RE: Fiberglass Blistering
I have fixed half dozen delaminated spots on my motor home in the past several years. I used different methods depending on conditions. It is a process.
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We would love to hear the stories of how you did it...
Wes
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RE: Towing Rating / Liability article in trade mag
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I wonder if most investigating officers would even bother to write down weight stickers of a towed combo. The most likely scenario is that the officer would write down who he thought had the right of way and issue a "Due Care" citation for someone out of their normal lane.
Then how many law firms would bother to investigate the involved vehicles after the fact? Darn few I bet. As an example, there may even be a case for an involved auto being overloaded with six overly large passengers, but as long as there are seatbelts, probably no citation.
Here a few years ago, I was following a lady through a right-turn-but-yield ramp, and when she left (partially entered the freeway lane moving last I saw), I glanced back to see if I could also complete the turn and follow. I had to look back at a 45 degree angle to see oncoming traffic and decided I would wait. As I coasted at about 2 mph, looking the wrong way, she apparently changed her mind and backed back into my lane. Bumped her rather new minicar just as I stopped with my pickup. It damaged her urethane painted bumper cover and broke my plastic license plate bracket. The investigating officer wrote me up for Due Care. When I told him she backed up, he just shrugged and finished the citation. My insurance paid out. I'm not even sure it was entirely my fault since she technically was still going the wrong way at impact.
The point is it normally doesn't matter what happened so much as the investigating officers first take and brief paperwork actually says. That is why I don't see complicated records of towing weight limits being kept, or used. It is just not a big enough deal.
Wes
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RE: Renting your personal travel trailer
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Simple:
When a potential renter, no matter their economic status, comes to rent the camper, be dressed like mafia. Mention that you had to break the last guys knees because he brought it back damaged.
If they bring it back, it will probably be in good shape yet.
Wes
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RE: How do you stop one from Porpoising
Even with perfect adjustment on our hitch I still had some porpoising. I tried new Rancho shocks but it made no difference. Finally I tried new Bilstein shocks and the problem was solved once and for all.
This fixed it for me. The Bilteins and proper WD tension eliminated almost all porpoising on my F150. Stock suspension is just too soft for the heavy loads.
Which Bilsteins are you guys using ?Which Bilsteins are you guys using ?
The first general Bilstein truck link to pop up in Google was This. There are 8 different GMC 1500 trucks listed which may all have different shocks.
For the OP's (original poster's) GMC 1500 truck, if it happens to be a 2006 Sierra 1500 Heavy Duty 2WD C1500HD, it is probably this HD shock, but there are several Bilsteins (front and rear) listed just for this one particular truck. Offhand, the best shock will be the thickest bodied, stiffest shock they have, if one has opportunity to view them in person. Bilsteins have the property of being stiff enough, yet give just enough to provide a reasonably soft empty ride... and they are durable.
There is one other aspect that can help. Since the WD bars may have quite a bit of non-damped travel, a stiffer set has the effect of bending less and forcing the truck suspension to do most of the "bump" travel. The advantage is that the truck suspension travel will be damped, if proper shocks are used.
All the shocks do is absorb impact and rebound energy when one hits a bump. If one remembers jumping off a yard shed roof when a kid, it is the difference between jumping off the shed into deep snow (damped) or onto a trampoline (undamped bounce). Jumping off the shed roof and landing on the hard ground would be like having no spring or damping at all, and can break legs just as well as trucks. The trouble with WD bars is that they are just like trampolines and a major source of undamped porpoising... unless they are relatively too stiff to bend much.
Wes
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RE: I hate this mattress!
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We bought a memory foam mattress from Target for our first camper. It was heavier, and cost more, than the one from Walmart, but the crush-support seemed better. Some are quite non-dense and just barely qualify to be called memory foam, so checking them out for weight and compression pays in the store.
For our second camper, we bought a short queen Denver Mattress from Furniture Row. Here are examples of a twin or full RV mattresses from them, priced at $159 to $199.
I think we paid more for another 12 inch thick type queen size but not over $400 on sale, if I stuck with my usual elcheapo philosophy. We love it except it reduced headroom.
Wes
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RE: Where to put our Generator
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Install a front mounted receiver hitch and a plug-in cargo carrier. Leave the genny on the front of the truck while camping. The truck blocks some of the noise while in use too.
The front mounted receiver is also handy for manuevering the camper, or a boat, into tight spaces. The truck can naturally steer any shoved trailer much faster and vision is simplified over backing. The front cargo carrier can also be used for bikes and other items, or even quick-mount a winch.
Wes
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RE: How do you stop one from Porpoising
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If the porpoising is the TT rocking teeter-totter-like on its axles, you need much better rear truck shocks such as Bilsteins. The rear springs modified travel range, when loaded, is at a higher spring rate, so requires more spring damping for control. The "spring loaded" WD bars add even more springiness, entirely without any additional damping, overworking soft shocks even more.
There is another possible rocking motion that is almost purely fore-and-aft motion (jerking?) and that is caused by any give in the receiver assembly and/or rear truck axle spring twist. By axle twist, I mean the nose of the differential pinion gear rotates up and down making forward motion jerky. This is most noteable when soft springs are used for enhanced empty ride quality. An example would be a soft Ford Excursion rear axle. Ford incorporates an OEM type of "slapper" traction bar to compensate and reduce this spring-wrapping twisting tendency.
In lieu of factory design, the way to fix this is a better receiver and/or thicker springpack. Aftermarket traction bars, instead of thicker springs, will also help, but also tend to stiffen the empty ride.
Wes
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RE: Our custom true flatbed truck camper build thread
Just some food for thought:
Interesting project, keep the pics coming.
Re: the frame twist, a few years ago I was working on a military vehicle project and on those with boxes on the back, ie, "campers" they used a special 3 point pivoting mount system that isolated the box from the frame. It was designed such that a moment could not be transmitted from the frame to the box.
Do some searches and I'm sure you can find some info/pics of similar mounts.
Dan
I have seen this 3 point system purposely used on an "Earth Roamer type" off-road build, either on the net, or a television documentary. For absolute frame twist security, it is the only way that makes sense, and I made a mental note of it. If one was to mount the box shell in two forward places on the frame, the cabover portion of the box is unlikely to flex different enough to touch the cab. The single point mounted rear of the shell can lift/travel considerably from the truck frame without shell damage.
On the other hand, I'm sure most TC's and Mini/Motorhomes do twist considerably more than their owners realise. As long as the shell is fairly homogenous, the bending stresses are not concentrated in one single area. It is the reason that windows, and now often doors, have rounded corners and the glass can somewhat "float". Marine windows are often entirely round. Boat structure cracks and leaks are even worse than campers, of course.
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you could always just do like i am and fiberglass over the plywood making it a one piece roof put you some waxed shimming on the sides to wrap over so you can add the siding of choice later.. as for attaching the plywood grind the tubing for some bit and use liquid nails and and screws
It does seem like fiberglassing the plywood would be the easiest and maybe cheapest solution. Considering fiberglass boats last like 30 years even when exposed to the elements...
I would use sikaflex, which I guess is similar to liquid nails, to fastent the ply to the steel...maybe with some screws too although I doubt they are needed.
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the original one piece fiberglass roof to mine is about 45 years old and is in fair shape yet...
Speaking of marine construction, here is a thread discussing good old fashioned painted canvas decks. Most important to note is that in this post, the gentleman mentions his ordinary painted cotton canvas has reliably served as a waterproof deck (roof) for 55 years. Quote: "The original painted canvas has been on my boat for 55 years. It's kept on the water all year long in a covered slip. I re-coat the paint every 6-8 years." EPDM is far from a new concept, except probably even more rubbery and durable than paint. EDPM would be my roof of choice.
I did try the lowball "painted fabric" idea on a plywood picnic table we received as a gift. The table was meant to disassemble and be transported for campouts, but the builder thought that if thin plywood was good, more was better, so he used 3/4 inch ply. It weighed a miserable ton and we finally left it permanently set up in our backyard. Anyone that has merely painted plywood in an effort to preserve it outdoors, knows that the raw plywood surface grain cracks within months.
Finally, in an effort to forestall chronic repainting, my wife let me have some old, semi-rotten, cotton sheets that we had used to start new lawn. I experimentally applied a very wet coat of ordinary leftover latex house paint to the tabletop and wrapped the sheet over, then immediately saturation-painted the dickens out of the sheet surface. Ten years later, the maintenence-free table top was still in great shape, but the feet had rotted off, so I threw the table.
My son also covered a low-cost homemade truck topper with thin painted cotton. The redneck topper was built with a superlight wood frame and styrofoam sheet. It had a plexiglass front and rear window incorporated and a rear door with a sealed plastic hinge. After the latex house paint was dry, it was very light, stiff and waterproof. He work-camped in it for a summer. Unfortunately, it wasn't fastened well to the truck box and eventually tore loose in a windstorm coming from the rear while parked. The aerodynamic shape apparently kept it on during driving. I don't know how long the surface might ultimately have lasted, but many quality latex house paints are rated for up to 50 years. Because it breathes vapor, latex is inherently less likely to peel as opposed to oil paints.
Wes
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RE: Our custom true flatbed truck camper build thread
Just to add to bka0721's comments - this is the write-up I did on adding solar panels to my aluminum roof:
Solar clicky...
The first page also contains links to the complete roof rebuild.
Unfortunately I have lots of screws going through my roof, but I didn't have much alternative if I wanted to keep all the hatches etc. that the camper originally had.
Cheers,
Steve.
Steve, very nice job on your aluminum roof. I am now unsure if I want to go aluminum though. I see you used a vapor barrier under the aluminum (smart) but this would not allow me to sikaflex the aluminum directly to the marine plywood. Perhaps TPO or that other EPDM? stuff would be the better way to go for me, so I can bond it to the plywood that is screwed/glued to the metal roof joists.
Hmmm...
Having not read all this, I'm not sure of the application here, but I would not ordinarily recommend thee sole "vapor barrier under the aluminum". For one thing, the aluminum is a terrific vapor barrier all on it's own.
The most important other aspect, though, is that the aluminum already forms a vapor barrier on the exterior "cold side" where we don't really want it. Because of the need for "wet" water-proofing, it can't be helped, but this aluminum barrier traps any attic cavity humidity from properly dissipating outdoors through the outer membrane. That is to say that any vapor that penetrates the inner ceiling cannot continue to the outside which, in turn, means that it is likely to be trapped and reach the dew point within the wall cavity and therefore condense to "wet" water. Rot and mold can follow.
As an example, a full size stick home has a large hollow "trussed" attic that is ventilated to allow vapor escape, even though the shingles prevent rain intrusion. Some curved camper roofs also have shallow trusses that allow venting, wiring and even A/C ducts to run the length of the RV roof.
It is possible to vent a flat camper ceiling in a similar way by running an additional layer of purlins (cross-timbers) under rafters at a 90 degree angle. After the ceiling panels are attached, air may still freely circulate through the entire matrix by weaving around the perpendicular framing, if that makes sense. A bonus is that wiring may be simply threaded through this same matrix without drilling holes in single layer roof joists. The idea would be to add insulation only between the purlins and allow open ventable air space above this layer. It is important to add a "warm side" vapor barrier between the ceiling panels and bottom of the insulation. This is actually more important on a roof assembly than wall assembly. There is a tendency of more accumulated vapor towards the ceiling.
TRIVIA:
The breathable air inside the cabin is made up of mostly nitrogen and oxygen in that order of prominence. Both these gaseous molecules exist in relatively dense pairs, O2 and N2. Because they exist in pairs they (the denser air) are actually heavier than H2O "gaseous" dry vapor which exists as "feathery" single molecules. H2O is only one "half-heavy" oxygen molecule and two very light hydrogen atoms. Dry water vapor therefore "floats" to the top of the interior atmosphere, just like light wood on heavy water. This also true of outdoors evaporating humidity. Outside the invisible rising vapor eventually reaches a cool upper air that is cold enough to condense the vapor to tiny droplets, combined molecules ("wet" water) we are able to see as clouds (same as fog). If the droplets coagulate too much, they get compact and heavy enough to fall as rain. The point being, water vapor itself, is lighter than air and collects near ceilings.
Wes
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RE: white stain on silver cap help
On my 2011 keystone cougar with the silver frontcap,i am noticing a white faded area on the upper half. I believe it is residue from the rubber roof i have tried everything to get it off. Any suggestions. It is only on the top part of the cap so i do not think it is fading because you would think it would show on the whole cap.
Perhaps it is faded. The front cap should be made of FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic). The polyester resin used to make this is normally translucent, but almost all smooth, finished castings have a colored gelcoat outer layer made from the same "inner" resin presented as the outer finished surface (imagine a bath bay or boat hull). Nearly all outer gelcoats are pigmented with white to make them opaque. So the cap is probably white under a thin silver paint coating and silver paint has been known to slough off and allow the underbase color to show through. This would particularily true if the original spray coat of silver was rather thin on top to start with.
In the case I just outlined, the cap would be very smooth, yet discolored. If there is a raised "white" surface, then yes, it could be a foreign substance on top of a perfectly good silver coat.
Good luck resolving this issue.
Wes
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RE: Our custom true flatbed truck camper build thread
Thanks for the suggestion Wes! So, like Tyvek between the foam and the interior luan/mahagony walls? That should be pretty easy I guess.
The WR250R is the most awesome bike we have ever owned. Fuel injected 4 stroke, 65mpg, can do 75mph on the hwy, only 280 lbs. They are expensive but worth every penny.
ticki2 is correct. Tyvek is a plastic with very small perforations that allows the escape of single water molecules (vapor), but prevents the intrusion of "coagulated molecules" (condensed wet water). It acts like GoreTex, water-proof, yet breatheable. It slows breathing a little bit but far less than a polyethylene sheet installed on the warm side of the wall to keep vapor out. Vapor therefore can't enter as easy as it can escape. Water doesn't condense on the warm side, just when it reaches a cool interior or cold surface.
Wes
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RE: Shidders Full :)
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The stool can be kept immaculately clean of skid marks by always "mailing" any package of solids. Fold two pieces of TP and lay in the stool prior to the placement of any solid with a disgusting "magic marker" ability. The TP is best laid in a crosshairs fashion. The solid package is now automatically wrapped in a clean envelope for efficient mailing with the flush lever. Much better than reaching in after the fact, with the same amount of TP to remove insidious "grafitti". :)
Wes
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Great suggestion and well put!
Thanks. "Mailing" idea courtesy of my buddy, Steve. One of his best.
Wes
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RE: Our custom true flatbed truck camper build thread
Not a lot to update today but I did add some little 1x2 down the middle of the base frame to help keep the cross members straight and maybe provide a little stiffening and floor support.
Also I am including some pictures of our sailboat which will be pulled by the Isuzu and the snowmobiles and motorcycles which will be on the back of the flatbed. A lot to carry around, but we will try.;)
http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/WR250Rmoto.jpg width=640
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Ummm. WR250's. I like the way you think. I like the sailboat and snowmobile. But I have several quite older on-road plus some off-road bikes and I'd trade them all for a streetable WR250 or two.
If you haven't already done so, you might consider an inner vapor barrier even if you use foam insulation. While foam insulation is relatively water-proof, it is not vapor proof. Dry water vapor finding is way in, and then condensing, can't get back out as easily as it can from fiberglass batt. Not using a vapor barrier so is one of the design errors commonly made by OEM RV manufacturers.
Wes
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RE: Our custom true flatbed truck camper build thread
Ok, I am going to collect random thoughts and progress pictures and put them here in a thread...
...Here is a picture of the truck with some important dimensions:
http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/IsuzuNNR1.jpg width=640
The downside to a one-off build is no prototype. When manufacturers build an RV, they build the interior from the floor-up-only first, no walls, no roof. This staged method would allow some set-in-place re-arranging to seek the best balance before the entire shell is constructed. The shell will be heavier, but naturally more balanced when added later.
No offense, but since you will undoubtedly be adding several pictures, you should know that adding a space and "width=640" to the end of the picture IMG url will size any picture small enough (480x640) to keep viewers from having to side-scroll to read the entire page. Some pictures are pre-sized, or accidentally the right size, but not all. This "sizing" is also in keeping with the listed forum post requirements. You can see the smaller, resized, large picture above. Interested viewers can enlarge huge pictures on a new page if they wish.
The large detailed pictures are always nice but viewers can still see it full size by right clicking on the picture and choosing the url from "Properties" at the bottom of the pop-up box to paste and open on a separate new browser page. I even made it clickable below.
"http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/IsuzuNNR1.jpg"
If you choose "Quote" from the upper right hand of my post here, the quoted-to-respond page will show you how I entered the modified picture url, and even allow you to go back and edit the first page to get a better, easier to read, computer screen fit for all readers.
Great project! Thanks for sharing.
Wes
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RE: Shidders Full :)
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We add 1 cup Tide (or any powdered laundry detergent), and 1 cup dry water softener, after dumping at the dump station on the way out of camp. This mix is first dissolved with water in a 1 quart jar. One gallon of water total is sufficient to wet the tank bottom and especially prevent the dreaded pyramid-under-dry-trap build from "stuck solids" on the next use. The solution is very, very slippery and nothing can stick to the coated tank because of it's use.
The subsequent movement of the RV towards home insures detergent dissolves any remaining human waste like crusty diapers in a washing machine, or any more added later, and apparently prevents smells for an extended period (1, 2 months) as well as any pricy chemical. One "starter" gallon doesn't waste much capacity on the next camp use, but a couple of quarts would probably work just as well on a small tank.
The stool can be kept immaculately clean of skid marks by always "mailing" any package of solids. Fold two pieces of TP and lay in the stool prior to the placement of any solid with a disgusting "magic marker" ability. The TP is best laid in a crosshairs fashion. The solid package is now automatically wrapped in a clean envelope for efficient mailing with the flush lever. Much better than reaching in after the fact, with the same amount of TP to remove insidious "grafitti". :)
Wes
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RE: Saw this today!
I am going to put an end to all the speculation about this dual TC setup . The owner is not destitute or homeless, and acquired this setup due to the influence of all the posters here on RV Net's forums....
...Glad I could help straighten this out
Joe
Ha Ha Ha. Good one, Joe!
About as funny a tongue-in-cheek as I've ever seen here. A classic post.
Good job! :B
Wes
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RE: steep grades
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Some good advice here. Besides using a lower gear for control, I particularily liked Jack Birish's post to include stability. The tongue weight on a TT increases to a degree that sway could occur and a docile 5vr may unduly load the front truck axle more too.
One unique way to look at descent is that it requires about the same amount of power to go down a hill as to climb it at the same speed. In other words, if the truck climbed using up 200 hp of 300 available, the rig will have to dissipate that amount (200 hp) in the form of heat to maintain that same speed down the other side. If it took one gallon of fuel to climb, one could pour that one gallon of fuel on a campfire and extract that same amount of heat, the brake heat, from the fire. Level highway might only require 40 hp to drive that slow.
The good news is the RV has it's own brakes to assist descent, whereas the truck's engine was on it's own uphill. The bad news is that if one descends at a quicker rate, it quickly takes huge additional hp heat, in the form of braking capacity, to maintain that fast downhill run just like it would take huge amounts of hp to ascend fast. Too fast down and all the brakes are literally overpowered. So the sensible thing is to descend slower. I learned that railroading. :E
Wes
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RE: Used Garmin GPS
Forget the Garmin... use your DW's iPhone or iPad. Nobody uses GPS individual units any more. Get with the technology. :B
Seriously, a good smart phone will have apps available that will do the GPS job plus a lot more.
Ron
The problem with the internet is no one can see the mischievous smile on your face when you joke like this. :B :B
I, too, liked my wifes first Garmin, partly because it ran on her Win XP laptop. Huge screen easily readable from the drivers seat as it sat on the empty passenger seat (or lap). One big draw was it only cost $99 and worked like a charm. The downside was when she updated laptops and the old Garmin software was not compatable. The new replacement Delorme GPS (another $65) ran on the new Windows ok, but couldn't keep up with the GPS signal. One thing... we always eventually knew which turn we just missed.
Now DW bought a little-screen Garmin brand again for about $200. No computer needed, even though we already had one. Jeepers, it should drive for that kind of money. :E
Actually, they now have such a thing in beta for trains. It starts, stops and slows down when pre-programmed for the trip. The tracks steer, of course. I've used a preliminary program that spouted out motion instructions, but they were so speed conservative it agonizingly prolonged the trip and I ignored it. Since we worked by the mile, we naturally wanted to go fast until the last second, stop quick and go again until final arrival. The company's extra fuel and brake shoes vs my quality time at home. :R
Wes
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RE: Side cameras attached to TT?
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Just in case the camera's don't work out, these McKesh mirrors are regarded as more vibration proof and high quality than most. They sell as a pair.
The McKesh are a little pricy but type-style knock-offs may be had cheaper:
Amazon Cipa.
Camping World Eagle.
The knock-offs are priced individually, may have lower quality plating, more crudely painted parts or plastic mirror housings, but they attach with similar security. They all extend out more than most allowing one to observe the RV side and tires.
Wes
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