I was at Audra State park in WV last week and navigating a very narrow campsite bordered by big rocks, I managed to punch a hole in the side of my belly pan just behind the hot water heater. I have enclosed a picture but for some reason it looks very dark in the attachment.
Should I bring it to Jackson Center for repair/replacement, duct tape it, ignore it or what? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
As a long time temporary repair I'd get some heavy aluminum tape. Put a couple layers of it, lapped, over the hole. Make the application look neat and you will be OK for as long as you want.
__________________ "If it can't be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production."
I would work the metal and smooth out as much as possible. Cut apiece of aluminum large enough to cover damage. Apply Sikaflex around the damage and pop rivet the aluminum in place. It is easier to drill the aluminum before the Sikaflex is applied. After pop riveting, you can apply Sikaflex around the edges for a repair that will last as long as you want it to. You could even paint it to match.
Sorry for your loss... and thanks for sharing what I have probably tried to hide for as long as possible!
This is why I've said in the past the outriggers are essentially break-away or crash-absorbing structures - the outrigger shown deflected the impact while deforming nicely in that crescent shape, while the mild-iron nut/bolt may just bend or snap before cratering the flooring/C-channel too badly.
Folks that 'heavy up' outriggers will be transmitting more force to frames/floors/shells when/if the odd boulder or stump reaches out and touches us... When I opened my 1973 27' up there were five outriggers in various stages of crumple, one was truly pretzeled up and ALL of them were simply covered up with fresh sheet aluminum BUT none of them had torn the primary ladder frame metal or put a great divot in the C-channel the way putting a thick structural steel outrigger with heavy welds up may have...
It's okay to put a cosmetic repair of a matching sheet of aluminum over the damaged section to finish out this camping/travel season but remember 'out-of-sight, out-of-mind' happens too easily and over time the unseen changes made will encourage more vibration getting loosed on the shell rivets.... so maybe be planning to pull that apart and replace the outrigger involved so it's ready to to be a good buggy-bumper next time...
__________________ The days are short and the night is long and the stars go tumbling by.. . ~Airstream~
It looks like banana wrap has hole not belly pan, nor do I see out rigger in pic. Banana wraps easily replaced except aluminum very scarce but plastic wraps readily avble. You can put tape or piece of aluminum over hole finish season then fix, but warning there is fiber glass insulation in wrap, when gets wet will not dry eventually rotting that section of floor and rusting frame and out rigger there.
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