Trailer skin rippling

[strinden1]

My 2008 Keystone Freedom Lite trailer is rippling on the outer skin. It needs to be tightened. Does anyone know the cost for this repair? It is mostly on the front of the trailer. Jim.

[Ken / Claudia]

Without seeing any good photos of what your talking about, it sounds like delamination. Which is mostly caused by a water leak above the spot of delamination. Sometimes the glue has failed and causeing delamination of the outer walls. Both will not go away and get worse. Cost? in 2007 it cost 1200 to replace the front section of a camper I owned, the front delambed. If it was the glue that failed you might be able to get the factory to fix it. Remember I said might ie maybe.

[theeyres]

Really need pictures. If it is delam, as suspected, there is no tightening only gluing, if minor, or replacing which is major can cost thousands.

[chuckster57]

I doubt gluing will do anything. I would suspect water intrusion from the front seam of the roof. Front cap is one piece and a PITA to change. But like the others have stated- need pics.

[Ken / Claudia]

By saying the factory might fix it means replacement. I agree reglueing is not a fix. I phoned the factory of Artic Fox about my delamb problem, they said over the phone some problems had been found in the glue and if it was a fault of thiers, than they would fix it (replace) and no cost. Mine was water, my fault and my cost. Keystone whos knows what they may or may not do.

[chuckster57]

I knew you meant replace. Being 6 yrs old, I'm not holding my breath for any help from the factory.

[bsmith0404]

Originally Posted by strinden1

My 2008 Keystone Freedom Lite trailer is rippling on the outer skin. It needs to be tightened. Does anyone know the cost for this repair? It is mostly on the front of the trailer. Jim.

As mentioned by others, probably delam. I had water get into a previous trailer back in 2010 during a hail/rain storm that busted out all of the windows. The cost on the estimate to replace about 1/3 of the left side (30' 5er, so 10' section) was $5k. However, he recommended that if the insurance company decided to repair the trailer and if I could live with it, not to fix the delam. The repairs are costly, difficult to get correct, and the decals seldom match. He said over time it will get worse, but that could be years down the road. The insurance company actually totaled the RV. Since then, I have been surprised how many RVs I've seen with ripples.

My Jayco ended up with some ripples just below the bedroom slide. I've seen several of the same model with the exact same ripples. I had that camper 3 years, they developed about 6 months after I bought it (bought it used), they never got worse. I have a friend who has one with delam problems (can't remember the brand), but his is a bubble that looks like a big blister, that one is steadily growing.

With all of that said, I'll go back to the advice of the RV body shop. If you can live with it, save your money and monitor it. If it starts getting worse, then consider fixing it. If it doesn't get any worse in a short time, you'll probably get years of use before you begin to see any problems. Just make sure you check the unit over real well to make sure you don't have water getting in somewhere causing the problem. My Jayco turned out to be from the shower glass not having a good seal and water leaking down along the wall.