Front cap

[richfaa]

I broke down and washed the Montana today which I usually do not do. I noted hairline cracks in the front cap about halfway down. It has not hit anything and we never noticed them before. It kind of looks like a spider web. Any ideas . Anyone have that problem...

[Irlpguy]

I seem to recall a similar post but believe it was on the rear cap.

[1retired06]

Not on the front cap.

[richfaa]

I will have to take a better look. They look like cracks but I can not get close enough to confirm exactly what they are

[dieselguy]

Since I think you have full body paint, what you see is probably "crazing" or an alternate term "crows feet". I won't get any better and most likely will progressively get worse. To my knowledge it can't be polished out. It requires a repaint if one choses not to just live with it. Here's an excerpt from an article's probably causes.

•Improper painting of the car where: the underlying layer (color coat) is too thick and/or the clear coat is too thick; the car has been re-painted and the prior paint had cracks in it; the underlying color coat was not allowed to dry appropriately; the paint was mixed improperly.
•The paint has been subjected to excessive exposure to rain, sunlight (primarily UV radiation), extreme temperature environments, industrial fallout, etc.

[richfaa]

It really can not be seen from the ground looking up. It is on the white portion of the painted front cap. We noticed it because we were standing in the bed of the truck to reach the top of the cap. The cracks may have been there for a long time as we do not wash the Rv ourselves.

Thanks for that info RonD I will have a body shop take a look at it when we get home. We will not spend any $$ repairing this thing.

[K0LCB]

I learned a long time ago that gel coat is hard to paint. My guess is what you are seeing is the clear coat cracking

[JandC]

I have not experienced anything like that on my 2008 or my 2014 Montana, but my 1990 motor yacht had exactly what you are describing Rich. I had a boat yard up on Lake Michigan tell me that it was from the fiberglass drying out and getting old, and they do get worse. He explained that over time UV dries out the oils in the fiberglass if you don't keep it protected (waxed). Since your fiberglass is only about a year old I can't believe UV damage or age would have anything to do with what you are seeing though.

I was able to wet sand the areas with 1200-1400 grit and then there was a buffing compound I used. Most of them came out, along with all the chalking on the old finish. It took wax really good after that.

[brenkco]

Although, I have an SOB, I'm experience the same spider cracking on my front cap. I hadn't noticed it when I brought my rig in for an expansion crack repair under the bedroom slide. The dealer spotted the cracking back in October. I just dropped it off for the expansion joint repair when they noticed more cracking in several other spots.

Ron, too bad I didn't point it out to you down at the Q. Latest estimate I got was 60 hours labor plus materials. They said they sand it and use a graphite that fills the cracks. Have you heard of that Ron? I'm concerned about more cracking after repairs are done.

Still discussing who is going to pay for this....not going to be cheap!

Ken