2620SL Good Price

I have been looking at a new 2620SL. I forgot to ask if it was a 2005 or a 2006, but he got it on the lot in early June. It has the Premium Package, the hanging kitchen cabinet, the swing-around tongue and the little drawer unit that goes between the wardrobe and stove. It has an MSRP of about $27400. It was hit by hail and has some dents. Nothing was damaged except the outside skin. I can get it for $19,300. Is that a good price for it?

Doug,

I think that is a great price. Apparently it is unused. It could be a 2005 or 2006 as the 2006's were just starting to ship early June. Most likely it was ordered months earlier as a 2005. My 2004 has a tag stating it was manufactured in Sept 2003. I suspect you are getting the discount due to the hail damage. The dealer most likely got a payment from his insurance company and he is passing some or all of that along to you. You should determine how much the resale value has been reduced by the damage. It might be even more than they are knocking off. Maybe your insurance company would be good to call as the damage might affect what they would pay out.

Some of the higher priced options that you didn't mention are the awning, the A/C, the oven and the microwave oven.

Bob

It has all of those except the microwave oven. as the premium package includes the A/C unit, awning and the TV antenna with amplifier. I had not thought about resale value, thanks for the thought. I will have to check into that. We were planning on buying a travel trailer next year and this deal came along. We have looked at I do not know how many different trailers, but we have decided to get a TrailManor when we buy.

[Bill]

Doug -

Just a quick thought - perhaps of little value, since I have never experienced hail damage.

It would be nice to confirm that none of the damage is severe enough to cause water leaks in the roof. I guess I would do two things.

1. A close visual inspection, to confirm that none of the dings actually penetrates the aluminum skin. And of course, check the dings along the center seam, the A/C housing, and the vent housings, where a ding could let water under the trim strip. If there are penetrations, they can probably be caulked (unless there are A LOT of them).

2. A good long water-soak with a hose, while you watch from inside.

Bill

Here is a little tip from an old aircraft refinisher. It will work on small symetrical dents in aluminum and maybe non symetrical. Using a larg soldering iron (not gun) or a small sealing iron used by aircraft modelers heat the dent (place flat over the dent to about 180 degrees then remove the heat and place an ice cube over the dent. I have used this to remove dents in painted and unpainted aircraft skin, some of which is thicker than the TN skin. I once had a Cherokee 140 with over 600 hail dents on one wing and removed many of them using this method.
Bill Dean

Hey Billy,
what will heating the skin do to the polystyrene foam the skin is bonded too?

[Bill]

Bill -

Now that's a technique I never heard of! I love this forum!

Now how/why do you suppose it works? Expand the aluminum a bit with heat, then suddenly shrink it with the cold, snapping it back into a level plane?

Bill

Won't the heat from the gun damage the paint?

Hal

I don't think the heating of the skin will damage the foam bonded to the aluminum. I have used this technique on aluminum that was bonded to insulating material and it didn't harm the material. The temperature could be reduced some. Remember, we're talking about a small area being heated. It is less than a square inch at a time. In most cases of painted surfaces, usually a polyurethane type paint, I would infrequently get a scorched spot on light colored paint, again, try reducing the heat some.
I don't know exactly why this works, but I think the heat "softens" the material somewhat and the cold shrinks it enough to pull the dent out.
In those painted areas where the dents would not come out with this method, I always used filler material after preparing the surface for it, then lots of sanding and primer before repainting. Good Luck.
Bill Dean

[fcatwo]

I've heard that dry-ice will pop out small hail dents in cars after they sit in the sun for a few hours. Have not actually seen anyone do it however. You might ask the dealer if you can try it on a few spots. He has nothing to lose.

On it's value; I've read here or elsewhere that hail damage will total a TM because the repair requires replacing both top sections. You may want to seek professional advice from your insurance person or elsewhere- I'm assuming here that the damage is noticeable. You could also have it professionally appraised.

We bought a fairly-new, damaged and rebuilt canvas popup several years back that had no visible damage and I paid about 50% of what it would have cost had it not been previously damaged. I ultimately regretted buying it at even that low price but hopefully your experience will be different. I did get a fair price out of it when I passed it on because the purchaser (like me) was willing to live with it's problems at the price he paid.