Overcoming dent fear

[Louieless]

Hi all
Not sure if this topic goes here
How does an AS owner overcome his fear of dent worry since they are not easily and cheaply repaired?
Parking under a tree would be a threat
A curious onlooker may lean țo hard against the gorgeous body and accidentally dent it.

They seem so fragile. I'm sure a lot of people are like me, and that is wanting to keep their prized procession looking new year after year

Just curious

[RandyNH]

My boss uses one of these, you can probably have one made to fit

Protection

[MWBishop]

Not as fragile as you might think - just leaning against one likely won't dent it. However, dents will happen. For example I camped last fall under an oak tree and a couple of giant acorns fell and left a few pock marks on roof. It happens - just part of owning one. But the biggest fear of all AS owners is hail - will look like a golf-ball afterwards.

[JoeHTP]

...and you only have to worry about large hail. We have gotten caught in three medium size hail storms with no problems.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Louieless...

We could meet at Hoaks, you could walk down and see how "Cloudsplitter" looks after 15yrs.😂

Bob
🇺🇸

[AtomicNo13]

Not as delicate as you might think. A misapplied lean isn't going to wrinkle anything.....
However hail, low bridges, carports, and falling walnuts are not your friend. Little blemishes happen, we call those road trophy's... All the rest go to insurance! Get over your fear and enjoy... Stuff happens!

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Small dents are things that only you will notice. They simply add character to *your* trailer. They will involve a (hopefully eventually fun) story you can tell.

Hail can be an issue. We are visiting friends here and they are having the roof on their house replaced due to hail damage. Somehow I doubt many of us worry about the roof at home when the storms fire up ( storms ... not hurricanes ...). Trees, debris, and hail damage cars and trucks all the time. Again, not a big worry for most people.

Like all of life's odd occurrences, indeed things do happen. They happen a lot more rarely than you would think from reading posts here. Insurance ( = a good policy with real coverage) is most of the answer to this sort of thing. Covered storage that the trailer / car / truck is in > 50% of the time is another possible part of the answer.

If indeed, damage to your beautiful object (trailer, car, truck, home) is a big deal ..... don't buy one. (or buy a used one that already *has* dents ). This should be fun and not a worry. Being concerned is good. Being careful is very good. Worrying all the time should not be part of the deal.

Bob

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Small dents are things that only you will notice. They simply add character to *your* trailer. They will involve a (hopefully eventually fun) story you can tell.

Hail can be an issue. We are visiting friends here and they are having the roof on their house replaced due to hail damage. Somehow I doubt many of us worry about the roof at home when the storms fire up ( storms ... not hurricanes ...). Trees, debris, and hail damage cars and trucks all the time. Again, not a big worry for most people.

Like all of life's odd occurrences, indeed things do happen. They happen a lot more rarely than you would think from reading posts here. Insurance ( = a good policy with real coverage) is most of the answer to this sort of thing. Covered storage that the trailer / car / truck is in > 50% of the time is another possible part of the answer.

If indeed, damage to your beautiful object (trailer, car, truck, home) is a big deal ..... don't buy one. (or buy a used one that already *has* dents ). This should be fun and not a worry. Being concerned is good. Being careful is very good. Worrying all the time should not be part of the deal.

Bob

Yep...s**T happens...

Our boat was inside this smoke (you probably remember)👎...that's what insurance is for.

We got another boat and another policy. 👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[MWBishop]

But an A/S will definitely get bruised if someone (wife for example ) is not paying attention and backs an SUV into it (don't ask how I know).

[Boxite]

We experienced both types of damage on our recent 3-month trip. Heavy hail in Colorado Springs June12/13th... and then, in July a cottonwood tree vandalized the left/rear upper panel in Canyonlands Nat'l Mon. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it, but the wife says when I was backing-while-turning-right (the left sideview mirror became blind) the AS into a boondocking site my rear-view camera (that's it mounted just above the license-plate...maybe not the best location?) only showed the base of the tree and didn't display the upper part which was leaning over and contacted the AS. The good thing is.... you can see that panel was already damaged from the hail so the ins. co. doesn't make any difference on it.)


The ins. co. has bellied-up and all damaged panels will be replaced in Oct.

Life goes on being fun.

[Louieless]

Some good points here and yes, good insurance is good but unfortunately you don't realize this until you need it.
I agree with not sweating the small stuff but I guess another problem with an AS is having to drive probably a long distance to get a quality repair done. From what I've read here, most arent.
Dont mean to sound like a glass 1/2 empty guy but I'm the type that needs to analyze everything before I spend my hard earned money.
My 3 choices so far are the oliver, bigfoot and AS.
Unfortunately each brand has their pluses and minisus.

[Silvertwinkie]

I second the car capsule. I had a quote for a 30' (in case I ever upgrade) and it was about $3k. Mind you, even though that is very expensive, overlaying one panel can cost upward of $4 to $7k.


You will never protect it at all times, but if hail, kids on bikes is a concern, these outdoor rated car capsules seem like the best way to go outside of having a place to store it indoors.


http://carcapsule.com/

[Louieless]

Very nice, if I buy you a beverage maybe you could help talk me into one. I have so many reservations because of the issues I've been reading on here, but dam nice looking trailer

[uncle_bob]

Hi

There is no RV that is immune to damage from bumps. They all can be trashed by hail. None of them will withstand being backed into or having a big limb fall on them. Getting a proper repair on a fiberglass unit is no easier than playing with aluminum panels.

Indeed if you are easily scared, forums are not the place you want to be. Pick any truck, car, trailer, or motor home made. Go to the appropriate forum and you *will* find horror stories. You will find *lots* of horror stories. People have a problem (or hear about one) and they spend the next 20 years talking about it.

Airstreams have been around for a very long time. People have been doing "stuff" to them for almost as long. They don't just disintegrate after 10 years of use. People are still abusing some of them 50 years later. That gets you layers and layers of stories. Yes, the stories do go back that far. I started hearing them in the 1950's ....

In a forum (or around a campfire), nobody spends 20 years putting up posts / stories about "nothing happened today or ever in the last 20 years". That's a boring post. It does not get a conversation going. The only thing that might top it (in category ) would be .... well, I've had nothing happen for *30* years .... yawn .... Nobody is buying that guy a beer to hear the rest of the story ...


Bob

[Mattirs]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi
Indeed if you are easily scared, forums are not the place you want to be. Pick any truck, car, trailer, or motor home made. Go to the appropriate forum and you *will* find horror stories. You will find *lots* of horror stories. People have a problem (or hear about one) and they spend the next 20 years talking about it.

Bob

AMEN

My specialty at work is responding to RFP's of our current contracts. I keep asking and pleading with the contract managers for stories of were things went right under the contract, because all I hear from the client is about all the things that went wrong. A few of those contracts gave been saved because I was able to include emails from the client/public praising/thanking us for doing a good job thus saving them money or fostering good will with the public. Those stories are so hard to get, but the client always has a laundry list.

One is only as good as thier last mistake.

[AFTER TAXES]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Louieless...

We could meet at Hoaks, you could walk down and see how "Cloudsplitter" looks after 15yrs.😂

Bob
🇺🇸

ROBERT CROSS KNOWS..........

[Louieless]

Well, one thing I'd have to disagree with, fiberglass with gel coat is much easier to repair than riveted polished, clear coated aluminum.
I rolled over my 1996 Corvette and rebuilt it when I was a piss pot college grad years ago (boy, those were the days). Learned my lesson, no insurgence claim my father said, go fix it your self. I guess he had the right since he was paying my insurance, LOL.

Also, there are a lot of great body shops out there that specialize in fiberglass body repair, riveted aluminum to AS specs, not so much

JM$0.02

David

[dznf0g]

Well, unfortunately, the cure for dent fear is....dents. It takes time, like 5 - 7 years, for me.

[rmkrum]

Had a friend that was showing off his brand new sedan. Perfect shine, no scratches, not even a speck of dust. Simply perfect. He was standing there, then said, “oh, crud, almost forgot to...” Yanks keys out of pocket, selects one, and promptly gouges a scratch into the driver’s side door near the keyhole! The crowd was aghast! “Rick, what the heck are you doing to a new car!!!!” “Now another scratch is not going to bother me one little bit! “

Kinda made sense, unlike the other dude in our lot, that gave me total hell for ten minutes for parking my old pickup’ front bumper within 2 inches of his shiny front bumper...he washed his car at least once a week. My truck, maybe once every year or two...if it needed it[emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

He did not like my comment about my being, “unable to understand how a mass-produced vehicle makes a personal statement,” either!

[Troutboy]

Second time backing my brand new 2017 FC into driveway I hit a landscape boulder and dented the bumper. Took off the bumper, pounded it out, and it’s fine. No big deal, you can tell but who cares. We camp off grid all the time in tight spaces, it has scratches from bushes and tree limbs, no big dents yet. Then had a small spot near top of awning peel. factory would replace entire panel fro free, or give me $$$$$.

I took the money. Bottom line, scratches, dents, clear coat on peeled panel, it’s just looks. I didn’t buy the AS to look at it, I bought it to camp. And it camps just fine, even with the self imposed marks, and I know where each of them are.

There are more shops that work on AS than you would think. In fact the best ones are NOT the dealers in most places. I’ll never take my AS to the dealer for anything, but there’s three places close buy that do aftermarket work that I would go to in a minute.

Make you decision, buy what you want, and have fun in it. Deal with what happens when it happens, don’t sweat it now.... stress is bad for you!