Dent formed in side

[turk123]

I woke up this morning and looked outside and there is a dent in the side of my trailer. Now we just bought this trailer a week ago and stayed in it last night in our driveway. Dent wasn't there when we went to bed. How could it be there now!

I am a bit upset. Is this normal? Last night was the first cool night we've had here in a long time. It went down to 56 degrees. this morning the sun is hitting the trailer on that side. Could this be an issue with how it was put together? I will post some pictures later, but the dent is about a foot around.

Any ideas?

[n2916s]

Oil canning. Aluminum changes dimensions with varying temperature. Should look normal soon as it warms up.

[dkottum]

Normal expansion of the shell panels, the "dent" will most probably go away when the sun moves away and the shell cools tonight. The underbody panels act the same way, and sometimes may be heard as thunder just walking through the Airstream.

[ArtisanAir]

the stabilizing Jack's can cause this issue also. The longer the trailer the more susceptible it is to this issue. If the heat doesn't correct it try putting it back on its tires and see if that fixed it

[AWCHIEF]

I have a dent (previous owner) on the right rear side. It comes and goes as the seasons change. Just another of those little Airstream quirks.

[turk123]

Here is the first one. A second one developed as I watched

[turk123]

Second one under vent

[ijustlee]

Try holding an ice cube in the middle of the dent and see what it does! My guess it will suck right back to normal but reappear when sun first hits that panel. I don't know if you can stop this from happening without going through a lot of work to permanently shrink that panel a bit. Probably not worth the effort.

[dkottum]

Best not to mess with it, may cause permanent crease. The panel metal has to expand in the sun's heat, it's the nature of things.

[Safari Streamer]

It's brand new, I'd call the factory!

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by Safari Streamer

It's brand new, I'd call the factory!

I agree. I do get some very mild panel deformation with sun heat but nothing like as much as that. I would not be happy with that, especially on a new trailer.

Brian.

[Kent M]

Originally Posted by ArtisanAir

the stabilizing Jack's can cause this issue also. The longer the trailer the more susceptible it is to this issue. If the heat doesn't correct it try putting it back on its tires and see if that fixed it

Just in passing, and I do NOT have a full grasp of your understanding of stabilizing jacks, the stabilizing jacks are not to be used to lift the tires off the ground. I realize that's not exactly what you said, but I take "putting it back on its tires" means they were off the ground.

You may know this (some don't), but just in case, the trailer should be levelled in some fashion (and there are several ways to do this, of course), and the stabilizing pads should be extended to put maybe a 1/2 inch or so lift to the trailer at each of the pads to keep the trailer from rocking when someone is walking inside.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if wrinkles (maybe permanent ones) were to develop by using the stabilizing jacks as lifts to take the tires off the ground. There are a couple of other bad results to that practice, as well.....


Did I miss your point?


Kent
Houston

[turk123]

Originally Posted by Kent M

Just in passing, and I do NOT have a full grasp of your understanding of stabilizing jacks, the stabilizing jacks are not to be used to lift the tires off the ground. I realize that's not exactly what you said, but I take "putting it back on its tires" means they were off the ground.

You may know this (some don't), but just in case, the trailer should be levelled in some fashion (and there are several ways to do this, of course), and the stabilizing pads should be extended to put maybe a 1/2 inch or so lift to the trailer at each of the pads to keep the trailer from rocking when someone is walking inside.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if wrinkles (maybe permanent ones) were to develop by using the stabilizing jacks as lifts to take the tires off the ground. There are a couple of other bad results to that practice, as well.....


Did I miss your point?


Kent
Houston

Nothing left the ground. I was told how to use the stabilizers and just snugged the ground to stop rocking.

As the sun grew higher in the sky, the dents dissappeared. I guess i will have to keep as eye on it. I dont really want them to be a permanent thing.

[Kent M]

Originally Posted by turk123

Nothing left the ground. I was told how to use the stabilizers and just snugged the ground to stop rocking.

As the sun grew higher in the sky, the dents dissappeared. I guess i will have to keep as eye on it. I dont really want them to be a permanent thing.

My comment was two fold, but mostly to confirm that no one would use the stabilizers as trailer jacks.

One less-than-serious question I do have of you is "Why keep an eye on them?" If they do it again, you have excellent reason to believe they won't be permanent, just as others above related. It's an interesting phenomenon, to be sure, and an excellent conversation starter.....


Kent
Houston

[Howard L.]

I agree with Safari and Wingeezer that is a lot of oil canning. A large unsupported area will do that with heat change. But those relative small panel areas? and the sharp small size of the canning? I would have trouble living with that. I doubt if there is anything that can be done other than maybe the metal may relax given time and not react so aggressively to temp changes. That panel is under stress, so some part of the construction process did not run as smoothly as with sister trailers.

[Ray Eklund]

I have a 2014 25 foot International, purchased new.

First noticed an area that was not 'flat', where is should be flat... after bringing the trailer home after purchase. It almost appears as if someone leaned their 'back side' into the trailer or pushed into it with some effort.

The slight dented area is between the riveted area, under the rear two side windows, on the door side of the trailer. The panel area measures 41" wide between rivets, and 33" below the lower window frame. This light indent has not changed since purchase.

This indent could be from:

-the original aluminum panel had a 'bow' in that section when cutting to size
-when riveted there was too much and bowed inward some

Although nothing like those posted. Just enough to notice. Although in my case, not enough to care.

It is noticed best after a wet road throws spray onto the sides of the trailer. This area is slightly indented, so the road spray passes over and the dried road dirt is reduced in the indented area. Maybe 30" x 20" total within this section.

I have put a four foot level straight level edge across it to even measure the indent and 'three quarters' will drop between the skin and edge. From flush on top, increasing to three quarters indent, back to flush as you go further down the side.

I suspect my Airstream was 'hand made' by Earthlings and differs, somewhat, from those that were not made ON this World, but somewhere else...

If you were not aware it existed, one would not notice. But if the lighting is right... I found it. Turk123 would prefer mine over theirs any day!

[turk123]

Originally Posted by Kent M

My comment was two fold, but mostly to confirm that no one would use the stabilizers as trailer jacks.

One less-than-serious question I do have of you is "Why keep an eye on them?" If they do it again, you have excellent reason to believe they won't be permanent, just as others above related. It's an interesting phenomenon, to be sure, and an excellent conversation starter.....


Kent
Houstan

You're right. I did send pictures to my dealer though just in case.

[Voltair]

First timer posting from a South Pacific Island, my 345 had this prob, tension in how panel was first installed maybe, anyway it upset me so in checking it out I found the pink insulation material had shrunk or slipped in behind the panel, so I managed to repack new insulation from the inside using trickery. No more buckle lovely..