Holiday Rambler Repair: Aluminum Framed Bodies on Roadmaster Rails

A framed wall is an aluminum cage with insulation between the members and a skin fastened and bonded over it. Damage transmits into the frame rather than releasing a bond across half a panel. We open the skin, straighten or replace the affected members, then reskin the opening. The repair area is defined by the framing, which usually means a smaller footprint than the equivalent damage on a laminate coach.

The catch is the skin itself. Aluminum does not accept filler the way fiberglass does, and a filled dent telegraphs through paint within a season as the metal moves. Dents get worked with hammer and dolly where the panel allows, and where they do not, the skin section is replaced between framing members.

Holiday Rambler's towables, Alumascape and Alumalite in particular, carried the aluminum construction theme into fifth wheels and travel trailers. Those units are lighter than their laminate competitors and more repairable two decades later, which is why a surprising number of them are still on the road in Southern California.

Their weak points are joints. The roof to sidewall junction relies on sealant over a fastened joint, and once that hardens and cracks water follows the framing rather than staining a ceiling panel. We trace the water path before repairing anything cosmetic, because chasing the stain instead of the leak guarantees a return visit.

The diesel coaches share their chassis lineage with Monaco, which means suspension, steering and brake components are identified by specification rather than looked up in a current catalog. Air leveling systems on coaches that sit for months develop their own faults, and a leveling problem discovered during a collision repair is a separate authorization rather than part of the claim.

Sourcing time is the schedule risk. We front load it, so the day count you get at authorization already includes the search rather than discovering it at day six. Where a component genuinely cannot be matched, fabrication is quoted as an alternative with hours attached.

An older Holiday Rambler frequently presents three substrates on one side: painted aluminum skin, a gelcoated fiberglass cap and a filon or fiberglass slide face. Each takes color slightly differently, and a repair that matches on the cap can read wrong on the skin two feet away. Preparation and adhesion promoters differ as well, since bare aluminum needs an etch step that fiberglass does not.

We spray out cards against each substrate separately and blend across the transition rather than at it. On a coach with an original decal scheme that is no longer available, the layout is reproduced with masks cut from the undamaged side.

Body and refinish work bills at $210 per hour, mechanical and electrical at $260, and diagnostic time at $285 per hour with a one hour minimum credited against the repair. A written estimate is $150, credited in full when the work is authorized. Parts over $100 carry 35 percent markup and special orders are paid in full at order.

OCRV Center is an independent shop with no dealer or brand agreement involving Holiday Rambler or REV Group. All work happens at the Yorba Linda facility. For owners in Rancho Santa Margarita the 241 to the 91 is the sensible route for anything over thirty feet, and we would rather you call about staging than arrive with a coach that cannot roll into a bay.