Delamination or Something Else?

[Milocka]

I'll try to make this short and sweet.

Last fall, winterized, washed/waxed and pulled my 2010 Laredo 5th wheel to the storage lot. Also purchased a nice new Camco cover to keep it protected during the winter hibernation.

Fast forward to early March...

Removed cover and noticed significant damage for the rear wall of the 5th wheel filon/ fiberglass. At first I thought it was water damage, could not find any broken lap sealant on the roof or walls.









Insurance will cover it only if it's determined that it's not true delamination or manufacturer defect. There are no signs of water damage inside the RV


Any thoughts? Any of the RV techs out here ever seen this type of damage? Any input is appreciated.

[busterbrown]

Hope Chuckster will chime in. It's a shame to see that type of damage after a winter in storage under a cover.

[CrazyCain]

Hope it turns out for you in a good way..You do everything to make sure things are well, but it always seems to get cha! Hoping for the best

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by busterbrown

Hope Chuckster will chime in. It's a shame to see that type of damage after a winter in storage under a cover.

Well looking at the pics, I does look to me like some type of water intrusion. Was the back of the unit facing the sun?

[Milocka]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Well looking at the pics, I does look to me like some type of water intrusion. Was the back of the unit facing the sun?

The rear of the unit was facing Southwest, more to the west, call it heading 260 ish. Insurance wants the shop to do "investigative tear-down" to determine the cause for certain, but insurance will only cover it if it's damage and not due to neglect or manuf. defects. So i'm on the hook for the full repair if they cant find any water/heat damage. (initial estimate is at $2200)

I'm tempted to tinker around with taking the top molding off to see if i can get my camera in between the luan and the filon in an attempt to photograph the cause of the damage. None of the lap sealant appears to be compromised on the roof where it meets the rear molding:

[chuckster57]

Sun beating on a cover can cause weird things to happen. I've seen this once before and if my mind is working, it was glue failure. I wouldn't mess with anything, as it may give the insurance company an out without a proper check.

Good luck with getting it fixed without too much harm to you.

[JRTJH]

If you look back through the forum, about every 2 or 3 years someone will have damage like this. If I recall, almost all of them were covered trailers and the damaged areas were oriented toward the sun. If I were you, I'd do a forum search and see what you find. If I'm remembering correctly, moisture trapped under the cover creates steam when the sun "bakes the cover", which is what many of the owners believe caused the damage.

[theeyres]

Best of luck with insurance. I does look to me like damage from sun baking the filon with a lot of moisture in there. I'm no expert, though. I do think that if you mess with it, it may just give insurance an out...

[Milocka]

Thank you for the advice everyone.

[Lelakay]

I found this post because of a similar issue with my RV. I recently purchased a brand new cover and put in on the RV in early Spring. Three weeks later, we removed the cover and found that the top seals and paint had bubbled causing extensive damage.

The insurance company denied the claim because the believe that the damage was caused by excessive heat buildup from the cover and told us to go after the cover manufacturer. The cover manufacturer is saying that they have never heard of this issue before and that it must be defective paint. The RV is fairly new and has been covered (with a different cover) for a couple of years and this is the first time there has been any problems. I would like to know more about the cover that you used and previous issues. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[theallde]

Lelakay: Check out my post "Rear Cap Slipping". I didn't go the insurance route. My TT was "never" under a cover and the rear cap always faced north when parked next to the house. Keystone stated "water damage" yet no water damage was found. Cost me $4,000 for a new and better constructed rear cap. GOOD LUCK.