Hail…

[Voyager]

We are really impressed at the Escape 19 surviving dime to a quarter size hail for 30-40 minutes while parked in Custer State Park. We did have a couple of holes on the fridge exhaust roof cover and 4 holes punched in the awning canopy fabric. For the most part, that’s the extent of it. Oh and our new 2021 JGC Limited 3500 miles suffered $6500 damage. I have a video, but I guess the forum system doesn’t allow it. Here’s pics of the minor damage. If anyone can tell me the consequences of rain getting in the hood cover holes, I’d appreciate the input.

[JStelly]

Wow! Happy for your 19 and sad for your tow vehicle. We have been in that area with bad storms but nothing quite like that. What campground were you at? We are headed back to Custer next summer for our third visit. We love the park and the surrounding area.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Voyager

We are really impressed at the Escape 19 surviving dime to a quarter size hail for 30-40 minutes while parked in Custer State Park. We did have a couple of holes on the fridge exhaust roof cover and 4 holes punched in the awning canopy fabric. For the most part, that’s the extent of it. Oh and our new 2021 JGC Limited 3500 miles suffered $6500 damage. I have a video, but I guess the forum system doesn’t allow it. Here’s pics of the minor damage. If anyone can tell me the consequences of rain getting in the hood cover holes, I’d appreciate the input.

Hi: Voyager... Those fridge vent covers are quite inexpensive and available at most RV dealers. You can also get a replacement awning fabric only or like me a roll of awning repair kit... clear tape. I put the tape on the under side of the awning vinyl but the holes were only small and I'm cheap!!! I've found that a good awning cleaner is LA's Awesome spray degreaser from the $$ store Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Iowa Dave]

There is a product called Flex-tape You can get it at big box stores. Lowe’s, Fleet farm, Walmart. etc. Get the waterproof type. It is a 5 foot roll that is 4 inches wide. Costs like $12. It’s a good thing to have in your tool kit. Especially for temporary repairs.

I have camped at Custer many times. I have been hailed on in South Dakota about 15 or 20 times. Maybe more. The alternative going west for us is Nebraska or Kansas, hail capitals of the world.
The second day we were married we in in Central South Dakota. A wall cloud came up. The wind and hail started in. I had a 1950 F-1 Pickup. The steel was thick in those old dogs. I determined to drive through the storm. Making about 25 miles an hour, a highway patrolman passed me and shortly pulled over on the shoulder. I remember saying “If the trooper isn’t going to drive this neither am I.” We pulled onto the shoulder. We were parked slightly down hill. The rain was very heavy and the hail was very heavy with some big ones in there. The wind was about 25 mph out of the dead west. I looked out side window. The rain was deep enough to float the hail and the wind was blowing the hail up hill past the pickup. Had never seen that before or since. No damage to the F-1 but the patrol car looked like it had been attacked by a ball pein hammer as we drive past the car the trooper who was out inspecting the damage. Never forgot that storm. A few years ago in SW Nebraska I drove an extra 150 miles, pulling the Escape, to avoid a huge storm loaded with hail. It worked that time but we do have a few hail dings in the roof of the 21 from other South Dakota encounters of the obnoxious kind. I do not like hail.
Iowa Dave

[sofmerc]

" There is a product called Flex-tape You can get it at big box stores. Lowe’s, Fleet farm, Walmart. etc. Get the waterproof type. It is a 5 foot roll that is 4 inches wide. Costs like $12. It’s a good thing to have in your tool kit. Especially for temporary repairs."

"There is nothing as permanent as a temporary repair."....Confucius

[Iowa Dave]

When I was at Iowa State in the late sixties I had several classes in the “temporary buildings.” They were wooden buildings that had served as barracks for officers training for duty in WWII. The buildings had been repurposed for classrooms. I had a rocky experience studying Geology in one of those buildings. They were used well into the 70’s.
Iowa Dave

[Centex]

That is impressive about your Escape, good to read that!

An RV vs hail anecdote, perhaps in the vein of an Iowa Dave post if I may ...

My folks were Airstreamers for many decades and among the ~2500 trailers attending the International Rally at Bismarck, ND in 1993. On July 1 that event was struck by a hailstorm . All of the trailers suffered varying degrees of cosmetic damage with a few suffering leak-promoting damage from hits on panel-seams. One thing made obvious was the evolution of Airstream panel-thickness over the years, even back then. After that episode many folks elected to restore their trailers to 'pristine' condition; many others, my parents with a 'thick aluminum' year model among them, got off relatively lightly and elected to just live with the dimples on their roof rather than suffer the long downtime and risk of substandard repair (which some did suffer). They continued to proudly enjoy that Airstream with no ill effect from the hail for many more years (they actually enjoyed three different Airstreams in their time with the marque).

In the Airstream community those dimples quickly came to be known as "Bis-marks" and invariably prompted many stories of the 1993 Rally at other gatherings for many years after.

As a further aside, my folks' Airstream (Wally Byam Caravan Club) number was "16926", displayed on the top-rear of all of their trailers as many of y'all have likely seen on Airstreams. Today I'll pick-up my "16926" decal from the local sign shop which will be similarly displayed on my 5.0 in remembrance of their RVing adventures. It's the closest thing to a 'name' my Escape will have

[Iowa Dave]

Good story and a good “name”. I am into memories like that and have a number in the house, garage and shop. I’m working on paneling a wall in my shop with cedar siding. I have one board from grandpas barn built in 1917. I also have the hay fork, a 1919 license plate that hung in the corn crib and some harness tack from his work horses. That will be my grandpa memorial when I get it incorporated into the wall in November (I hope).

Plan for the future, live in the now and respect the past.
Iowa Dave

[Voyager]

Thanks for responding, good stories and info. However, I did have a question that I posted…… ‘ If anyone can tell me the consequences of rain getting in the hood cover holes, I’d appreciate the input.’ They are currently patched with duct tape, but when the hail occurred there was some rain that got in I’m sure.

[Dave Walter]

Driving home a couple years ago during July, we stopped to wait for an ominous black cloud to pass us by. All we got was a bit of rain and wind but a few miles down the road after we started going again we passed the area where the hail had fallen, In the picture it looks like snow but that was entirely hail. Glad we stopped and waited.

[Iowa Dave]

That vent lets the heat out that is generated by the heat absorption process. With no more rain than probably got in the hail holes I’d thi k it was reasonably soon evaporated by the heat coming off the refrigerator. If you’ve been running on propane and ever felt that stack above the flame, it gets precast warm.
Iowa Dave

[Voyager]

That’s good information. Thank you. Unfortunately we ran the fridge on 30 amp and not propane. So now I wonder it wasn’t a ton of rain and the holes are small, but the water had to go somewhere.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Voyager

… ‘ If anyone can tell me the consequences of rain getting in the hood cover holes, I’d appreciate the input.’ They are currently patched with duct tape, but when the hail occurred there was some rain that got in I’m sure.

There's always the possibility of rain coming into the compartment behind the refrigerator, driven by wind through the wall vent. There should be drainage from the bottom of the compartment, and bit of water there shouldn't be a concern.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Voyager

That’s good information. Thank you. Unfortunately we ran the fridge on 30 amp and not propane. So now I wonder it wasn’t a ton of rain and the holes are small, but the water had to go somewhere.

I wouldn’t worry about it. The area behind the fridge is designed to handle some moisture.

[Voyager]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

There's always the possibility of rain coming into the compartment behind the refrigerator, driven by wind through the wall vent. There should be drainage from the bottom of the compartment, and bit of water there shouldn't be a concern.

Thanks, I have the day off tomorrow and I’ll do some investigating, thx again all.