Beyond Repair?

[pbrooks101]

So........... yesterday started off as any other normal Saturday. The weather was cool but the sun was out. About mid morning the wind started to pick up. At around 4 o'clock my son came running in the house with the news..........



Our prized 2004 Lance 1161 had suffered a blow....... It was off the truck and situated right in the deadly path of 1/2 of a large maple tree that sits on my property line. Along with the limb came the power and telephone lines to a neighboring business. A quick check with the electric meter showed the lines to still be live. Luckily no fire or arcing but the wires were draped over the camper and wrapped around the jack. The breaker to the camper pedestal was immediately shut off the prevent any electrical issues in the camper.



Once the power company arrive and shut off the power the damage assessment could begin. I had high hopes that it had withstood the blow with just some surface scrapes but the largest part of the tree was about 18 inches across and with the power lines down I could not look inside. The Yakima "Rocket Pod" mounted on top I had hoped absorbed the blow like an airbag..... 2 chairs, sewer tote, Coleman lantern, and a fish pole were/are still inside....



Once everything was safely off and the main limb was lowered, my heart sank as I climbed on the roof. Instead of the slight bow that the roof had, it was now concave. A branch had made a large puncture wound just behind the air conditioner shroud and the roof dipped in.



The inside had been breached and there were stress fractures over nearly the entire surface of the ceiling.


(The light was still on with the 12v power)

We cleaned up a bit and put a tarp over the camper to prepare for the impending rain and cold front as well as to preserve it for the insurance adjuster. This morning I cut up the wood and ended up with nearly a cord of firewood (I don't burn wood!!)

So.... will the insurance company total the camper or fix it? Any thoughts?

[dadwolf2]

Glad to hear that you are back in business. Good job with the repairs.

[Buzzcut1]

nice outcome

[pbrooks101]

Soooo.... it's been a while and I thought that after a COLD winter of just pondering what to do, I would update this thread.......I ended up settling with the insurance company for a pretty good deal. I was able to negotiate a buy-back from them for a pretty good deal (not the hundreds of dollars like someone had mention) but a couple of thousand dollars. Even after that I had a pretty good chunk of change left over!!.. I had taken some time to go through it a week or so after it happened and realized that I could probably fix the roof if everything else worked. So I tested everything, including the slideout. All worked fine. I covered it with a tarp for the winter....

A couple of weeks ago my son and I started stripping the ceiling on the inside to get to the damage. I wish I had taken more pictures but suffice it to say, we didn't find that much. There were cracks in the luan ceiling panels but nothing structural underneath them.

After we got it cut back and the bad sections cut out, we pieced in some new 1.5 x 1.5 material and sistered the broken one. I think the roof is stronger now than it was before. The tree limb came down almost dead center and I think that helped to actually minimize the damage.

This is what it looked like after some demolition and the start of re-framing.





There is still some luan ceiling panel in the pictures but we removed all of that. All of the voids have been filled in with 1.5" polystyrene insulation. I am picking up 2 4' x 8' sheets of 1/8" luan ceiling panel this weekend.

This is what the roof originally looked like:



Here is what it looks like today:



All in all, we are glad we kept the rig and fixed it. I understand the insurance company's view that it was totaled, but, I will have only $300 into the fix when all said and done. Not a bad deal! I'' post more pictures when the inside is finished. We loaded the TC onto the truck and are taking a first outing of the spring trip this weekend to test the repairs!!!!

[devildog1971]

I hope it turns out to be a blessing in disguise, which for me never happens, guess a lot depends on your insurance company. Let us know who the company is and how it all turns out. also hope you and your family , had no plans made to use the camper or go on a trip somewhere. also I hope nothing else was damaged at your home glad you and your family are safe

[Ski_Pro_3]

I called my insurance broker just now to see how I would be covered under the same situation. They even looked at your photos. I was told it was covered under my home owners personal property coverage since it happened on my property and was not on my truck. If it had been on my truck, it would have been covered under BOTH policies and therefore, the deductible for one would be paid by the other and I would be 100% covered. They said they would pay primarily from the home owners personal property coverage since that policy has the 'full replacement value' clause and the truck policy on personal property doesn't. When calculating what the 'full replacement value' would be, they told me that a quote from a dealer for this year and model would suffice. I was also told all the 'stuff' inside that was destroyed would also be covered, otherwise I was welcome to remove everything in the camper that was not part of the camper as delivered from the factory. Things like my solar panels, batteries, etc could all be pulled prior to them picking it up. Also, the cost to haul it off is also covered and is not considered part of the camper's value; it's a separate part of the claim and is funded on it's own. Since this is covered under home owners policy, there is a clause called 'loss-of-use'. They told me I could rent an RV for up to two years while I was in the process of replacing my camper and those costs were not taken from the funds that will replace the camper.

Read your policy. Do not trust your adjuster to explain it to you. You may find out that your home policy covers your camper, that the cost to haul it off is a separate coverage that won't tap into the camper's coverage and that you are entitled to the rental of a temporary replacement until the camper is replaced for up to two years.

Good LUCK!!

P.S. It pays to buy your insurance from a broker. My broker explained exactly what my policy covers and even sent me the PDF file to my e-mail so I could read it along with her as she explained where in the policy the coverage was identified.

[wnjj]

RichieC wrote:
The camper is toast.
Weight on the roof presses the outside frame down hard on the "wings".
It's as if the basement was pushed up into the camper.
The frame is probably compromised - even if it springed back, the corner will have been cracked/loosened internally.

Not so much when the jacks are down. They took a bunch of the force at the outer wall. Mostly it looks like the limb punched a hole more than really crushing the roof. It depends upon how far and fast that limb fell. You could set one on the roof without harming it all the way to dropping one from the sky that wouldn't stop until the floor.

It's hard to tell without seeing it in person but if the frame were compromised there would likely be cracks in the fiberglass.

The real issue is that it's a 10 year old camper and fever just fixing a hole in the roof gets expensive compared to the value.

[bighatnohorse]

The camper is toast.
Weight on the roof presses the outside frame down hard on the "wings".
It's as if the basement was pushed up into the camper.
The frame is probably compromised - even if it springed back, the corner will have been cracked/loosened internally.

[kohldad]

Looks like you have a nice winter project - if you have a shop that can be kept warm.

Imagine it is a bit worse than the pictures show, but besides a few cabinets knocked loose and interior wall possibly needing repair, still may not be a bad project. Of course, depending on payout and buyback cost, it may not be really worth the effort.

Sorry for the damage, good luck on the repair or search for a replacement.

[69_Avion]

Keep us informed as to what happens. If you can get it cheap enough and you are handy with tools, it could be fixed.

[pbrooks101]

So..... the insurance appraiser came to day and just as I thought..... she figured it was totaled. She had to go back to her office and do some more research but she went over it with a fine tooth comb and found things that I didn't even notice. I should know by Friday how my insurance company wants to handle it. I did ask them about buy-back and they do allow that but nothing will be negotiated until they have a dollar amount of a payout (minus my $250 deductible of course!). It doesn't really take much damage to jack a repair price up. The appraiser thought there would be at least 40-60 hours in labor alone to repair the roof and at RV repair shop rates, that adds up quickly. Not to mention the other miscellaneous damage. They would pay for all OEM parts too if that would even be possible with a repair like this. So it looks like I am out of the TC life for a while. I don't have any intention to look for another one right off. I was able to purchase this one in the spring of 2012 for a really great price and I am sure I will not find a deal like that again for a while (if ever!).... Probably will take this opportunity to get rid of the problematic 6.0 dually as well. I just sunk $2500 into that earlier this summer and now, not having a TC to haul with it, it will sit even more........My son has a Palomino Bronco pop-up TC that we can use but we have a little repair work to do before we head out. Thanks for the advice that all have given......

[pbrooks101]

A brief update..... I had a call from an adjuster for the insurance company about mid morning. He was the adjuster for the homeowners policy, not the comprehensive on my motor vehicle policy. He was calling find out if the cleanup, etc was over my $1000 deductible. It was not as I did it myself. It appears, from my insurance agent, that the damage will be covered under the separate comprehensive policy I have on the camper. I have yet to hear from an adjuster on that. As a side note, I have read some threads on here about separate policies for TC's vs. having it covered under a motor vehicle policy. FYI, my agent told me that it would not have been covered under my homeowners policy because it is not considered "other structure"., and that because it was off the truck it wouldn't have been covered as "cargo" on my truck's policy. The only way for it to be covered sitting independently off the truck was under the separate policy I had specifically for the TC. The premium has only been $67.00 per year for the last three years so I would advise anyone to look into that when verifying coverage on their TC.

As for buy back - if the insurance company totals it.... I will have to check on that. I suspect they will want a little more that a couple of hundred dollars. I am possibly up for the challenge of rebuilding the roof but it sure is gut-wrenching to see it that way!!!!

I will post updates as I hear more from the insurance company. Also FYI.... My insurance company is Maine Mutual Insurance.....

[Super_Dave]

trail-explorer wrote:

Super_Dave wrote:
With totalled cars, one can sometimes buy them back for $100 or a little more.

in many cases, it's a LOT more.... like several thousand.

I don't want to get so far afield that this becomes a hijack but if the buy back was in the low hundreds, it gives options for trying to restore or at worst being able to part out things like appliances and AC for considerable value. We were able to do this with our daughters Honda Accord that was stolen and taken for a major joy ride.

[johnhealey1776]

That sucks so bad! Im always worried about trees and debris! If it works out in your favor, and If you end up finding it totaled and buy a new one, PM me, i would take a chance on it for sure! Ive been rebuilding 90's vintage campers, ill take a step up into the new century!

[trail-explorer]

Super_Dave wrote:
With totalled cars, one can sometimes buy them back for $100 or a little more.

in many cases, it's a LOT more.... like several thousand.