On July 20, 2009 our Bambi suffered massive hail damage in a major Denver Colorado storm.
Luckily, we had “full replacement coverage” on our National Interstate insurance policy, which in early spring 2010 struck a deal with Timeless Travel Trailers (“TTT”) to do the serious repairs. TTT had some delays to its own scheduling, and the work was begun about mid-April. The following was done under the insurance agreement:
1. Both end caps replaced.
2. Left side and roof metal replaced.
3. New air conditioner, rear window, fantastic fan, several other vents, and rear bumper cargo hatch recovered.
4. Decals, insignia, and other “small” items.
I also asked them to do the following work (unrelated to the hail damage) at my own expense:
a. Replace the STOCK but UNDER-CAPACITY axle, which necessitated replacing wheels and tires (factory specs allowed just 90 lbs over dry wt for all our stuff).
b. Remove the TV antenna which is not used by us to watch TV anyway.
c. Fix the rear belly pan from “oil canning.” This had caused a number of rivets to fail on it and was only noticed during a strong wind from the rear while parked.
d. Repair a small water leak from the city water input fitting when heating water with the water heater.
All was going well until TTT removed the rear end cap to replace it and found the floor rotted for about 4 feet forward from the bumper.
It was replaced with plywood, carpet, and diamond plate at our expense. It appears to have been poor design in the first place but has been “cured” by the repairs per TTT.
Conclusions: In the main, TTT’s work has been most satisfactory, with the following comments:
1. When I picked it up as “ready”, I found that the rear belly pan had not been fully re-riveted; it was fixed immediately.
2. TTT’s own need for rescheduling and the above mentioned “surprises” resulted in a final pickup date (5/28/10) just a few days before we were due to return to full-timing after a year’s absence and drive to meet a friend in Washington State. This left us little time to fully check out the repairs, let alone correct anything that might need it, or to verify that we had packed what we needed to re-outfit the RV.
3. TTT had pressure-tested the water system and found it okay. I found first one leak, then another, neither of which TTT had caused and which TTT did at its own expense repair promptly and well but which caused them and us stress in the last few days as we were trying to leave (the workers gave up part of their Memorial Day weekend, for which I thank them heartily).
4. The end caps Airstream sent to TTT were not identical to the ones they replaced, and thus there are small irregularities where some of the interior panels meet.
5. I would like to compliment TTT for installing the air conditioner straighter than it was originally.
6. National Interstate (primarily Elizabeth Mann) was courteous, professional, and very cooperative considering the number of claims being processed from that hailstorm.
I would give TTT an A+ for the physical work that they did and maybe a B- for scheduling and communicating about that, and Airstream a C for its delay in shipping parts and the irregularities in the end caps. I would like to especially thank Terry Wall at TTT for the time he took in explaining all of what had to be done, and for his help in getting our little home back on the road again; thank you, Terry.