FlipPac Lid Repair 101 (or how to get in over your head in three easy steps...)

[billy bee]

Greetings guys:

As some of you know, I bought a used FP a few years back and have been a happy camper. When I needed a rain fly, I ask my friend Karl to help make one. Well, not only did I get a nice new fly, many of you did, too. Thanks, Karl (of SLO Sail and Canvas).

Last fall, I decided Karl should buy his very own FP, which he did with my "help." This thing needed some work but was good enough that Karl could use it to test fit flies before they were shipped out. So, he could consider it an investment in QC.

Well, the torsion bar arm that inserts into the lid finally escaped from it's steel and fiberglass prison, rendering the flip part of the FlipPac inoperable.

So, as has been reported here on ExPo, if water gets in there it rusts out the box steel frame to which the torsion bar arm bolts and slowly tears apart the fiberglass. No big surprise. Water and steel will do that.

So we began the disassembly of the FP by propping the lid open in the vertical position and removing the tent.

I wish I had taken pictures of how the tent comes out. It is such a simple and easy process. Took 5 minutes and the tent was off.

We then had to unbolt the torsion bar arms from the lid and shell. As water had gotten in there, two of them were rusty and uncooperative, and we broke off the bolt heads.

Here you can see one of the shorn off bolts in the lid in the damaged corner:

With the arms unbolted from the lid (or broken off) we were easily able to lift the lid off of the shell. Here are my friends Karl and Kyle holding the lid:

The next few picture show the extend of the damage in the lid:

That's all I have time for now. I'll update this with more pictures and details of the repair later. You can see all the pictures I took of the repair here: http://billybee.smugmug.com/Trucks/FlipPac-Repairs

bb

 

[billy bee]

Here is a video I took that may be interesting to you guys:

 

[Frostymug]

Boy, thats some serious damage and the scope really shows how bad it is. Do you plan to replace the steel tubes? Any idea how old that unit is? Keep us posted and good luck.

Cliff

 

[Dave Bennett]

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[billy bee]

Do you plan to replace the steel tubes? Any idea how old that unit is?

Cliff:

No, we are not planning to replace the steel framework in the lid. We did think to sleeve it and bolt to the sleeve. But we are planning a fix that both takes care of the need for rigidity and fixes the separation of the fiberglass lid in one repair. I'll get some more pictures and post up next week.

It is one of the older units that once had barn doors. My guess is that it's 25 years old. But that is just a guess...

bb

 

[billy bee]

Thanks for sharing!!!

Dave, did you move? Or have you always lived in Temecula.

bb

 

[lx450landcruiser]

Sadly If Flippac gave a damn about improving the product at all they would switch to a Stainless tube (additional cost of $25) and there would never be this issue.

 

[ETAV8R]

Cool video. Thank you for your interest and work to upgrade the flippac design.

Just a thought. Would carbon fiber be any better for a shell design verses fiberglass?

 

[billy bee]

Just a thought. Would carbon fiber be any better for a shell design verses fiberglass?

Maybe. But the problem is not fiberglass vs. CF. It is water vs. steel. After water intrusion and deterioration from rust, the shell construction matters very little. Yes, CF is stronger and lighter than glass, but it wouldn't hold together after the steel tube has deteriorated...there is too much torque on the torsion bar arm...

bb

 

[RHINO]

bb,, thanks for this post,, looking forward to seeing some more progress and what actually makes up the build of these. i have a pretty good idea of whats going on with some simple mods of my own, but its nice to see it opened up like that.

 

[4xdog]

...switch to a Stainless tube (additional cost of $25) and there would never be this issue.

X2. This seems so obvious. Corrosion appears to be the primary failure point in a Flippac. Why on earth would FRP *not* switch to stainless? At least our friends at AT oughta be able to specify this for their version, eh?

Don

 

[Dave Bennett]

Great idea

 

[aventurero]

hinges and other such things...

Guess, I escaped a little easier than the poor fellow that owns a Flippac w/ a much more serious problem.
My hinge just broke into 2 pieces.
Cheers JN

 

[AeroNautiCal]

X2. This seems so obvious. Corrosion appears to be the primary failure point in a Flippac. Why on earth would FRP *not* switch to stainless? At least our friends at AT oughta be able to specify this for their version, eh?

Don

By not switching to stainless, they know that the product will need costly repairs or replacement at some future point.

 

[Captm]

I don't know why all of you are raggin on FRP, if you don't like their product don't by it. If you have solutions for a fix do it and share it with others. FRP is offering a price point product and have no need to change. If you don't like that - buy them out and show us how it's done. I believe this is a repair thread not a ********** and moan thread.