Aluminum versus Fiberglass
My wife and I are starting to look at possibly. We have always had the fiberglass campers but I got to thinking is the aluminum a little easier to work on and what are the benefits? We have only look...
Forum Discussion
I have the corrugated aluminum and have no reservations of having it.
But... there is always a but...
After an event 2 years ago, the only aluminum sided camper I would ever buy since needs to have a coating called Krystal Kote on it. It is a very hard coating bonded to the aluminum to make it scratch resistant and offer level of dent protection.
My camper has the Krystal Kote with the exception of the decal panel down the center. That is plain uncoated aluminum with the decal pressed in by a forming die.
2 years ago I was in a massive hail storm. The kind that pounds car into a pile of scrap metal. I was shocked when I went out after the storm expecting the worst. Did a walk around and, WOW nothing! It bounced right off the Krystal Kote siding and never left a pock mark.
The next day the sun came out...Oh boy, the Krystal Kote was still perfect but the center strip piece was peppered up. The bright sun shining just right and they all show up. It was the test that told me, there is for sure a difference. If the camper was an all plain aluminum non coated camper, well I would need to replace all of it. I'm sold on the Krystal Kote.
That said the Krystal Kote adds a small level of harder to clean if you let the black streaks bake on over a year or 2. If you get them off in the 1st few months it is not that bad. And you do not need to wax the coating, just clean it.
Good luck with your decision.
But... there is always a but...
After an event 2 years ago, the only aluminum sided camper I would ever buy since needs to have a coating called Krystal Kote on it. It is a very hard coating bonded to the aluminum to make it scratch resistant and offer level of dent protection.
My camper has the Krystal Kote with the exception of the decal panel down the center. That is plain uncoated aluminum with the decal pressed in by a forming die.
2 years ago I was in a massive hail storm. The kind that pounds car into a pile of scrap metal. I was shocked when I went out after the storm expecting the worst. Did a walk around and, WOW nothing! It bounced right off the Krystal Kote siding and never left a pock mark.
The next day the sun came out...Oh boy, the Krystal Kote was still perfect but the center strip piece was peppered up. The bright sun shining just right and they all show up. It was the test that told me, there is for sure a difference. If the camper was an all plain aluminum non coated camper, well I would need to replace all of it. I'm sold on the Krystal Kote.
That said the Krystal Kote adds a small level of harder to clean if you let the black streaks bake on over a year or 2. If you get them off in the 1st few months it is not that bad. And you do not need to wax the coating, just clean it.
Good luck with your decision.
