turn yellow or fade badly within a few years.

Thanks!

I know a guy with a Montana 1 year older than my Bighorn and it is yellow compared to ours. And mine is an 06.

nhunter said:

I know a guy with a Montana 1 year older than my Bighorn and it is yellow compared to ours. And mine is an 06.

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So am I correct that you have the gelcoat, but he does not?

Yellowing ?

Our 2006 Bighorn 3055RL does not have the Gelcoat and is almost two years old and I don't find any sign of yellowing. I do wash and wax the unit quite often during the summer up north and also about monthly when we are south for the winter. This winter we stayed up north and I have the Bighorn covered with a large plastic blue tarp. Mainly so I can remove snow off the roof easier with a plastic roof rake, but also it may help with protection from the weather. I do fire up the furnace once in a while to try to keep the interior humidity down.

We do have the high-gloss gel-coat, because it was part of an option package. Easy to clean is all I can say for it, because we've only had it a couple months.

On a related note and one I found interesting, one of the factory reps at the Sacramento show told me that Heartland uses a yellowing resistant plastic in the other components on the trailer, like the small access doors, etc. I did ask, because we had issues on our 8 year old class A. We also found out that very few manufacturers also gel-coat the cargo doors, etc, when the trailer is Gel-coated. Just regular filon and they seem to yellow at a different rate than the trailer. They told me Heartland does Gel-coat the doors when the trailer is gel-coated. Just an FYI as long as you're researching Gel-Coat.

Damage repair

What sold me on the Gel coat was the repairability factor. If you should get in a wreck or accidentally run into something or god forbid have a tire blowup on you, it is supposedly much easier to match the smooth surface of the gel coated sides. They say its very hard to repair the Filon and match the texture. If we have any bodymen on the forum, maybe they will chime in and give us some expert advice.

I am very glad I decided to get the gel coat option. It makes for a beautiful trailer that I am very proud to own and I would definetely order this option again.

Jeff

Gary. Our 3400 will be 2 years old in July. We are full time and in the sun whenever it shines. We have absolutely no yellowing. I don't have to wash it very often because we park more than travel. I do stay on top of the front cap and the bugs though. I sometimes wish I had bought the gel coat because it does look much richer but at the time I was more interested in keeping the weight down. Because we full time and carry most everything we own, we're a bit over our GVW but the overage is on the pin and carried by the truck.

GaryB said:

So am I correct that you have the gelcoat, but he does not?

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Sorry, yes I have the gelcoat.

Mine had a crack in the gel coat and after the repair there is no way you can tell it. I would say that would be impossible with filon.

Thanks for all the replies thus far.

Actually, I called up the factory at the end of the day yesterday (Friday) and spoke to a very helpful fellow. He told me that even without the gelcoat option, a certain amount of gelcoat is added to the wall finish. He said the difference has to do with the thickness of the gelcoat layer -- supposedly it is thicker if the high gloss gelcoat option is ordered.

Gary

When I purchased our unit I wanted the gel coat but the unit in stock didn’t have it so I didn’t want to wait and order it from the factory, so I finally decided to take the one in stock.

The first winter out I waxed it too try to seal it because it is porous and the Class A I had prior was pretty oxidized and I spent a lot of time and tried many different product to try to bring the luster back with little results, we also park ours outdoors with no cover the sun hits the south side but not as much on the north so far it hasn’t started to yellow and this is the third winter we have had it. I wash it regular and try to wax it annually.

I was talking with my traveling friend this winter and he has done a lot of car painting as a part timer and he told me that gel coat gives it more luster but is still porous and will oxide unless you put a clear coat to seal it (I didn’t know that)! Not sure if they put clear coat on it at the factory or might want to find out!

This is my experience Sonny