Tampa for body work?

[Barretta2]

I was exiting a gated community when the security gate closed on my 2012 FC. Significant body damage: door jammed, rear awning arm pushed back which ripped the panel seam top and bottom are the worst, although it also skewed the opposite side Equilizer bar so it was very tight to remove.
I live in Naples, FL…is there consensus that I should take it to Airstream of Tampa for repair?
TIA

[Tater]

I would go to Jackson Center.

[Rocinante]

Have you considered Airstream of South Florida at North Trail in Fort Meyers? I've never used them, but they are close to you.

[KK4YZ]

We had body work done at Southland Airstream/RV in Norcross, GA (metro ATL).
Like you, our incident included the rear awning arm being ripped off. They did a nice repair job.

They replaced the two rear corner panels and reinforced the awning attach point with an aluminum plate. Looks good. They gave me the option of replacing the entire upper side panel in lieu of the plate. I went with the plate.

They do a lot of body work there and stock the body panels. Because there isn’t access to interior without removing interior panels, they use Olympic rivets. As a precaution I sealed each new rivet with Captain Tolley’s. This probably wasn’t necessary since a sealing tape goes down in between panels where the rivets go.

You’ll hear a lot of different opinions re: Olympic rivets, however.

Just research the local dealer, as you are doing. If they do a lot of body work and have a good reputation I wouldn’t hesitate to use them.

[gypsydad]

I had significant damage to my right rear quarter panel from backing into a pole while parking last year...I looked at several local TX locations but ended up going with JC as I wanted other stuff done as well while there.

That said, I visited Tampa (flew) to help my son pick up his Basecamp20X earlier this year...had I brought my AS, I would have had them fix the body damage; they were very knowledgeable about body work on an AS, had capacity resources, and could quoted me 3 day turnaround with similar $$ as JC. I saw some work they were in process of completing on another AS unit. I talked with them and was impressed. I would have taken my unit there if it were closer to TX...but as I mentioned, I wanted other work done at JC, like squeaky floor fixed, and we also wanted to attend Alumalina so we coordinated a month long trip; (ended up going down to St. Augustine and Destin FL anyway.)