Maintenance & Restoration

lifermc · 03-08-2013, 08:51 PM

So have bought a new BF 21 footer and will get the end of the month and got to wondering about hail damage. I did own an airstream a few years ago and had some hail dings. Anyone on this board have experience with hailstorms and how did your fiberglass hold up? Thanks.

David
Socal

Donna D. · 03-09-2013, 06:24 AM

David, folks in areas that suffer hail storms should probably answer this question for you... but I can tell you, you'll not have the same problems as Airstream owners. Hail makes those things look like golf balls. Vents and plastic stuff on the roof may be damaged however, but that can happen with any brand of trailer.

lifermc · 03-09-2013, 08:26 AM

Well I assume the airsteam would come out on the short end of the stick comparing the two. So these fiberglass trailers hold up rather well during the storms? I took a leap of faith having not seen these trailers for 5 years. I do sail but socal gets little if any hail. The boats are built rather sturdy.

David B. · 03-09-2013, 08:43 AM

On our way home the day we bought our new to us Scamp, we were caught in the worst hail storm that we have ever seen. Our Dodge truck now looks like a golf ball, and the only thing I noticed on the Scamp was the roof vent cover had some stress marks on it from being deformed by the hail (depressed and sprung back in place).

David and Nancy · 03-09-2013, 09:02 AM

One of my former Bigfoots sat through a hail storm in the Ozarks years ago. Everyone in the area had to get roofs replaced, dented cars repaired, even house siding and windows replaced. The only damage to my trailer was to the plastic Maxxair roof vent covers. Easily replaced. Several Airstreams in the area were declared totalled by insurance companies. Other brands of trailers with the cheap metal siding looked like they had been worked over with a ball peen hammer. To be fair, my trailer was parked under a large tree that may have deflected some of the direct impacts, but not all.

Ian G. · 03-09-2013, 10:09 AM

Ours is not a Bigfoot but fiberglass just the same. Last summer we just arrived home from a week in Glacier Park, that evening a severe hail storm hit. The resulting damage to our property included $25,000 damage to our house (holes right through shingles, holes through siding, broken skylight, smashed garden shed, and the list goes on), my 1999 Oldsmobile was written off, damage exceeded $5,000, My Boler was attached to my 2008 4Runner, the 4Runner received over $7,000 in damage, ... but what about the Boler?

The bugs were effectively cleaned from the front of the trailer that had collected during the long drive. The metal roof vent had 2 dents that I was able to pop out and the aluminum rain deflector over the door had 3 dents that although visible could be straightened. No damage to the fiberglass or windows. We get large severe hail storm's in our area, the hail stones are often large and solid ice. the way our Boler held up during this storm has sold me that fiberglass is the only trailer I would own.

**Pam Garlow** · 03-09-2013, 10:47 AM

Ian, that is amazing testimony!! Glad to hear the Boler survived, but sorry to hear about all the additonal damage.

Evan Friesen · 03-09-2013, 11:35 AM

We were camping in Ontario last summer and had 3 nasty hail storms in one day! Our Boler has been painted with Interlux Brightside so I thought it would be more likely to have hail damage. The biggest hail was just over an inch in diameter - lasted like that for about 5 minutes!
The next day we noticed a number of tents and pop-up tent trailers that were sporting brand new tarps over them. The friends we were camping with also had a few holes in their tent.
Our Boler was completely unscathed! Even the paint was still perfect. I was blown away since the entire time it was hailing I could envision the paint just pealing and popping off as it got blasted by the hail.

**Jim Bennett** · 03-09-2013, 12:51 PM

Our escape has been blasted by hail, with no damage except for once when camping and the awning was set up. The awning was sloped good so drained fast, but there are a bunch of spiderweb like stress cracks all over it.

Mimi Lee · 05-20-2013, 07:53 PM

A bad storm came through this afternoon and there was all this noise from hail. I searched hail on the forum wondering what risk this would pose while camping. I was so glad to see all the testimony of how well the fiberglass held up. One less thing to worry about!

accrete · 05-25-2013, 06:16 PM

I grew up with large sailboats in the family...Over the years their flat deck had been pummeled with hail during storms. To my recollection there was never any hail damage. Fiberglass is a sturdy material to build with, and the additional strength our little eggs have with their curves make it more resilient to such damage.