The amount of rust on the underside of an RV can be heavily influenced by where and when you drive. There is always going to be some rust on a metal structure, the question is, is it bad enough to be worrisome, or just a bit of surface coating?
Our first Class A, RV, was a 2003 Itasca Horizon, driven in New England winters its first two years. Salt on the roads I think! We bought it in 2007, and there was heavy rust nearly everywhere on the underside. I spent a couple weeks of late afternoons, periodically wire brushing, applying rust remover, sanding, etc. and recoating with heavy coats of Rustoleum. As the third owner, our three years of travelling with it, was mostly in the Pacific NW, dry or clean rainy roads. When we traded it in, the underside still looked better than most other 7 year old RVs.
Now we have a 2010 Winnebago, one owner (us), driven around the country, 95% in dry weather, all over the country. Yes there are several places with light rust showing, usually the welded joints, below and behind the water compartment, most on the driver's side. I get after the worst of them every once in a while, with a little light wire brushing, rust remover, and Rustoleum. After 8 years of driving around the country, you really can't find any particularly worrisome rust spots under our coach, and it really hasn't taken much work to keep it that way.
I did install mud flaps on each wheel well, and all hang to about 2" of the pavement when driving. Really keeps the underside of the RV dry, and the rocks off the toad.
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2010 Journey 39n - 2017 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk - this our 13th year living aboard, travelling and visiting the Pacific NW, summer 2023
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