Featherlite Repair: Welding and Skinning All Aluminum Trailers

Aluminum conducts heat far faster than steel and loses strength in the heat affected zone around a weld. A repair that dumps heat into an extrusion produces a joint that looks acceptable and is weaker than the original section. Filler alloy selection matters as well, since the wrong filler on a structural joint will crack under load.

We fixture the assembly, control heat input, use filler appropriate to the base alloy, and where a rail section is compromised we replace the section rather than building it up with weld. On a trailer carrying live animals, that distinction is not academic.

The exterior skin on a Featherlite is aluminum sheet, riveted and bonded to the frame. Damage from clipping a gate post or a fence line dents and creases it, and aluminum holds a crease. Filler over that crease telegraphs within a season because the metal and the filler move differently.

So panels are replaced between structural members, with new sheet, correct fasteners and proper sealing at the laps. On a polished or bright finish trailer that also means matching the finish of the surrounding sheet, which is polishing work rather than paint work.

The hardest working part of a horse or stock trailer is the floor, and it lives under mats in a wet, corrosive environment. Aluminum planking corrodes where urine and moisture sit against it, and the corrosion is invisible until the mats come up. Owners are often shocked by what is underneath.

We pull the mats, clean and inspect the planking, replace sections that have thinned, and address the crossmembers underneath. Then we talk about drainage and mat choice, because a floor that cannot dry corrodes again on the same schedule regardless of how good the repair is.

Any all aluminum trailer with steel fasteners, steel axles or a steel component bolted to it has a galvanic corrosion risk at every one of those interfaces. Moisture plus two dissimilar metals equals a slow electrochemical attack on the aluminum, and it concentrates exactly where structure is fastened together.

We inspect those interfaces during any repair, replace corroded fasteners with appropriate hardware, and isolate dissimilar metals where the original build did not. It is unglamorous preventive work and it is the difference between a fifteen year old trailer and a thirty year old one.

Featherlite also converted Prevost shells into luxury coaches, and that business ended years ago. Owners of a Featherlite converted coach have a supported Prevost shell underneath and an orphaned interior above it: cabinetry, hydraulic slide components, electrical panels and paint schemes with no factory behind them.

We handle those as fabrication and reproduction work. The shell side follows Prevost procedure and parts, which are excellent. The conversion side gets measured, fabricated and refinished here, and we say plainly which half of an estimate is which.

Welding, fabrication, skin and structural work bills at $210 per hour with body supplies at $5 per body hour. Electrical, appliance and living quarters systems work is $260. A written estimate is $150 and is credited in full when the repair is authorized. Extrusions are special order and require payment at order.

OCRV Center is an independent shop with no dealer agreement or affiliation with Featherlite Trailers. All work is performed in shop at Yorba Linda. Commercial and equestrian accounts can be billed on purchase order or net 30 terms once established.