Vintage and Classic RV Restoration Serving Placentia Owners

Where we can get behind the panel we set solid buck rivets the way the factory did, with a bucking bar on the inside. Where the interior is closed up and there is no access, Olympic rivets are the correct answer, and they are what the factory service procedure calls for in those locations too.

Matching a replacement panel matters as much as setting it. Alclad panels age to a specific tone, and a fresh panel next to sixty year old aluminum will read as a bright rectangle for years. On polished shells we work the new panel to bring it closer, and on clear-coated or painted shells we plan the transition into a seam.

Segment and end cap panels on a rounded shell have compound curvature, and forcing a flat sheet into that shape is how you end up with oil canning and cracked rivet holes. We shape panels properly, drill to the existing pattern, and deburr every hole because a rough hole is where the next crack starts.

Rot follows water, and water comes in at seams and window openings where the original butyl has dried, shrunk and lost adhesion. Sixty year old butyl is hard and gray and no longer bonds to anything. Caulking over it seals for one season and then traps water behind the bead, which accelerates the damage underneath.

We remove the affected panels, cut out the rotted framing, and replace it with matched material joined the way the original was. The belly pan and the banana wraps come off on trailers where the rot has reached the floor edge, because that outer belly area is where water collects and where the frame meets the floor.

Reassembly is where the reseal happens. Fresh butyl goes behind every seam and window flange, olympic or buck rivets are set to the original pattern, and the belly pan and banana wraps go back with new fasteners. Done that way the shell is sealed by its construction rather than by a bead of sealant on the outside.

Structural work is not optional either way. Rotted framing, a corroded belly pan and failed seam butyl have to be addressed regardless of how the outside will look, because those are what determine whether the trailer exists in ten years. Cosmetics is the part where owners have a real choice.

If the shell is painted, single-stage paint matching is usually correct for the era and it is what we shoot. Modern base and clear on a vintage body reads wrong to anyone who knows these trailers, and it costs more. On polished aluminum we discuss realistically how far a panel can be brought back before we commit to it.

Obsolete parts drive part of this decision. Hehr window seals, original latches and specific trim profiles are not always available, and sourcing them takes time. We will tell you up front which components we expect to find, which will take a specialty supplier, and which are going to require a fabricated substitute.