What do you folks think of aluminum sided trailers?

People wax an aluminum side trailer? Can't imagine. At 13 years mine is just starting to develop a patina ;)

^ This.
Think we're at 50-50 after 3 pages.....
It's a camper. Unless you're spending months a year in it and have no intention of covering or garaging it when not in use, your ROI on a more expensive trailer will likely be lost pretty quickly once it gets on in years.
Save for a few "highly regarded" brands that maintain significantly better value either through name, reputation, or construction methods.

Bottom line, keep the roof and windows sealed, and either will give you years of service.

I have had both, and would not hesitate to purchase aluminum again. The last aluminum sided trailer was not hard to clean, I used good car wash soap and washed it 3-4 times per year, with an annual hand wax. It shined like new the entire time I owned it. I found that after pulling the lights and re-sealing all of them with plumbers putty I never had another issue with water coming in around a light.

suprz wrote:

goducks10 wrote:
Buddy of mine has an older Springdale. He hates it. Always something denting it. Accidentally hit the sidewall with what ever and it will dent.
Pro's. Cost.
Cons, less insulation and usually but not always lower end finishes.

Tell your friend to take off his rear tail lights and see hiw they made the holes for the wiring. We had one come into the shop, and it looked like the guy at the factory used the claw end of a claw hammer to make the holes in the siding. Talk about dead shorts in the wiring! I cut myself twice trying to clean up the jagged aluminum

Unfortunately the hammer is the primary drilling tool for wiring. Get them out the door attitude seems to prevail. Most people never see this until they have a issue.

goducks10 wrote:
Buddy of mine has an older Springdale. He hates it. Always something denting it. Accidentally hit the sidewall with what ever and it will dent.
Pro's. Cost.
Cons, less insulation and usually but not always lower end finishes.

Tell your friend to take off his rear tail lights and see hiw they made the holes for the wiring. We had one come into the shop, and it looked like the guy at the factory used the claw end of a claw hammer to make the holes in the siding. Talk about dead shorts in the wiring! I cut myself twice trying to clean up the jagged aluminum

I have had two aluminum sided TTs and one pop up. One TT was over 30 years old when I sold it and the pop up was 26 years old. We were still camping in them when sold. Got more for the pop up when I sold then what I bought it for and that was after us using it for 7 years. Current Springdale is 13 years old.
I monitor the sealing edges on the roof, windows, doors, etc. I wash the springdale once a season. I have waxed it once in 13 years and have never cleaned the roof. So the maint requirements are reasonable on AL. If its the floorplan u like go for it.

My Jayco J Flight 23RB is the old school "stick and tin" (wood frame, aluminum frame) type travel trailer. We've had it almost 2 years now. So far it's been fine. My previous trailer was a "light weight" trailer with aluminum frame and Azdel backed fiberglass sides.

The fiberglass trailer was a little easier to wash, IMO, because it's just a little easier to wash a flat surface than a corrugated surface.

I think the fiberglass sided trailer was a little warmer. My current "stick and tin" model is harder to keep at a set temperature. Of course this my partly due to my current trailer being a couple of feet longer and a 1/2 foot wider.

I can't speak to ease or cost of fixing either type of siding since I never had a problem with the old one and haven't with my current one either.

As has been mentioned, the floor plan is what's most important. I sold my prior trailer only because it was too small for the two of us. Our current trailer is just the right size for us.

If we had had the next model up in the now defunct Skyline Koala line of trailers, we'd still have it.

We have a 2011 Aluminum trailer that sits exposed year round and still cleans up looking brand new.

One caution though...don't use acetone to clean stains or caulk. It'll take the paint off.

We also Had a class C with fiberglass and had no problems.

If properly maintained, both are fine.

In the past 30 years I have had 3 trailers all constructed with wood frame and aluminum siding and I have never had a problem with any of them
I wash and wax them once a year, and they take a beautiful shine.
In between waxing, if it gets dirty, I'll wash it.

When I sold my last one, the buyer commented how it looked brand new.

Guy