Oil canning on the front cap of my Hideout

[mldpolyglot]

This short 1 minute video (see link below) explains the oil canning issue I have been having with my 2018 Hideout on the front cap of the camper. The issue doesn't look as bad in the video as it previously was because 1) the temperature was not very hot when I recorded the video, and 2) I previously took a rubber mallet to the bottom panel to bang it back underneath the top panel (so that water would not get in to the seam). Does anyone have any idea what caused the buckling/oil canning, if it is avoidable, and how to prevent it in the future? I don't want water getting into the seam of the front cap of the camper.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/10f8...ew?usp=sharing

[wiredgeorge]

Couldn't see the video you posted and have no idea what "oil canning" means. Perhaps explain and use the Go Advanced to a an attachment directly from whatever device you are posting with. Also, take a minute and put together a signature by clicking on the UserCP button at the top left of every page in the black band. Make sure you save the signature. Add your year, make and model of camper and tow vehicle. Helps with context. Cheers.

[JRTJH]

We owned a 26' Airstream and a 35' Holiday Rambler "all aluminum trailers". Both of them were built with riveted aluminum exterior walls that expanded and contracted with the temperature. On a hot, sunny day, the "sunny side" of our Holiday Rambler would look like it had been "rear ended"... There were 15 or more "buckles" along the aluminum skin where it was riveted to the framework and couldn't "slide to expand"... The roof, galvanized tin, was laid in one sheet and riveted along the edges. It was, for the most part, loose from front to back of the trailer.... it would, on an extremely hot day, buckle and ride 1-2 inches above the roof joists.

What you're seeing on your trailer, is probably a result of the way the front wall was hung. I've seen it on about half the aluminum skin trailers that I've owned and it's readily apparent on all of the "smooth skin aluminum trailers" that I've looked at through the years....

The issue is cosmetic as long as the edges are properly sealed against water intrusion....

[Texas Steve]

I also have a 2018 Hideout that expand and contracts with temperature. Like John mentioned, as long as the edges are sealed you should be fine. Once the daytime heating ends, and the trailer cools off it will return to regular shape.