Crying... hail damage...

[PWRSTRK]

I don't have the emotional strength to read the historic threads on this tonight, but I just got home from vacation to find that Saturday's storms here created HAIL DAMAGE on my precious Lucy's front face.

Woe is me.


Tom (and Frank)

[ArtStream]

Oh man,

So sorry to hear of your damage.
Hail is every Airstream owners nightmare.
My thoughts are with you.

Michael

[InsideOut]

I am sick for you! When you can stomach it, post pictures. Sounds like you should have taken Lucy with you on THIS vacation ~

Some of the shallower ones may pop out with time...heating and cooling will do that over some time.

Sorry....

Shari

[Rick Gillis]

You just made my heart stop….I have a new Bunkhouse in a storage yard in Oak Brook, about 15 miles southwest of you. It hasn’t even gone on its inaugural trip yet. Tomorrow after work I’ll pay her a visit and bring my step ladder along!

The storms that went through here last week were very bad. Most suburbs and the city of Chicago set off their tornado alarms when a funnel cloud was seen over Park Ridge. Where I live, River Forest, the alarms went off but the weather never really got too bad. We had a minute or two of heavy rain, and then it was done. It never occurred to me to check the AS because the storm was mild where we live.

I wonder if the Paintless Dent Remover guys would be able to get them out. My neighbor parked his new BMW under his Oak Tree overnight last year and woke up to find multiple dents on his hood and trunk from acorns falling. He took it in to the Paintless Dent Remover shop and they were able to remove all of the dents for a reasonable cost.

I feel your pain. Hail is the lone fear we AS owners have of Mother Nature. All the best and give the Paintless Dent Remover guys a call. Let me know if it works.

[Minnie's Mate]

Oh man. You have my sympathies. Like others have said, this is my greatest fear. I too have a 30' bunk and because they discontinued the floor plan I don't want something like that to happen that would do that kind of damage.

Let us know how things go.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Rick Gillis

[FONT=Arial]
I wonder if the Paintless Dent Remover guys would be able to get them out. My neighbor parked his new BMW under his Oak Tree overnight last year and woke up to find multiple dents on his hood and trunk from acorns falling. He took it in to the Paintless Dent Remover shop and they were able to remove all of the dents for a reasonable cost.

Most likely not. Aluminum stretches badly when impacted and dents are usually permanent.

[myboyburt]

So sorry to hear this news.

Our beloved Airstream is NEVER outside of her barn if we are not traveling. We hope to keep dings and dents down by storing her inside.

But if we end up among the unfortunate folks that have their Airstreams
"Bismarked" she will be repaired. Even if insurance does not cover the cost

[Frank S]

Hi PWRSTRK--Sorry to hear about your hail damage. Got my A/S christened in Limon CO about 8-years ago, plus $2300 damage on a new Suburban. There is a possible bright side to this dark cloud. Put in an insurance claim, pocket the money (which you can as it represents lost value to you), and tell everyone a great story about how your A/S got all those pock marks. Probably a bad case of aluminitius contracted when you parked next to a truck load of canned beer at a rest stop. There are lots of nasty things you can catch at rest stops. If you look close, most vintage A/S have some hail damage. It doesn't affect their function.--Frank S

[rufnit]

Originally Posted by PWRSTRK

I don't have the emotional strength to read the historic threads on this tonight, but I just got home from vacation to find that Saturday's storms here created HAIL DAMAGE on my precious Lucy's front face.

Woe is me.


Tom (and Frank)

I see you are located nearby. Glenview took a hit from the hail too. Our bambi has a hole in one of the roof vents and AC shroud. Worse thing is all the dents on the surface. I fear taking it to get fixed because the repair could be worse. I would like to hear your plans for the repair.

[CaddyGrn]

Very tragic ~ so very sorry. An awful day. I hope there is a silver lining in this cloud somewhere!

I suggest moving to California. We usually only have earthquakes, fires, drought, floods, and mudslides.

Let us know how bad when you find your strength. So sad.

Mrs. NorCal Bambi (traveling in S Tardis)

[85MH325]

Guys, while hail on an Airstream is always tragic, you have to keep some perspective.

This is quoted from Dr. Gerald N. Johnson on the VAC listserve from some years ago:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, electrical engineer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Multiple recipients of VACList" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 11:07 PM
Subject: [VAC] Re: Picked up our Airstream but....


> There was near universal hail damage at Bismarck in 1993. My dad was
> there with the Caravel I now own. He said none of its dents came from
> Bismarck, though the newer trailers with the thinner skins and the
> plastic vent lids suffered a great deal more. He claimed that all the
> dents in the Caravel (visible on my web page,
> http://homepages.isunet.net/geraldj/caravel.htm) came from house
> destroying hail storms in Missouri. One had hail big enough to penetrate
> double panes of glass, roofing, and sometimes roof boards. He's told me
> that some of the newer trailers at Bismarck, had 6" of ice and water in
> them when the owners opened the doors after the storm. Many were at
> meetings downtown when the storm when through.
>
> Gerald J.

Almost all of the trailers at the Bismarck International in 1993 were damaged. Many of those trailers are still around, many having been sold several times. It's tough to find them and still recognize them as a "Bismarck trailers" as they were known. Even on those that weren't repaired, most of the dents have popped out over the years with the heat/cool cycles of summer and winter (depending, of course, on the severity of the denting.)

Roger