RE: Hail damage.....can t believe it!

[JemJen24]

 
Willard just called me outside and showed me a bit of hail damage we received from last week s storms.  Theywere about pea size, some a bit larger, and now we have little round indentations in our camper roof.  I know the roof is Aluminum, but WOW....I can t imagine what it would look like in a real hailstorm.
 
 This leads me to a question...we keep our camper outside..how many of your store it inside or outside?  It COULD fit in the garage, but it would be a tight squeeze and Willard would have to move his workbench.
 
 J.

[slowpez]

 JemJen24
We keep ours in the garage even though it means keeping DH s new truck in the driveway.  It is definetely a tight squeeze as the builder measured the size of a compact car before he came up with the demensions of the garage.  Still, it has its advantages as we have had no problems with critters or weather plus we don t have to winterize.
 

[Acts 2:38 girl]

 JemJen24
Wow, that stinks!  [:@]  We haven t had any problems with hail that I know of, but then again, out camper is much older so I might not be worried either!  Instead of the garage, do you have any place for one of those car port-type awnings?  I just read on Tims post he bought one because the garage was getting to be a tight squeeze.  Plus, never mess with a man and his workbench!! []  This might be an option for you if you have the extra space.
 
 Andrea

[Redwolf]

 JemJen24
Ours is outside only when it s at our house for loading / unloading.  Otherwise it s stored at our partner s home in the garage.

[kathybrj]

 JemJen24
We bought one of those car port tarp things- poles with a tarp roof held on by bungies. We bought it to keep the sun off the camper, but it held up all winter, even with all the snow and ice we had.
 
 We paid about $85 for it. It s 10 x20  and we put ropes down each pole and secure then to blocks to keep the thing from moving in the wind.
 
 Here s a shot of it this winter, before I broomed off the snow:
 
 http://community.webshots.com/album/58577308pimsLQ
 
 Here s one showing how we have it tied to some blocks (pre-paved driveway):
 
 http://community.webshots.com/photo/58577308/71930203KmebZK
 
 Doesn t look sturdy, but does the trick, until the pole barn is complete.

[Opie431]

 JemJen24
We put up a large car port a few weeks ago.  We have a large one that cost less then $900 to buy, have put up plus the cost of permits.  It holds the PU, truck and six bikes. The PU sat outside for several years before that.
 Will your insurance pay anything for the damage?

[Campntime]

 JemJen24
Several years ago when we owned a 2-year old Coleman Seneca, we run into a bad hailstorm in KS.  Dents all over the roof...it looked worse than it really was..but nothing to cause a leak.  
 
 State Farm agent had us get an appraisal for putting on a new roof locally which come out to $1,100 and that is what they paid us.
 
 All that said, we never actually had the roof replaced.  I sold that PU privately a few years later at a fair price and new owners are still thrilled with it.  Turned out it is not that unusual for aluminum roof campers to have a few hail dents.

[JemJen24]

 JemJen24
No, I did not report it to the insurance company since you can hardly even see them unless you re right at eye level with them.  It sounds like this may be the " norm"  for pop ups who have been stored outside.  Am I right?
 
 I ll look into that $89.00 port cover thing.  I ll tell Willard to check it out.  Thanks for all the info!
 
 Jennifer

[kathybrj]

 JemJen24
Walmart has it for $129 now. I got it end of season last year for $85 +tax.
 
 Keep your eye open on those circulars. K-Mart and target sometimes have them too.

[maromeo]

 JemJen24
Also Checker Auto has them check out their website, www.checkerauto.com. It is listed under canopies.
 Sam s Club and Costco also carried them. We bought ours at Costco for $130 about 2 yrs ago and it came with the side walls which we need for the sun here in Phoenix.
 Mary Romeo
 

[whitestar505]

 JemJen24
My be early to tell yet, but from all indications we may be due for a rough summer.
 Camping over the weekend, it did not rain but was very cloudy all the time, and cool.(40-50)
 
 Sorry to here about your trailer.

[Trlrboy]

 JemJen24
Jen,
 
 Check it out with your insurance company.  If you have replacement value insurance you may be able to get enough to replace the roof and then it s up to you do determine what to do with your money.
 
 BTW Patty and I got hit pretty hard with that hailstorm that got your camper a couple of weeks ago.  We re getting a new roof on the house.  With all the misc damage the total insurance came to $13,000.  One of the guys in our camping club is going to do the roof replacement this week.

[Gamecock Camper]

 JemJen24
I agree that most aluminum roofs will probably have a little dent or a few little dents in them from hail, sticks, road debris, etc....   I think that it is something that you have to expect to happen eventually (yuck, don t you hate that....).   One trick that will work (sometimes) is to make sure you have your PU out in the sun on a really hot sunny day (90 +) and put ice cubes in the hail dents.  Often they will pop back out or at least pop out so that they are less noticable.  We did this on the DW s car and it worked like a charm..... we never got it fixed and most of the dents worked themselves out after one or two hot afternoons.  Try it to see if it will work on the aluminum roof (it might help a little if not remove the dents all the way).....

[JemJen24]

 JemJen24
Bob...wow..sorry to hear about the damage!  How was your trip?!  Will you be able to pocket some of the $$$??  I hope so.
 
 To the person with the ice cube idea, THANKS...I ll try it next time it gets real hot.
 
 Jennifer

[Trlrboy]

 JemJen24
Jen,
 
 Key West was just great.  First night we were there we were in an open air bar listening to some music and trying to use up their tequila when the skies opened up with a rather amazing thunderstorm.  Then some small hail.  Felt just like Texas.  Very relaxing.