I had my trailer to the factory in the last few weeks to have some body repair. I toured the factory and had occasion to look at the details of how the upper part of the trailer attaches to the lower because I had some repair work in that area of my trailer and asked for pictures of the detail.

I got a detailed picture of the attachment between the upper and lower sections of the trailer. It is how they are currently built and how my '97 is built. At the joint between the upper and lower skin, there is a large aluminum extrusion which wraps the edge of the floor plywood. It also has two legs which turn up and pocket the wall "stud" aluminum ribs. There is one leg which turns down to attach the lower skin to. At the point where the upper skin meets the lower skin there is an offset of nearly 1/8", so it is impossible to lap the skins with the lower coming up over the top skin as you have suggested. Since there is a flange to attach both skins there is no reason for ever lapping them anyway.

It is possible that they were built differently at some point, but this is how they are made now and this type of attention to detail is very common in Airstream construction.

I have never experienced any water in the belly pan nor have I ever heard of it. Most travel trailers don't even have a belly pan so you can't get water in it because it just runs out on the ground!

This is not to say that a Holiday Rambler is not a good trailer. I have never owned one but I understand they do have aluminum ribs instead of wood. This seems like an important feature to me.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.