Damage from blowout

[gspot01]

Here's a pic of the only resulting damage. As you can see I got off easy because I was going relatively slow and was able to pull off the road quickly. The only damage is the steel belts tore through the moisture barrier exposing the plywood subfloor and bent the steel frame cross member a bit.

Suggestions on repair approach? Just replace the torn moisture barrier (with what? )?

[RockyMtnMarty]

FYI....be maniacal about checking tire pressure and invest in a TPMS system if you have not already.

I posted the following yesterday about a similar experience:

This past week, two incidents proved that a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) investment is worth every penny.

Coming back from a long trip on Memorial day, my caravan friends, who did not have a TPMS on their 5th wheel toy hauler, lost pressure in a rear tire which became overheated and eventually blew on the interstate. The damage the blown tire caused to their meticulously maintained RV added up to $3000 in body work. I hear this is typical...and often at the low end of cost for damage when a tire blows. My buddy has talked about investing in TPMS...but chose not to spend the $. The insurance deductible alone for the damage was $500. Lesson learned.

A few days later, I was back on the interstate headed for a camping trip to the lake with my 5th wheel toy hauler. I have invested in a TPMS....and am so glad I did. At 65mph....all of a sudden the display on my Tireminder A1a flashed red and displayed that my right rear tire on the trailer was "leaking". I was impressed that it alerted me when the tire pressure was down only by 2 pounds...and I could see on the display the rate at which it was deflating. This gave me sufficient time to exit the highway, park in a safe place...and not suffer any damage to my RV....let alone save the tire which picked up a screw.

This device is worth its weight in gold....and I highly recommend it to anyone pulling a trailer of any kind. You will never know you a have a problem until it is too late without it.

[doc73]

I just suffered a blow out and was very lucky as well. I lost my inner fender well (sheet metal) and some of the plastic barrier. I was able to get some new vapor barrier form Lowes and made a new fender well from sheet metal. For the cross member I'd take a hammer and or a set of lock pliars to bent it straight.

It took me a few hours and some thinking but I got it all squared away.

[doc73]

Originally Posted by RockyMtnMarty

FYI....be maniacal about checking tire pressure and invest in a TPMS system if you have not already.

I posted the following yesterday about a similar experience:

This past week, two incidents proved that a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) investment is worth every penny.

Coming back from a long trip on Memorial day, my caravan friends, who did not have a TPMS on their 5th wheel toy hauler, lost pressure in a rear tire which became overheated and eventually blew on the interstate. The damage the blown tire caused to their meticulously maintained RV added up to $3000 in body work. I hear this is typical...and often at the low end of cost for damage when a tire blows. My buddy has talked about investing in TPMS...but chose not to spend the $. The insurance deductible alone for the damage was $500. Lesson learned.

A few days later, I was back on the interstate headed for a camping trip to the lake with my 5th wheel toy hauler. I have invested in a TPMS....and am so glad I did. At 65mph....all of a sudden the display on my Tireminder A1a flashed red and displayed that my right rear tire on the trailer was "leaking". I was impressed that it alerted me when the tire pressure was down only by 2 pounds...and I could see on the display the rate at which it was deflating. This gave me sufficient time to exit the highway, park in a safe place...and not suffer any damage to my RV....let alone save the tire which picked up a screw.

This device is worth its weight in gold....and I highly recommend it to anyone pulling a trailer of any kind. You will never know you a have a problem until it is too late without it.

I agree they are well worth it. But in my case the tire just let go and the TPMS never alerted until the pressure dropped a few PSI when the tread came off. Took 2 hours for the inner tire to actually go flat.

[Mad_River]

That just happened to me as well. 2012 Vail Sport ST China bombs were the culprits. I just checked pressure so it was not underinflated. It ruined the forward tire too and exposed the water heater insulation. The water barrier goes under the frame rail so I am not sure I can ever fully seal it again with some black tarp material. I will use some silicon caulk and staples. I will have to buy a new bracket for the aluminum body panel around the wheels/tires. The old one is pretty mangled. I also discovered the spare tire I bought from TSC in 2015 is a 2011 manufacture date so I will have to replace that one soon too.

[gspot01]

FWIW I do have a tpms, but apparently I'm not smart enough to realize when I'm running the tires a bit hot and high. I'm sure that contributed to the blowout but the China bombs were going to blow eventually anyway. I'm glad it happened on a local trip two weeks before the trip I'm currently on where it could have been catastrophic.

And on that note, I've got bigger problems now anyway. We arrived in cody, wy, today, and after unhooking, I noticed the vapor barrier flapping around under the camper. Looks like the whole first half of the thing has ripped and is hanging down off the underbelly. Yesterday outside Denver, a semi lost some unidentifiable metal tems off its flatbed, one of which I accidentally ran over. It bounced up and hit the underside of my TV, and all I can figure is it bounced again, hitting the underside of the camper and ripped the barrier off.

Then, the 40+mph wind gusts today between Casper and Shoshone, WY, finished the job. Either way I'm now faced with replacing most of the barrier instead of the original square foot or so.

[chaps2018]

Just to be clear, when you say vapor barrier you are referring to the black soft material that is against the wood, etc. Not the rigid panels made of coroplast (corogated plastic)

If the former, here is an example, (there are lots of form factors) https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Scrim...-p/13-1610.htm

[gspot01]

Originally Posted by chaps2018

Just to be clear, when you say vapor barrier you are referring to the black soft material that is against the wood, etc. Not the rigid panels made of coroplast (corogated plastic)

If the former, here is an example, (there are lots of form factors) https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Scrim...-p/13-1610.htm

Yep, it's the black tarp- like plastic stapled to the plywood subfloor.

Looks like it must be called a scrim shield according to that link you sent. Unfortunately I think it's too far gone for that tape to do any good. I think the whole shebang is going to have to be replaced.

[chaps2018]

I had the same scenario in your pic. Additionally, I lost insulation and the metal shield at the top of the wheel well.

Once the structure is repaired, use the scrim shield to reestablish the vapor barrier and you are good to go. That stuff sticks to anything and is there to stay.

Good luck!

[doghouse]

Originally Posted by gspot01

Here's a pic of the only resulting damage. As you can see I got off easy because I was going relatively slow and was able to pull off the road quickly. The only damage is the steel belts tore through the moisture barrier exposing the plywood subfloor and bent the steel frame cross member a bit.

Suggestions on repair approach? Just replace the torn moisture barrier (with what? )?Attachment 175321

Can of Flex Seal maybe? spray or paint on. We just had a blow out yesterday and it messed up our moisture barrier, but nothing else luckily!!!!!

[gspot01]

Now that's a great idea! I hadn't thought of Flex Seal. Paint the whole underside with it and get rid of that plastic sheet altogether.