# RV Body Shop > How recreational vehicle body work differs from automotive body work, and what a proper RV shop needs to have. Source: https://ocrv.info/rv-body-shop An RV body shop repairs the exterior structure of recreational vehicles: laminated sidewalls, molded front and rear caps, compartment doors, roof edges and the framing beneath them. The materials and panel sizes differ enough from automotive sheet metal that the tooling, adhesives and repair methods share very little with a passenger car facility. Recreational vehicle bodies are composite assemblies, not stamped metal. A typical sidewall is a bonded sandwich: an outer skin of gelcoated fiberglass or painted aluminum, a layer of luan plywood, a block foam or fiberglass batt core, an aluminum or steel stud cage, and an interior wall board. Those layers act as one structural member only as long as the adhesive bond between them holds. Once the bond releases anywhere, the wall loses stiffness locally and the failure spreads outward from that point under road vibration. That construction dictates almost everything about how the repair goes. Damage cannot be pulled out, because there is nothing to pull against. Filler cannot bridge a soft area, because the softness is a bond failure rather than a shape problem. Heat shrinking does nothing to a thermoset panel. What works instead is opening the assembly, replacing the compromised layers, rebonding under pressure, and rebuilding the surface. That takes different tools, different consumables and a different sequence than metal work. Owners in Eastvale looking for a body shop usually start with the collision facilities near Hamner Avenue and Limonite Avenue, and most of those shops are excellent at what they do. Very few of them are set up for a forty foot coach, a fifth wheel with a separated front cap, or a sidewall repair that needs a twenty two foot vacuum bag. This page describes what the work actually requires so an owner can tell the difference before dropping a vehicle off somewhere. ## Substrates Found on a Single Recreational Vehicle One coach commonly carries five or six distinct exterior materials, each demanding its own preparation and its own repair chemistry. Molded fiberglass caps at front and rear. Filon or gelcoated FRP sidewall skins. Painted aluminum siding on older or budget units. Sheet aluminum compartment door skins over foam. Steel or aluminum bumper and hitch structure. ABS or polyethylene fender skirts and running board trim. Getting adhesion right requires knowing which one is in front of you. Mixing them up produces failures that show up months later rather than immediately, which is why they persist. A urethane adhesive that grips fiberglass beautifully may release from polyethylene entirely. An etch primer correct for aluminum can lift a gelcoat repair. A filler suited to metal will crack when a composite panel flexes at a different rate than the filler does. Identifying substrate before selecting product is the least visible and most consequential decision on a body repair. - Molded FRP front and rear caps with gelcoat surface - Filon or fiberglass laminated sidewall skins over luan - Painted aluminum siding on older and entry level units - Foam cored aluminum compartment and baggage doors - Steel or aluminum bumper, hitch and frame extension structure - ABS and polyethylene skirting, fender flares and trim ## Panel Size Changes the Whole Approach An automotive quarter panel is a few square feet. A recreational vehicle sidewall can be thirty six feet long and eight feet tall as a single bonded assembly. That difference stops being a matter of degree and becomes a matter of kind. There is no replacement panel to order in most cases; there is a section of a much larger assembly that has to be cut out, scarfed, spliced and rebonded so the repair does not telegraph across a surface visible from a hundred feet away. Large flat surfaces are also unforgiving of surface error. A quarter inch of wave in a car door hides in the curvature. The same wave in a flat sidewall shows up as a visible ripple every time the sun hits it at an angle. Blocking a repair of that size flat requires long boards, patience, and a way to view the panel in raking light before it goes in the booth. Skipping any of that produces a repair that looks acceptable in the shop and obvious in a parking lot. ## Structure Behind the Skin Behind the exterior skin sits a stud cage that carries roof load, resists racking and provides attachment for everything mounted to the wall. On aluminum framed units those studs are typically thin wall tube welded or riveted at the joints. On steel framed units they are heavier and more often welded. Either way, a collision that dents the skin frequently bends or fractures the framing behind it, and skin repair over deformed framing puts the wall back together crooked. Restoring framing means replicating the original member in the same alloy or grade, joining it correctly, and returning the wall to plane before the skin gets rebonded. On the front and rear caps the structure is often a hybrid of tube framing and molded fiberglass, which requires both welding and composite work in the same repair. This is where a shop that owns both capabilities saves weeks compared to one that has to send the coach out and wait. - Aluminum tube stud cages, welded or riveted at joints - Steel framing on heavier coaches and commercial chassis bodies - Roof bow and rafter continuity across a repaired wall section - Window and door opening headers that carry concentrated load - Slide room opening framing, which is the most heavily loaded area ## Parts Sourcing Is Half the Schedule Recreational vehicle manufacturers do not maintain the parts networks that automakers do. A cap for a discontinued floor plan may exist, may be back ordered indefinitely, or may never have been stocked as a service part at all. Compartment doors, window frames and trim extrusions frequently change mid model year without documentation. Sourcing therefore starts on day one of a repair, in parallel with teardown, rather than after the scope is finalized. When a part cannot be obtained, fabrication becomes the answer. A compartment door skin gets formed, a trim extrusion gets replicated, a bumper gets built from tube and plate, a cap section gets laid up from a mold pulled off the undamaged side. Shops without fabrication capability have to declare the vehicle a total or wait on a part that may never arrive. Special order parts carry a full deposit at the time the order is placed, which is stated up front so nobody is surprised. ## What to Ask a Shop Before Handing Over the Keys The useful questions are practical rather than philosophical. Can the building physically take the vehicle, indoors, for the duration? Is there a booth long enough to refinish a full panel rather than blending in the open? Does the shop do its own fiberglass, or does it subcontract? Is there a welder on site for the framing behind the skin? Who writes the supplement when teardown reveals more damage than the original estimate covered? Answers to those five questions predict the outcome of the repair more reliably than anything else an owner can evaluate. A shop that answers yes to all of them will still take time on a large job, because structural composite work simply takes time. A shop that answers no to two or three will produce a repair that either takes longer than promised or comes back. Owners driving over from Eastvale are welcome to walk the building before committing to anything. - Indoor storage for the full duration of the repair - Refinish booth long enough for full length RV panels - In house fiberglass and laminate capability - On site welding for aluminum and steel framing - A written supplement process with photographic support ## Frequently asked questions ### Can a regular auto body shop repair an RV? For small painted metal areas, sometimes. For laminated sidewalls, molded caps, roof edges or anything structural, generally not. The materials are composites rather than sheet metal, the panels are far larger, and the repair methods have almost nothing in common with automotive work. Physical clearance for the vehicle is often the first obstacle before technique even matters. ### Why is RV body work more expensive per square foot than car body work? Composite repair requires cure time between steps that metal work does not, panels are large enough that a single repair covers many hours of blocking, and parts frequently have to be fabricated because no service part exists. Body and paint labor bills at the posted $210 per hour, and published price ranges for each repair type appear on the prices pages. ### Is filler ever appropriate on an RV sidewall? In thin skim coats over a properly repaired substrate, yes. As a way to bridge a soft or delaminated area, no. Filler over a failed bond simply cracks when the panel flexes, usually within a season. The underlying laminate has to be opened, rebuilt and rebonded first, and only then does surfacing material go on. ### How long does a typical RV body repair take? A single compartment door or a small skin repair can move in under a week. Multi panel collision work usually runs two to four weeks. Structural repair, cap replacement or full refinish commonly runs four to ten weeks, and full restorations run longer. Parts availability drives more schedule variance than labor does on recreational vehicles. ### Does the shop replace whole sidewalls? Yes, and it also splices sections where a full replacement is neither available nor sensible. A sectioned repair gets scarfed and rebonded so the joint carries load properly and does not telegraph through the finish. Which approach applies depends on the damage extent, the construction of the specific unit, and whether the manufacturer supports the panel. ## Where to go next - [Body, glass and door services](https://ocrv.info/services/body-glass-and-doors) - [Panel replacement](https://ocrv.info/services/body-glass-and-doors/panel-replacement) - [Collision and structural work](https://ocrv.info/services/collision-and-structural) - [Welding and fabrication](https://ocrv.info/services/custom-fabrication-and-detailing/welding-and-metal-fabrication) - [RVs and motorhomes](https://ocrv.info/vehicles/rvs-and-motorhomes) - [Posted labor rates](https://ocrv.info/prices/labor-rates) --- OCRV Center. 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. (949) 799-3387. info@ocrvcenter.com. Serving Eastvale, California in Riverside County, about 20 miles from the shop. All work is performed in shop at the Yorba Linda facility. No mobile, roadside or on-site service is offered. Scope is body, paint, structural, fiberglass, interior and vehicle systems work. Engine rebuilds, transmission rebuilds, drivetrain work, DOT inspections and emission testing are not performed.