So I am comming home from camping and notice my 5th wheel alluminum siding is ballooning out. When I finnally got to look at it ,I noticed one peice had come unhooked from the other. Has anyone had the same expierience and how did you fix it. I think I can staple it but let me know.

 

How old is the trailer? Wouldn't be surprised if there was some dry rot (or even wet rot if your weather has been anything like ours) and the existing staples didn't have anything to grab on to.

Usually you remove from the bottom until you get to where you have the problem. if the wood is good, you can just staple it back in place & work your way down again.

 

I had this happen also but I lost a couple of panels wrapped around the awning. The problem was as stated above, dry rot. Got it fixed under insurance so only cost me $500 on a $2200 bill. Later the siding ballooned a little so I found where the ribs were and put a few pole barn screws in it and never had another problem. The new panels were thinner metal than the old ones so they didn't lock together quite as tight as they should have.

 

I had the balloning problem with my 5er shortly after I bought it (new). It occurred on the sides above the pin box area. Dealer pulled the buckled alum paneling off and replaced it twice before someone noticed, the third time into it, that the bolts securing the wall to the floor in that area were loose and allowed the wall to come up from the floor when towing. The bouncing pulled the staples out of the siding and the wind vacuum balloned it like a convertable top acts at highway speed. Factory defect from shoddy construction practices. Only got 7 miles from the dealer when it buckled the next to the last time before they found the real problem. It was good for several years but started again a few months ago. I did as Equalizer 2 did and went to the RV parts store and got the self threading 1/4" head x 1" long screws and put 5 in the offending areas. I didn't feel any stripping of the wood beneath so I don't think I have a dry rot problem. So far so good. Floor bolts may be loose again though.

 

This happened to my 5th wheel when it was still under warantee. They fixed it but the repair was only warranteed for 30 days. The problem was that the sideing was installed to tight ( the staples were driven thru the aluminum of the sideing) The heat of the Arizona sun was the end to it, it caused the sideing to warp enough to pull loose. I saw both sides balloon out while driveing down the road. The repair was good for 4 years, but we sold the unit and down sized to a travel trailer.

 

Hey thanks for all of the coomments. I was able to see the wood studs and they are not rotted. It appeared the staples have come loose. So I used my staple gun and some screws.

 

I think fiberglass with aluminum walls/ceiling is the wat to go.