# Travel trailer skin and roof rebuilt after an inland hail event

> The trailer was in outdoor storage inland when a hail event passed over. Both aluminium sidewalls carried dents across their full height, dense enough on the front third that individual impacts overlapped. The front cap showed impact stars in the fibreglass, two roof vent lids were shattered, the skylight over the shower was cracked through, and the roof membrane carried several bruised areas where hail had driven the material against the deck fasteners beneath it.

**Source:** https://ocrv.life/resources/case-studies/travel-trailer-hail-damage
**Business:** OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887
**Phone:** (949) 799-3387
**Serving:** San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California, roughly 26 miles from the facility

**Vehicle:** 2020 Keystone Cougar 26RBS travel trailer
**Labour:** 72 to 88 hours across body, paint and roof departments
**Price band:** Aluminum skin and sidewall replacement, $2,500 to $25,000 and up
**Carrier:** National General

## Scope

- Panel by panel hail mapping with dent counts recorded per zone and photographed for carrier submission
- Roof inspected separately for impact damage, since initial carrier inspections rarely include climbing up
- Damaged aluminium skin sections replaced where dent density made straightening uneconomical
- Paintless dent removal used on the rear wall where impacts were sparse and the skin was still sound
- Front cap impact stars ground out, laminated back and refinished with the graphics scheme reprinted
- Two roof vent lids and the shower skylight replaced, all penetrations resealed with correct chemistry
- Bruised membrane areas assessed against the deck, patched where sound and sectioned where compromised

## What happened

Hail claims are settled on documentation, not on damage. Two trailers with identical damage can settle thousands of dollars apart depending entirely on whether the first estimate carried a panel by panel dent map or a sentence describing hail damage to both sides. OCRV Center maps hail before anything else happens: zones marked out, counts recorded per zone, and photographs taken with raking light so the impacts actually show. It takes most of a day and it is the highest value hour on the job.

The roof is the other half of the argument. Initial carrier inspections on hail claims are frequently done in a storage lot by an adjuster who does not climb up, so roof damage goes unrecorded and the owner discovers it two seasons later as a leak. On this trailer two vent lids were shattered, the shower skylight was cracked through, and several membrane areas were bruised where hail had driven the material onto the deck fasteners beneath. All of it went into the first supplement with photographs taken from the roof surface.

Repair strategy split by dent density. Across the front two thirds of both walls the impacts overlapped, which makes straightening uneconomical and produces a wavy result even when it works, so those skin sections were replaced. The rear wall carried sparse impacts on sound skin and was corrected with paintless dent removal instead. Mixing methods on one trailer is normal and it is cheaper than committing to either approach across the whole vehicle.

The front cap needed a second supplement. Impact stars in gelcoat look shallow and frequently are not: grinding them out on this cap showed damage running below the gelcoat into the laminate, which meant resin and matting work rather than fill and paint. That finding was photographed and submitted rather than absorbed, because absorbing it is how a shop ends up cutting corners on the repair it did not get paid for.

Refinishing a whole trailer side is a different exercise from spotting in a panel. Colour was read with a spectrophotometer, sprayed onto a card, cleared and cured under booth conditions, then held against the surviving rear section in daylight before anything was shot. The walls were prepped and primer surfaced and blocked flat, because a long flat aluminium wall shows every wave once it is glossy. The graphics scheme was reprinted and applied after the finish had properly cured.

Roof work closed it out. Bruised membrane was assessed against the deck rather than judged from above, patched where the material and deck were sound and sectioned where they were not, and every penetration reset with the correct sealant chemistry for the membrane type. The roof was then water tested before release. The final settlement landed well above the carrier's first offer, and the difference tracked almost exactly to the dent map and the roof photographs filed at the start.

## Timeline

- **Day 1** Trailer delivered to the Yorba Linda facility. Full hail map recorded panel by panel with dent counts per zone and photographed.
- **Day 2** Roof inspected and photographed from the surface. Vent lids, skylight and bruised membrane areas documented as a separate line.
- **Day 5** First supplement submitted covering roof damage absent from the original carrier inspection, with the roof photograph set attached.
- **Day 9** Approvals received. Skin sections ordered for the front two thirds of both walls where dent density ruled out straightening.
- **Day 18** Skin sections replaced, rear wall corrected with paintless dent removal, front cap stars ground out and the second supplement submitted.
- **Day 24** Cap laminated back and faired, walls prepped and primer surfaced, colour read and verified on a cured sprayout card.
- **Day 29** Trailer refinished in the downdraft booth at OCRV Center, then reprinted graphics applied once the finish had cured.
- **Day 33** Vents, skylight and membrane work completed, roof water tested, quality control walk with the owner, trailer collected.