Got an Ouchie on the Bighorn...

Well yesterday we were getting ready to leave USA RV park in Gallup NM. When I went around to disconnect the electric I found a hole in the metal skirting on the small living room slide. Someone ran into us and fled.



I think I can replace the siding and the graphics but I sure wish people would be honest when they damage someone's property..

When I first saw it I thought I had run the slide into something, but looking back at photos I have taken earlier show no damage. The last place we stayed at had no one close to our trailer.

So just another day on the road..

Has anyone taken the siding off?? It looks pretty easy...

BC

Sorry to hear about your damage Bob. Where do you think it happened? I am trying to figure out what kind of vehicle would leave that kind of damage.

Anybody running a lawn mower in the camp ground near your rig?

Looks like something was punched through and then payed up to removed it by the way the metal is folded up.


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Steve and Carrie
HOC# 2252
2007 GMC 2500HD Duramax
B&W Companion Hitch
2012 Sundance 3300CK

Yes - same question was a mower cutting grass near the site? We are currently in a county operated campground and the ground crew was mowing near the camper next to us and as he was turning around, smacked into the side of a new Redwood. Boy - were the owners hot!!! With the full body paint dented and cracked, not sure how this is going to end.

I normally take a photo of the campground and our trailer at every campground. I took photos at Page AZ which was all gravel so there was not lawn mower in that area. I looked at the photos at Page and there was no damage..

The next campground was Mesa Spirit RV Resort Mesa AZ. There was no one around us and the area has no grass. But I never took a photo there because they were going to do some work on the in campground roads. None of the road workers were near us or could have gotten any equipment in the area beside us.

We were at USA RV Park, which is a nice park, but it is all gravel also. No grass and I did not see any mowers or such around the area. No grass to cut.. The only thing that I know was close to us was the neighbors jeep. I couldn't see anything on the jeep that would make that type of hole in the metal siding.

This is where we stayed in USA RV Park. I suspected the jeep. Not sure if there is anything high enough to make the hole. Have not talked to the owner of the jeep. They don't answer the phone. These photos were taken the day before we left. I zoomed in on the side of the trailer and it looks like the hole was there when I took the photos.

I can't accuse anyone when I don't know personally.


Just glad it was as small as it is. Would have been a real problem it the slide had been damaged rather than just the metal skirting.

That's life.. So what do you think??

BC

If you can find a good boat shop, they should be able to repair the fiberglass to the point it looks like new. But as for the decal, Heartland ring-a-ding.

That really is a strange forced opening. It looks like an object forced itself from the bottom towards the top, but compressed the skin upward as opposed to tearing it. The culprit is not necessarily a someone but could be a something, e.g., road debris projected in an upward direction?

Bob, it almost looks to me like tin snips cut a hole, and "slipped" in the process. Could someone have been trying to steal copper or something under the slide, while it was retracted? Purely speculation....

TravelTiger said:

Bob, it almost looks to me like tin snips cut a hole, and "slipped" in the process. Could someone have been trying to steal copper or something under the slide, while it was retracted? Purely speculation....

Click to expand...

The square hole puzzles us too. It makes no sense. The tin snip scenario would fit, but just spiff balling here.

I cannot really tell the exact height or size of the hole from the photos...

but that sure looks like the hole my receiver hitch left in the plastic bumper of a car that rear ended me!!!

Nabo said:

If you can find a good boat shop, they should be able to repair the fiberglass to the point it looks like new. But as for the decal, Heartland ring-a-ding.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. However the part that was damaged is the metal skirt below the slide body..

BC

TravelTiger said:

Bob, it almost looks to me like tin snips cut a hole, and "slipped" in the process. Could someone have been trying to steal copper or something under the slide, while it was retracted? Purely speculation....

Click to expand...

At first I though that something on the trailer had penetrated the side, but the edges of the hole are inward and the top edge scraping the graphic is upward from the outside. Wasn't from anything inside the slide area. There is a flat piece of steel that it looks like what ever penetrated the metal stopped it from going further.

I had thought that the jeep parked behind the neighboring trailer might have rolled into he side of the trailer, but I don't see anything on the front of it to cause a square hole.

BC

Looks lo me like something punched in and then ripped up, as if on some kind of suspension. Like a vehicle under braking, first nose-dive and then return to normal height.

TXBobcat said:

That's life.. So what do you think??

Click to expand...

Boy that stinks Bob.

Bicycle rack?

Spare tire holder with no spare tire on the back of that jeep?

Bob,

Sorry to hear about "your incident". The fix is pretty easy but the cost is $$ due to shipping*.
*
Materials you will need:

• J-wrap from Heartland in white
• The one blue graphic element from Heartland
• Vinyl tape (in case the tape you remove is brittle) - also from Heartland
• Tube of white silicone rubber/caulk (local)
• Wide masking tape (to mark off area to cut and to protect metal when cutting)

Tools you will need

• Screw gun to remove metal strip that separates gelcoat and j-wrap
• Tape measure
• Various tools of your choosing to remove old caulking/sealant (event some denatured alcohol for final cleanup of sealant)
• Marker, pencil, pen to mark area to cut
• Tool(s) to cut j-wrap to length as it will come in a 10 foot section (perhaps a jigsaw with a fine-tooth blade

TerryH and I replaced a section on his. You're luckier than he was as we had to remove the frame of a baggage door and the steps trim and cut some radius. You'll have a single straight cut to make - lucky dog!

So here's how I recall it working:

1. Remove vinyl strip starting at one end - carefully in case you can reuse it
2. Remove all the screws holding the metal strip on
3. Carefully pry the strip from the coach as some sealant may be holding it on
4. J-wrap will fall into your lap - guard yourself
5. Clean off all the old sealant, then use the denatured alcohol to wipe the area all clean
6. Use old piece of j-wrap as a template by laying in inside the back side of the new piece and marking your cut line (taped first)
7. Use whatever method you are comfortable with to trim the j-wrap to length
8. Here's where I'm fuzzy... You may need some clamps to temporarily hold the j-wrap in place while you reattach the metal strip. I think we put some sealant into the screw holes too. Screw the metal strip on, add the vinyl strip back in, replace the decal, viola!

Hopefully others who've done this more recently can fine-tune my steps above.

*As for the cost of the j-wrap, the shipping will exceed the cost of the material as it has to be crated, then motor-freighted. If you have a dealer that you're pals with, then may be able to get it shipped inside their next shipped unit. That's for you to work with the dealer who will need to order it and coordinate with Heartland on.

Just a thought here, the jeep looks guilty to me. Does it have a bike rack on the back? The receiver in the back is square and sometimes smaller than what we have on the truck. Most jeeps have a spare tire on the back and the bike rack hooked on them. If they backed into you and forced the metal back then pulled forward making the tin peel. Just a thought from Sherlock Niles.

Jim's "fix-it" post is really the one that matters here. At this point the focus probably needs to be on repair rather than cause. Nice write up, Jim.

As Jim B. indicates, this is not a tough fix. Our 2014 BC developed a "booboo" due to an invention that went bad that resulted in the fender coming apart...for the sake of marriage won't go into any further details .

After everyone settled down after it occurred (coach was only about 2 weeks old), I contacted HL and they pulled all the material together for us. As Jim indicates as well, not expensive except for shipping - $150 because of the length. HL did just a great job pulling this together and prepping it for shipping. Once we heard the shipping price, we decided to drive to Elkhart instead (not that far for us). Again, HL was just great and helped to load it into the truck. Joe then replaced the fender - turned out we didn't need to do anything else. I put on the decal.

Looks like new again

Theresa