Reskining a Trailer - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Old Crow · 05-05-2009, 05:03 PM

Has anyone re-skined a enclosed trailer or known anyone who has done it. The reason i ask is a local guy has one for sale that needs to be re-skined due to damage from a wind storm. It is brand new just sheet damage and two studs are bent.

tgeb · 05-05-2009, 05:18 PM

I would contact the trailer manufacturer and get their opinion on the feasibility of doing a re-skin.

Then see if they'll sell you the supplies to do it properly.

fireguy · 05-05-2009, 05:30 PM

At one time, I worked in a Motor Home factory, we did skin the coaches. Remove any trim around the area to be patched. Clean the area, lacquer thinner or any thing that degreases and leaves no residue. The contact glue we used was yellow, similar in consistancy to 3M trim adhesive. It was available in 5 gallon buckets or tubes. Apply to the old and new metal, place into position and press into place. You might need to use screws to hold the patch in place until it cures. Replace the trim. We found 2 people did a much better job than 1 person.

If it is a large patch, think about having someone with experience do the job.

woodchuck2 · 05-06-2009, 06:54 AM

I take it this trailer is also an insurance claim too? Probably the owner got paid good $$$ for the repair and opted to just buy a new one and is now selling the old one? Either way you should be able to get the skins/studs from the manufacturer along with the correct screws/rivots. Depending on the size of the skin will depend on ease of repair. My trailer is one skin down the whole side of it and i have seen other make/model trailers that had a different skin every two feet.