Received my helmet - needing advice

[Cara]

I've now received my bucket from a dealer in England.

All in all I'm really happy with it and the size is perfect for me as I'm rather small so I feared that it might be too big for me. That is not the case

 

 

Unfortunately it arrived with three cracks. Two are rather small but one is near one of the screws, so I contacted the dealer and I was offered a refund of 15 Pound or the possibility to send the helmet back and let him do the repair.

Here are pictures of the cracks:

 

 

 

 

The helmet is made from fibreglass. I don't have a lot of experience with that.

Could you give me any advice on how I can fix the cracks? I don't care if they are still visible after fixing since I'd like to add some weathering either way, but I just don't want the cracks to get any bigger.

Or should I rather not experiment and just get it repaired by him?

 

I'd really appreciate any advice.

[Heavy]

I would send it back and get the seller to fix it - it´s not okay, that it looks like this after such a short trip, makes me think, if it´s stabil enough to troop with ??

 

I got my helmet from SC all the way from USA to little Denmark, and mine had no cracks at all eventhough the package had been opened and checked.

[topherhunter]

Agreed. Fiberglass repair isn't that hard if you have experience, but this probably isn't a good project to cut your teeth on. Send it back.

[Cara]

Thank you for your opinions, that helps me a lot.

For me as a newbie it's difficult to judge if the repair can be done easily or not.

[Chef]

Fibreglass (GRP) is a funny beast.

 

It can be made to be as solid as a rock, if it's lay-up is correct. Hence the reason they make car parts and boats out of the stuff.

 

For your stuff to crack like that, it has either been kicked about the parcel room floor, or it's a bit on the thin side, or it's got some air pockets in under the gel coat layer.

 

You can tell it's transit history from the box! If the box looks like it's been trampled on by a herd of elephants, then you can blame the couriers. If the box is OK, then you need to blame the person who made it!

 

 

Repairing GRP is relatively simple.... IF you know how to work with GRP. If you don't, it can be a nightmare fraught with all manner of danger.

 

Depending on how he repairs it, would also dictate it's future strength. Repairs to GRP can be made to be stronger than the original part if done properly.

But if their not... it will only crack again in the same place.

 

 

Either way, you have received an item that is not in the condition in which you paid for.

 

I'd get him to either repair or replace it.

 

not pleasant for you, but really, you should get what you pay for.

[Dearmeat]

Who did you order this helmet from? I have had dealings with a fiberglass scout helmet with three cracks in it when it arrived. From th UK

[Darth Voorhees]

If they wont take it back and fix it, i will do it for free. I will repair and repaint it for you. You would just have to pay the shipping both ways. I hate to see when new folks get stuff like this!

[Cara]

@Chef I know what you mean. I did send him a mail yesterday evening and asked him for his details so I can send it back. So I can just wait for the adress and hope it works out ok.

I didn't have the impression that the fibreglass is particularly thin. If I'd let the helmet fall on the floor it would surely break but that's something I expected.

 

@Dearmeat PM sent

 

@Darth Voorhees that's really a great offer! Thank you so much. As I said I did send the dealer a mail yesterday so I hope to hear back from him soon and that he's going to fix it for me. I would feel better if the helmet stays within Europe, particularly because of the high shipping fees and the customs duty

[jyjellyfish77]

Was this the New Image bucket that was already mentioned on an earlier thread? We've been trying to see if anyone had bought one yet.

[Cara]

It's not his new Scout helmet (version 2), but his first Scout helmet (version 1), which can also be ordered in his shop.

 

OK, perhaps I found someone who could do the repair but I can only talk to him next week. I also received the return address, but I hope it's ok for the dealer if I wait with the return for another week. I would feel much better if I wouldn't have to ship it another time

 

EDIT: just got another reply and I will send him a mail next week. So contact with the seller is really fine