Hail damage

for those in the austin area you may already know about the storm here. My trailer was damaged or atleast the vent covers were damaged. Its going to take the heartland dealer in Georgetown 14 to 15 weeks for repair. I need the trailer ASAP, Are these repair hard to do? Can an average job to them?

Unless they're completed shattered, you could consider putting MaxxAir covers over them until you can get them fixed on your schedule. I had them on our TT and bought a set today after our check-out tour to install this weekend. They're pretty easy to put on.

landp
You said that the vent covers were damaged. If that is all that was damage you should be able to make the repairs. If the cover for the refer, or others are broken also you can likely replace them also. Take a photo of them and go to the nearest RV Dealer or Parts store and see what the replacement parts look like.

The hardest part is getting the sealant removed from the roof. I replaced the vent on my SOB. Get a new vent and other covers and self leveling sealant. When I tried to replace the vent the screws that went into the boards of the opening were short and didn't go very far into the board. I used larger lag bolts to hold the vent down.

Be careful when you try to get the sealant off the rubber roof. Don't use a putty knife and don't use any petroleum product to remove the old sealant. Also if you scrub the rubber roof real hard you might find it will stretch.

If you can get on roof of the trailer you can most likely replace the vents.
No fear

Hope this helps..

Sorry to hear about the damage, my niece lives in Cedar Park and was on 183 and the hail took out front and back windows and the car looks like it has a bad case of pock marks all over. She had glass in her hair and in her pocketbook. I agree with TXBOBCAT and you should be able to replace them. Just do as he says about the sealant. If it is a warm day it will be much easier to remove. I would then put the MaxAire covers on. Good Luck

lmcclure said:

I would then put the MaxAire covers on. Good Luck

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landp
I agree with lmcclure about the MaxAire covers. The MaxAire covers are in addition to replacing the original vents. The advantage to MaxAire is they will protect the vents and if you open the vents while going down the highway it will help cool the inside of your trailer while closed up going down the highway. You can install the MaxAire in addition to the vents.

If the brand of fans that had damaged covers are Fantastic Vent Corp, contact them and they will likely send you replacement covers for free

Seriously - make the call: [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]800-521-0298 / servicetech@fantasticvent.com

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There is absolutely no reason it should take 6 weeks to make that repair. All of the vents on the roof should be able to be repaired in less than half a day. (less if you know what you are doing). Getting the parts would take a week. If you really want to take it to Explore RV they do good work but I would seriously talk to the service manager about that time frame. If that doesn't work you can email the owner from their website. I know their owner reads this forum so if you are not happy with them he will find out.

TXBobcat said:

landp
I agree with lmcclure about the MaxAire covers. The MaxAire covers are in addition to replacing the original vents. The advantage to MaxAire is they will protect the vents and if you open the vents while going down the highway it will help cool the inside of your trailer while closed up going down the highway. You can install the MaxAire in addition to the vents.

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You CAN install the MaxAire in addition to all vents except the Fantastic Fans...and you can install them there too. Fantastic Fans does not recommend you use the covers.

Thanks for the replies and the advice. I purchased maxxair covers for now and will also have to replace the vent covers. All the RV stores I called are out of them. It seems I am not the only person to have hail damage to their trailer.

All my lower skirting, plastic fenders, doors and roof corners are dented badly. Can I assume I am looking for a significant time for repairs.

jjbowl said:

All my lower skirting, plastic fenders, doors and roof corners are dented badly. Can I assume I am looking for a significant time for repairs.

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Yep, I would give them at least 2 months. Thank goodness for insurance huh?

I'd say, generally 2 weeks for getting the parts, "once they are ordered". Probably a couple days of work for sure. Select your repair center carefully and make sure they are willing to order in the parts, and only call your unit in when they are "ready to start working". Get a time estimate from them on work time. Also ask them to double check all parts once they get them, "before" they call your unit in. Hate to see the parts ordered wrong or sent wrong and have your unit down even longer during the reship time.

Jim

jmgratz said:

Yep, I would give them at least 2 months. Thank goodness for insurance huh?

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If y'all are talking qbout fiberglass...you are talking broke...not bent.

Check out the back of the "dented" piece.

Musta been some D***ned big hail stones.

Same question goes for the roof. Even though the rubber material can stretch and flex when hit... the material below does not as much.

I watched at one Camping World shop on the west side of Albuquerque NM... peal off the rubber roof of an RV... and then skin over the existing roof material with another layer of plywood... so they could then install a new Rubber Roof. The Repair crew said they've replaced many many RV roofs... that were hit by hail.... they said the rough broken edges of the damaged wood roof material would end up puncturing the Rubber Roof material and cause lots of leaks.

Good Luck !