What about hail storms - bubble windows?

[chuck9997]

I ordered a CAMCO cover for my A122s.. to help protect from the leaves and tree gunk while in it's driveway.. Just wondering.. for us folks that keep our campers outside, what if a hail storm is predicted? Do you try and protect the top panels, especially the windows, with anything? What do you use?

[Ford Idaho]

Originally Posted by chuck9997

I ordered a CAMCO cover for my A122s.. to help protect from the leaves and tree gunk while in it's driveway.. Just wondering.. for us folks that keep our campers outside, what if a hail storm is predicted? Do you try and protect the top panels, especially the windows, with anything? What do you use?

I do nothing special, I do check after the weather calms down.

Saw a post once where someone bolted plywood to tires and placed those over the vents and skylight.

[trbomax]

I have insurance for that,but IF its going to happen,I hope it totally destroys the trailer!

[Bob P]

We have been a bit concerned about the bubble windows too. Especially when being stored outside. We have scanned the Internet and there are some various ideas of others who have homemade remedies. Hope to see some postings here of others that have perhaps come up with some neat ideas as well. I do want to make matters worse by perhaps causing problems with a bad act of prevention. We had a bubble sort of deck hatch at one time on a boat we owned. I saved some foam shipping blocks that were encased in vinyl wrap to cover that hatch during winter storage. I might look into that. Good post, thanks.

[Big Vic]

If you put some pool noodles under your cover near the bubbles, it should protect them from small hail and superficial scratches from the cover or debris under the cover.

[chuck9997]

Thanks Big Vic.. sounds like a good idea. Maybe I'm over thinking the possibility of something happening. I have insurance. I have never had hail damage on my vehicles. It would probably take a good sized piece of hail to bust one of those bubble windows. They appear to be pretty tough.

[aceinspp]

Never hurts to use a little extra PM when covering the camper for additional protection. Later RJD

[Jacink]

Those bubble windows are made of Lexan almost impossible to destroy it hail won't bother it

[keeprr]

We live in Oklahoma and hail is a very real concern. Thinking about the TT, if the hail can break or crack a bubble window, you have more to worry about. Think roof, vents, side windows and body damage. We get hail as big as baseball's in the spring, that's what insurance is for. Covers and noodles won't help you.

[Oaklevel]

We do not cover too windy here and do not worry about hail. If it does that like others have said why we have insurance..... Would like to get a carport cover eventually for us it would be a lot cheaper than the cloth type trailer covers. But our campers have set outside for 30 years no hail damage yet

[wnelsonfl]

Hail knocked out our roof vent in South Dakota about two months ago. Luckily camping world had one in stock. Also added a roof vent cover for future storms. Lost the refrigerator cover as well.

[GreenImp]

I have no experience with A-Frames specifically, but I believe the skylights in Forrest River products are all made of Acrylic (not Lexan). I know my Rockwood 5th Wheel's was Acrylic. I switched to an aftermarket Lexan skylight after my original cracked in a hail storm. Lexan isn't perfect either though...although it is essentially "crack proof" it is soft and scratches very easily.

As a side note...I went with a white Lexan skylight to block heat. It is awesome. It lets in 90% of the light vs the smoked original, but cut down the heat dramatically.

[oldtool2]

Originally Posted by chuck9997

Thanks Big Vic.. sounds like a good idea. Maybe I'm over thinking the possibility of something happening. I have insurance. I have never had hail damage on my vehicles. It would probably take a good sized piece of hail to bust one of those bubble windows. They appear to be pretty tough.

saw a thing on the weather channel the other day. The claim it takes a hail stone the size of a golf ball to do any damage to a car. That is pretty good size! I doubt if it ould have to be that big to damage a trailer. Hope I never find out!

Jim

[pgandw]

Here in Colorado, hail is a normal component of most thunderstorms. We do store our A122 in the garage (bought the smallest model specifically for that reason) to protect from intense sun, hail, ice, and snow.

But when camping we encounter those anyway - just reduce the amount of exposure by storing in garage. So far, no weather damage noted except that dealer installed dual battery cover disappeared in the wind. And the first plywood replacement disappeared in the wind, too. The second replacement is held down with 2 tight shock cords.

But I do check for damage after every hailstorm. The first damage I expect to see will be fogging and scratching of the bubble windows. My personal take - if the EZ-up hasn't been shredded, the A-frame is probably OK.

Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122
2008 Hyundai Entourage (minivan)

[N3XG]

You can check out the photos I posted to my profile. A friend of mine used industrial building insulation foam and made covers for my windows. I put them on under the tarp as seen in the photos. Doesn't help if you caught in a storm while towing or camping, but at least storage has some peace of mind.

[Loraura]

One of the many reasons I pay for covered storage. Here in Central Texas we get hail every year. Sometimes golf ball sized and up. While I do have insurance, it's a pain in the ask to have to get the repairs done to anything around here after a hail storm. I'd rather not have to deal with it.

[Pooneil]

I followed N3XG's lead of using foam board bought at my local orange box home store. We don't get much hail where I live but stuff happens all the time and those windows are not robust roofing material.