Delamation on my Travel trailer nose.

I'm told that this is a common problem with the North Trail. Is there a fix and at what cost. Has Heartland taken owner ship of this problem?

Hi LaptopWillie,

Based on reading posts on the forum, I'm not aware of any general problems with North Trail noses. I assume you're asking because you have a North Trail with delamination. Do you have pictures you can post?

Are you under warranty?

Have you discussed your problem with Heartland?

Most delamination is caused by water intrusion. How old is your trailer and who's been doing the caulking?

Back in 2008-2009, Heartland had an issue with the bottom front edge of North Trails wicking water and rippling. They changed the design to add diamond plate to the bottom 1/3.

There was also some trailers that did not have adequate cross-bracing under the curved front cap, and over time it caused some horizontal indentations. I believe these were fixed as well.

If owners have not maintained the caulking on the edges or around the running lights, water can get in and cause delamination.


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What I read is not from this page. I have a 2009 North trail 31RED. I perched it from Camping World in January. I also have an "extended warranty", but Im not sure this will cover the damage. I have no way of knowing who maintained or didn't maintain it properly. I noticed the flexing on a recent road trip and started looking into it.

TravelTiger said:

Back in 2008-2009, Heartland had an issue with the bottom front edge of North Trails wicking water and rippling. They changed the design to add diamond plate to the bottom 1/3.

There was also some trailers that did not have adequate cross-bracing under the curved front cap, and over time it caused some horizontal indentations. I believe these were fixed as well.

If owners have not maintained the caulking on the edges or around the running lights, water can get in and cause delamination.


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"There was also some trailers that did not have adequate cross-bracing under the curved front cap, and over time it caused some horizontal indentations. I believe these were fixed as well."
This may be what I'm seeing. It seems to be what i'm seeing. I can all ways hope. It does seem very flexible.

LaptopWillie said:

What I read is not from this page. I have a 2009 North trail 31RED. I perched it from Camping World in January. I also have an "extended warranty", but Im not sure this will cover the damage. I have no way of knowing who maintained or didn't maintain it properly. I noticed the flexing on a recent road trip and started looking into it.

Click to expand...

Hopefully the extended warranty will cover the repairs. You should pull out the documentation and see what the fine print says.

It's very unlikely that Heartland would give much consideration to a new problem showing up on a trailer that's 6 or 7 years out of warranty; even more so given that this type of problem is usually caused by maintenance issues.

danemayer said:

Hopefully the extended warranty will cover the repairs. You should pull out the documentation and see what the fine print says.

It's very unlikely that Heartland would give much consideration to a new problem showing up on a trailer that's 6 or 7 years out of warranty; even more so given that this type of problem is usually caused by maintenance issues.

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I'm sure you're correct, I was wanting to find out if this is repairable and at what cost. I'm 75 years old. My wife and I have always wanted to do a trip from Mississippi to Calf. Our bucket list is getting shorter.

Yesterday I was on a lot that was selling used RVs. They had 6 used units and 5 of the 6 were Heartland Products. All of the Heartland products had delamination issues. Not looking good for Heartland on that lot. Don't know what year they were but one was a North Trail Travel Trailer, one was a Prowler Travel Trailer.

jmgratz said:

Yesterday I was on a lot that was selling used RVs. They had 6 used units and 5 of the 6 were Heartland Products. All of the Heartland products had delamination issues. Not looking good for Heartland on that lot. Don't know what year they were but one was a North Trail Travel Trailer, one was a Prowler Travel Trailer.

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This is the kind of reports I have read on Google search. Complaints but no solutions.

Delamination is repairable, I believe they cut out the bad section, replace and then apply new fiberglass, sand and paint, just like an auto body shop would do... I have also seen folks drill small holes in the delam, fill with epoxy and then use pressure to force the outer skin back into place. This doesn't fix any underlying damage, and if the leaks aren't fixed, it won't help in the long run.

Any trailer not maintained can have delam. -- and even some that are, could have a defect in the manufacturing of the wall. -- so I would not be so quick to say it's a "Heartland Problem".


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TravelTiger said:

Delamination is repairable, I believe they cut out the bad section, replace and then apply new fiberglass, sand and paint, just like an auto body shop would do... I have also seen folks drill small holes in the delam, fill with epoxy and then use pressure to force the outer skin back into place. This doesn't fix any underlying damage, and if the leaks aren't fixed, it won't help in the long run.

Any trailer not maintained can have delam. -- and even some that are, could have a defect in the manufacturing of the wall. -- so I would not be so quick to say it's a "Heartland Problem".


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Thanks for you help and information. I have a local "1 Stop RV" I will be contacting. They do repairs but no sales. They do insurance and Good Sam Warranty. They have a very good representation locally. Thanks again; Really want to get on with our bucket list.

I bought a used 2009 Heartland Sundance 28' trailer last year that does have delamination on the front panel. The lower few feet does have the diamond aluminum plating. I would like to know if anyone has ever removed the front panel to do the repair ?

I am bumping an old thread here, but once I fix the areas that are leaking in my NT this may be next on my agenda. I am a function over form kind of guy, so I probably won't get around to it anytime soon, but I wanted to share this link to a video on youtube. Depending on the degree of damage, for example if rot has ruined the structural integrity this may not work. If the water damage is not too bad, you may be able to saturate with a mold cleaner, allow it to dry for a week or so, then proceed with this process to fix the delamination.

After years of living with the ugly delamination on the front panel of my 2011 North Trail 26LRSS, I finally tackled the project. I tore the front end off, got a sheet of filon and (2) 4x8 ft sheets of 1/8” luan and 2 qts of 3M 1357 contact cement. When the lamination was complete and the panel was reinstalled it looked beautiful - at least for a few days. The seam from where the luan butted together began to show through the filon. I found a replacement NT decal and it looked great. However the decal has some deep blue color which absorbed the afternoon heat and bubbles began to form beneath the filon. When it cools off, the bubbles disappear only to reform the next day. I’m not sure where I went wrong - whether I didn’t apply enough pressure to the filon to make a good contact weld, or maybe I needed to prep the filon and the luan better to aid the bonding. Maybe I used the wrong contact cement. Maybe I shouldn’t have used luan. Regardless, it looks 10 times better than it did and I can say that I’m still happy with the outcome. It was a great experience and if it gets worse, I’ll rip it out, do a little more sleuthing to assure I have all the information I need to do the job 100% right and do it all over again. If anyone knows anything about how to properly laminate, I’m all ears!