Structural Components

[Hubert]

Hey All, 
I recently scored a Wildernest from my buddy for free but it needs lots of work. I pulled the whole thing apart today.  All screws rivets, sliding windows and trim were removed so I can repair some fiberglass and paint it. One thing I am trying to figure out is what are the materials inside of the fiberglass? The main upper supports are steel (There is no fiber glass there) the lower horizontal sections that sit on the truck bed seem to be some sort of fiber board or something. The main one I am trying to figure out are the upper horizontal parts above the window. Someone said they might be aluminium, but I am not sure. All the screw and rivets were totally rusted and need replacing but I am not sure what I am going into so not sure of the best strategy there. Also there are four flat spots on the roof, which seem like an ideal location to mount a rack, but again not sure what's under the fiber glass. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!

Hubert
VT

[sls]

there are what appears to be steel plates in between fiberglass layers at the 4 flat spots you mentioned. when i mounted my kayak rack and drilled through those spots i could see the metal sandwiched between the fiberglass. i put 4' x 4' pieces of aluminum plate at each spot on the inside to act as large washers.

[Wildernest_ADV]

I can tell you what's under the 4 flat spots...
aluminum plates. the catch is that there's no guarantee that the plates are actually in the center of those flat spots. I put rack mounts on mine on those spots and 3 out of the 4 were in the right place the 4th was completely crooked and my holes didn't line up quite right.