Bathroom Sink Cracked in 72 Tradewind

[RichHog]

Made the mistake of putting a plastic bottle of toilet clean in the sink while traveling cross town and now there is a crack hole about 1/2" wide and about 3" long. Must have been paper thin and now sink is useless. So any thoughts on repair or replacement? The whole assembly looked pretty worn, faucets pretty stained but it worked...til today. It is the wet bath version in a Tradewind single bed model with sink on left corner.

Thanks

Richard

[Alumanutz]

Richard, if your sink is made of ABS Plastic it can be repaired using ABS glue and window screening. I have documented the procedure on my blog at 1966 Safari ( HUGO)

NUTZ

[dwightdi]

I would recommend you use fiberglass woven cloth rather than window screen to provide backup strength. Simply soak the fiberglass with the Oakley ABS bodied cement and allow it to dry till it has the right viscosity and then put it on the backside of the crack. If you are doing it without removing the sink, you will need a method of holding it in place while it dries for 24 hours. You can make some proper color ABS cement to fill the crack from the front side by dissolving some scrap abs from an unseen area of the sink in MEK and then filling the crack.

[RichHog]

It's not a crack but a hole in the side that's larger than the drain hole. Must have been paper thin and the weight of the bottle plus vibration caused her to give in. Will upload a photo later.

[bullydogsmom]

Richard is this what your sink looks like? If this is the one we are not going to put it back in our AS. It's yours for the cost of shipping if you want it. I can remove the J trap and facets to cut down on the weight if you want.

It's in good shape, no crack or holes. It's faded and your could probably repaint it as some on the forum have done.

Let me know if you can use it.

Annette

[dwightdi]

Annette is too kind. Rich, you could have spent weeks trying to fix the old one and never have achieved the perfect look.

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by bullydogsmom

Richard is this what your sink looks like? If this is the one we are not going to put it back in our AS. It's yours for the cost of shipping if you want it. I can remove the J trap and facets to cut down on the weight if you want.

Annette

I could sure use it.

I have tried all of the above to repair the cracks in my "lavarette" (what AS calls this piece) Nothing has worked permanently. The cracks always reappear. These are pretty serious cracks though. They run completely across the unit so the counter is in 3 separate pieces. I'm down to replacing the unit or installing a laminiate insert into the counter surface to hide the cracks as much as possible.

[RichHog]

Here's what the crack looks like. That's what I get for stowing the potty cleaner during travel!

[RichHog]

Here is the photo.

[loriday]

Seems we're in the same boat as Richard... We have a '72 Safari (new to us this weekend!) with the same sink/vanity layout, and we have two holes in the sink bowl. Any possibility that anyone out there knows where we could locate a replacement? Sure appreciate any leads!

Lori

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by loriday

Seems we're in the same boat as Richard... We have a '72 Safari (new to us this weekend!) with the same sink/vanity layout, and we have two holes in the sink bowl. Any possibility that anyone out there knows where we could locate a replacement? Sure appreciate any leads!

Lori

Inland RV may have a fiberglass replacement

[RichHog]

I got a replacement for the sink last year, lucky as Bullydogsmom had remodeled their bath and had the sink available. New problem is that the plastic floor shower pan showed up with a small hole in it last week.

[68 TWind]

If you remove the sink you can fix the hole using epoxy resin and fiberglass. Polyester resin that comes in the fiberglass kits for auto body repair does not work well on the plastic but a good marine epoxy (I use West System) will work. After patching with glass from the back, then use the same epoxy mixed with microballons ( a filler material you can by where you get the epoxy) to a peanut butter consistency to fill and smooth the top side. After all is dry, sand until it blends perfectly with the rest of the sink and then paint the sink with a 2 Part epoxy paint. HD or Sherwin Williams sells it as bathtub paint in a kit. It would not be a bad idea if you choose to go this route, to put a layer of fiberglass over the entire bottom of the sink for added protection against future cracking.
I fixed numerous plastic parts on my Trade Wind using this technique with great results.
The following link has a world of info on fixing things with epoxy resin.
Epoxy by the Leading Epoxy Manufacturer | WEST SYSTEM Epoxy

[loriday]

Thanks to all. We just found a craftsman/mechanic (former Airstream dealer repairman, 22 years) here in NC that is going to do the repair for us in a method he described much like you have indicated using fiberglass. We're hoping for the best and feel lucky that he seems to really know what he's doing. He's installing several other new items for us - the Magic Chef range and the furnace, plus adding a canopy awning including hardware. We'll see how it all looks in two to three weeks.

[RichHog]

I wonder if the West system would work on the shower pan?

[68 TWind]

It should work fine. My shower is made of fiberglass and I fixed several bad cracks with the epoxy and microballon mixture. Great thing a about doing fiberglass repair is if you don't like the way it comes out, grind it out and do it again. Folks have been building home built aircraft with this stuff for years so it will hold up. You might ask the repair guy what type of resin he plans to use. Polyester resin may not adhere to the ABS plastic as well as the epoxy. The method of repair is the same, just the resin is different.