What Size Hail Can Airstreams Take?

[KJRitchie]

Can Airstreams handle hail as good, worse or better as a car or pickup truck?

Thank

Kelvin

[dkottum]

Much worse, aluminum is not as strong as steel.

doug k

[SteveH]

We were in a hail storm in Canada on the way back from Alaska in '08. The hail was not very large (I would estimate sweet pea sized), but it was so thick we could not see, and had to stop. We were towing a '75 23 foot then, and there was no damage from the hail.

I have observed that Airstreams receive more damage from hail on the end pieces than other places, and I think it must be because of the type of aluminum that is used to get the compound curves.

[NJtoNC]

we have a 62' GT and had two bad hail storms in 2011. our car wasnt damaged and neither was our trailer, but our next door neighbor had his asphalt shingled roof repaired due to hail damage... And there was a whole lot of car hail damage repair signs for the following 6 months. i'd say some of the hail was the size of a quarter.

[afneill]

In my opinion and from what I have witnessed, the Airstream will come out much worse than a car or pickup. I had a friend whose Airstream had all the windows beat out of one side while they were camping in it. They held the mattress over the opening to protect themselves from the hail. One consideration for how much damage hail will inflict is how hard the hail stones are. Obviously size matters too. I have seen hail stones so hard that when they fell on pavement they bounced back upward 12-15 feet in the air. Hardness is determined, at least in part, by how tall the producing cloud is. The taller the cloud the colder the temperature in the upper reaches plus the amount of time a hail stone spends developing. If you get caught in the wrong storm you are at the mercy of Mother Nature and sometimes she's not very merciful!

[dznf0g]

Not sure how much hail my AS can take....but I can't take it being in ANY. My heart starts to beat irregularly just thinking about it!

[clemdogmom]

At the International Rally in Bismark in 1993, baseball sized hail attacked all of our Airstreams and damaged the aluminum on most, if not all, of them. I had to have 8 panels replaced. The Bismark newspaper printed banners for us saying "I've been Bismarked". The good news was I had just had solar panels installed and they survived undamaged!

Martha

[Melody Ranch]

If you live in Frisco any hail you get...ANY.....can hurt and total an Airstream. There is nowhere you can accurately guess the hail size your going to get...its all bad up here in Texas.

[dwightdi]

The size of the hail is important and as well as the wind speed that is present. I had my 63 damaged and windows broken by one inch diameter hail that came with 100 mph wind, as measured by Doppler radar. Later model trailers, at the same rally, were damaged more as they are of thinner aluminum. A number of the trailers were totaled and some were repaired. I think anything over 1/2 inch is a potential problem, especially if accompanied by high winds.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Any size hail can damage an Airstream, depending on the velocity at the point of impact.

Very small hail can cause damage, if the wind speed or towing speed is adequate.

Andy

[Phoenix]

A few years ago, we got caught in a hail storm on I-25 just south of Raton Pass (Colorado/New Mexico border). The hail was about marble sized. We stopped on the shoulder for a couple of minutes, so we weren't driving 60 mph in it. However, we decided to continue on at slow speed (45 mph) due to fear of being rear-ended by traffic that was still driving 75. Hail was so thick that we could only see a few car-lengths ahead. Luckily, it only lasted a couple of miles, and the hail stones didn't get any bigger.

Also, we dodged a bullet returning from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta about two years ago. Phoenix had a big hail storm that hit about 3-4 hours before we got home. It was so bad that we had to replace the shingles on our roof and repaint our house. Also, our Prius had light hail damage that we didn't claim; because it was minor and due to the age of the vehicle. Luckily, we had stopped in Flagstaff for dinner; and we didn't go through any hail with our Bambi and Tundra.

[KJRitchie]

Thanks for everyone's comments. Yes, I've had a roof replaced a couple of years ago due to hail and cars parked outside got damaged also, luckily my cars were in the garage. I'm currently not an Airstream owner but I've been contemplating finding a preowned Airstream and I wanted to get an idea about this issue. So is insurance for an Airstream much higher than a regular fiberglass trailer due to hail damage?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

Thanks for everyone's comments. Yes, I've had a roof replaced a couple of years ago due to hail and cars parked outside got damaged also, luckily my cars were in the garage. I'm currently not an Airstream owner but I've been contemplating finding a preowned Airstream and I wanted to get an idea about this issue. So is insurance for an Airstream much higher than a regular fiberglass trailer due to hail damage?

Absolutely NOT.

Smaller hail dents will, in time, disappear, when exposed to the sun, in warm weather, at least on the side and roof sheets.

The softer metal used for the segments, will almost always never return to the undamaged condition.

That was proved over and over again, hundreds of times, back in 1970.

Andy

[dbj216]

Hail damage is a bain for Airstreams. I have golf ball sized dents in my end caps, fridge vent, and less on the roof from a hail storm. My tow vehicle suffered bean sized dents on the steel roof.

My friends say my Airstream will now tow better with the aerodynamic dents in the skin.

David

[mefly2]

Aluminum skin is easily damaged by hail ... rush to an overpass to park under ... or even a tree to mitigate the damage ... in a pinch throw a couple of blankets over the top ...

[robert claus]

A few years ago, a hailstorm shattered the a/c shroud and broke through the two plastic vent covers. I replaced those myself. The end caps now wear some small dents that are only apparent in some light conditions. I don't think that anyone but me notices them. I didn't even consider making an insurance claim, as I didn't want to risk a disagreement about the value of my trailer.

[Doug2009FC]

My 2009 FC suffered severe hail damage in June of 2012. Probably have over 700 dings on the top, sides, front and rear panels. I didn't personally see the hail size, but watched a local news video that showed about golf ball sized hail hitting the area where my Airstream was stored. I was devastated to see the damage, but the 20K check my insurance company coughed up helped me get over it. I chalked a few seam areas that had popped and replaced my AC shroud and will live with the dents. I have noticed a lot of the dents looked smaller toward the end of last summer. When standing about 20' away, I have a hard time noticing the dents; especially when it has some road dirt on it. I now have an Airstream I still love, but at a much more affordable price. I was quoted 25K to replace the roof, sides, front and end panels.

[Inland RV Center, In]

It's not the size of the hail necessarily, but also the wind velocity driving it.

The higher the wind, the more the damage becomes from the same exact sized hail.

Hail damage settlements, other than those exterior items that must be replaced, should always be stated by each individual panel.

In that way, should the same panel be damaged by collision, as an example, then the amount paid for the same panel for hail, can be deducted. That makes an insurance settlement fair for the company as it does for the owner.

Hail damage, or dents from the hail, most of the time, will almost completely disappear in time, simply from the heat of the sun and the coolness of the nights, but only on the roof and sides.

However, since all segments and quarter panels from 1969 to today, are a softer material than the roof and sides of Airstream and Argosy coaches, the hail dents in those sections, will rarely if ever disappear.

Many times I have gone back to the same owners living in "hail alley" year after year. I would show them the photo's of previous hail damage to their coach, that have simply disappeared. Seldom did an owner originally accept that fact, but as time went on, the word got out.

That made my job much easier each additional time that I visited them, for the purpose of settling with them for the new damages.

Should someone decide to replace panels, that were damaged by hail, they should absolutely keep accurate records that they have done so. In that way, should the same coach have another hail loss, a different approach to establishing the loss of value should be taken.

During my Airstream insurance time, I personally settled more than 1,000 hail loss claims, and as many as 24 of them in one day. But hey, I was younger then too.

Andy

[tuffr2]

Is hail damage just cosmetic or will there be leaks caused hail damage?

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

Is hail damage just cosmetic or will there be leaks caused hail damage?

Strictly cosmetic.



No leaks in all that damage.