Roof Dent

[Lilyfielding]

While camping in the Smokies - a raccoon??? fell on the roof. I have a football size dent in the left corner of the roof. 22 foot 2018 Sport. One seam is involved in the dent, but intact and holding with no visible strain.
Is there a product to reinforce the seam? When it rains, I live in Florida, so that is everyday, water does accumulate.

Thanks, one year in and have already replaced the front panel - truck tire hit on the same trip - but I love my AS.

[Minno]

I know that a neighbor of ours at International Rally this year had a dent about that size in her 1990 front left corner (didn't involve a seam, though). It miraculously popped out in the summer sun there, leaving a slight crease. I also know that sometimes dents like that can be suction cupped back out if you could find someone to try. I don'[t know if the seam would have a negative effect on popping it back out, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Might be worth a try, though, before you go to the expense of replacing the area. $$$
Good luck!

Kay

[brick1]

Aluminum is hard to fix. Live with it, or take a trip to Jackson Center for a proper repair.
brick

[GMFL]

Pull that thing out with a suction cup and roll

[rmkrum]

Or try an appropriately sized car or wheelbarrow inner tube that will completely surround the dent area, a piece of 3/4 plywood to fully cover the inner tube, with a hole drilled in the plywood to apply the end of a shop vac hose.

Inflate the tube enough to keep the plywood sheet well off the roof, put the plywood on top, and power up the shop vac. Apply gentle and slowly increasing suction to the assembly. If you are lucky, the dent will pop out to very close to the original contour.

Sometimes this will pop out a largish dent easily, using only atmospheric air pressure from the other side. If there are no creases or holes in the original dent, this may give very nice results.

Worth a try, and much better than living with a big dent in rainy places...

[Ganaraska]

Have heard of popping out dents with dry ice. Apply dry ice to the dent, it shrinks the metal causing the metal to flatten out then pop out the other way.

[HiHoAgRV]

I second the inner tube trick. It works great even if there is a joint

[Too tall]

I learn things here. Brilliant.

Originally Posted by rmkrum

Or try an appropriately sized car or wheelbarrow inner tube that will completely surround the dent area, a piece of 3/4 plywood to fully cover the inner tube, with a hole drilled in the plywood to apply the end of a shop vac hose.

Inflate the tube enough to keep the plywood sheet well off the roof, put the plywood on top, and power up the shop vac. Apply gentle and slowly increasing suction to the assembly. If you are lucky, the dent will pop out to very close to the original contour.

Sometimes this will pop out a largish dent easily, using only atmospheric air pressure from the other side. If there are no creases or holes in the original dent, this may give very nice results.

Worth a try, and much better than living with a big dent in rainy places...

[MWBishop]

Wow, that is an incredible stroke of misfortune.
However, everyone wants to know.
Were you in the trailer when the raccoon(?) fell on it?