Fiberglass tubs

There's a saying among road bikers and I'm sure the same applies for Jeepers,
"Steel is Real."

Joshua Geiszler

 

A crack in fiberglass can be repaired easily with a fiberglass boat repair kit at your local parts store. Dents are a bit harder to deal with in a steel body. Here is a picture of my 79 CJ5 that I had. Unless you look real hard, you'd never know that I rolled it. I had to replace the windshield and frame, and patch the cracks in the tub. Good as new.

 

An ad for one of the bass boats back in the 80s showed the boat vertical and a guy shooting the hull w/ a .44 magnum. Spiderwebbed the gel coat but didn't put a hole in it. Do that w/ sheet metal.:v6:

 

boy did i open a can o worms here...... i will say this:
i have not ruled out a fiberglass tub for my "resto mod" now that i have had this "discussion" with sparky.....

in all seriousness, i guess there are good and bad to say about both, which is the case with everything i guess..... they are much stronger by the sounds of it than what i "believed" from others... i apologize for my ignorance in the matter, but i still stick to my orig thought of fire has being a non issue if you carry the proper tools regardless of material

 

Sorry Adam,
at least it has not turned into a heated debate. I personally have nothing against Fiberglas, but those photographs were disturbing. That is all!
Doug

 

It's not just Jeeps either...you'll find this in any hobby. When people hear something that sounds like it makes sense, all too often they just accept it as fact and go on repeating it that way, perpetuating the cycle.
I try to chime in on issues I have personal experience with, although that's not always completely representative either...YMMV R) .

 

yup im a culprite, and i learned some info i did not know before...once again this site is unlike any other i belong to.....

 

I sure hope this doesn't make it on shows like 60 Minutes or we may just lose the choice of body material just like we lost the CJ5 because of the rollover "problems".

 

thats the plan sparky......

 

it all comes down to "you get what you pay for". there are alot of cheap glass tubs available. not only are they prone to cracking but warping also. i think fiberglass is a great replacement but only if you buy a quality, reinforced one. i've seen a couple of "cheap tubs" take a rollover and crack and shatter even at slow speeds. i prefer steel due to originality, but a quality glass tub is a very good investment.