A few questions from an owner wannabe

[ChefLamont]

I have been casually looking for one for a long time (and trying to convince the wife that owning one would be awesome!).

In the same vein as the OP, I have been pondering how important the wood/metal changeover in 2005 is in people's minds. To me metal would be a whole lot better as there is no chance of wood rot which is so prevalent in campers. Granted, at this point 2004 and older is OLD in camper years, so the argument is getting more moot every year, but I was curious what others thought.

[tentcamper]

The change over for all trailmanors was 2003. Before 2003 some had aluminum and some had wood.

[Larryjb]

Keep in mind that there is some wood still used for attaching seals and other structures. However, this wood is comparatively easy to replace if it rots. Some common spots are the top of the door frame and behind the bag seals. However, if the wood is rotted behind the bag seals, the seals are likely worn out too.

Some have made their own bag seal from marine grade vinyl and then used the old seals as a template. Again, comparatively easy to do for many DIYers. If you need some one to do this for you, I'd look for a Trailmanor dealer, not just any dealer, to do the repair.

This forum is one of the big reasons I got into a Trailmanor. Everyone here is so willing to help out and has a solution to just about any problem you could ever get. There is even one link to some one who replaced the wood framing of one of the older TMs!

[Bill]

Originally Posted by tentcamper

The change over for all trailmanors was 2003. Before 2003 some had aluminum and some had wood.

My 2002 2720SL had aluminum framing.

I'm not sure where you got the idea that the change happened in 2005. As noted in post 2 above, and then in post 12, the changeover from wood to metal happened a few years earlier than that. As Larryjb points out, the wood-vs-metal discussion is relevant to the framing of the shells, which is where wet rot usually happens. But the phrase "changeover from wood to metal" does not mean that there is no wood anywhere in the TM. For example, the perimeter of the floor has always been wood, and still is, as far as I know.

Bill

[Larryjb]

Just an additional note to what Bill wrote regarding wood in the floor:

Because of the design of the trailer, the floor rarely rots out. In fact, I'm not aware of a single case where the floor of a Trailemanor has rotted out. Sometimes the vinyl can separate from the aluminum floor. In this case, it is best to pull up the vinyl and replace with a nice vinyl plank instead.