Maintenance & Restoration

ronsmith100 · 07-02-2007, 09:07 PM

I am an Arizona Site Steward registered and responsible archaeologist for policing Anasazi Pueblos in the Arizona Strip
Before buying a Casita I had an Aliner.
Trecking out into the boondocks in my terrain was nature's hammer... hundreds of miles of hard washboard roads.
The Aliner was coming apart and every one of my compatriot's trailers were disintegrating too.
The fiberglass monocoque shell of these kinds of campers are *extremely* rugged.
Solve the problem of rivet busting and you have solved all of the structural problems with eggs.

Simply put, I am the envy of all archeologists in the Arizona Strip

Ron

Chester Taje · 07-02-2007, 09:33 PM

Well welcome to this forum and i am glad your FG trailer is working well for you.

Gina D. · 07-02-2007, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Solve the problem of rivet busting

Burro

Ed Harris · 07-03-2007, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Burro

And Trillium,Fiberstream and......

ronsmith100 · 07-03-2007, 05:31 PM

Quote:

And Trillium,Fiberstream and......

I need to see more of these brands! Scamp and Casita have riveted-in upper cabinets... something I am not happy about.
Which *new* fiberglass eggs do not use rivets?

Ron

Charlie C · 07-03-2007, 05:58 PM

The Escape is similar in size and features to the 17' Casita, including the full molded fiberglass under belly, but the #1 feature that both Trillium and Escape have is that all interior fittings are fastened from inside the trailer, whether it is to a rib molded into the fiberglass or whatever. No holes through the body except for things like awning fastners etc.

Brian B-P · 07-03-2007, 06:45 PM

Quote:

The Escape is similar in size and features to the 17' Casita, including the full molded fiberglass under belly, but the #1 feature that both Trillium and Escape have is that all interior fittings are fastened from inside the trailer, whether it is to a rib molded into the fiberglass or whatever. No holes through the body except for things like awning fastners etc.

... and even the awnings have well-planned mounting points. Have a look at the topic [b]Escape Trailer, Anybody Have One?, starting around post #23 for some details of the Escape 17. To me, the Escape design is clearly derived from the Trillium, rather than the Boler; Scamp and Casita are Boler descendants (Boler is long gone).

Donna D. · 07-04-2007, 07:39 AM

Quote:

To me, the Escape design is clearly derived from the Trillium, rather than the Boler; Scamp and Casita are Boler descendants (Boler is long gone).

And I was thinking BigFoot, because of the quality... which is soooo much better than the regular "eggs."

jack maloney · 07-04-2007, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Solve the problem of rivet busting and you have solved all of the structural problems with eggs.

U-Haul and Burro - no rivets, and the double hulls mean that cupboards, cabinets, etc., are molded into the egg providing structural strength. With all the rivet and bellyband problems common to "new" eggs, I wonder why this robust design isn't followed today.

BOBSMITH · 07-04-2007, 08:23 AM

My wife and I chose fiberglass for much the same reason. We knew we were going to do most of our camping in places where there were no hookups and the roads could be rough. We enjoy getting back as far into the forests as we can. Also, after our scary run-in with a huge black bear, we didn't want to be in a tent anymore. So fiberglass it was!

Donna D. · 07-04-2007, 08:39 AM

Quote:

U-Haul and Burro - no rivets, and the double hulls mean that cupboards, cabinets, etc., are molded into the egg providing structural strength. With all the rivet and bellyband problems common to "new" eggs, I wonder why this robust design isn't followed today.

I'm thinking $$$. U-haul was building for the rental market, so the trailers need to be extremely sturdy. And of course Burro is out of business. When building a trailer using this method, the manufacturer is actually building two trailers...an inner and an outer. That's at least four molds for one trailer. Not cost effective for the price manufacturers are charging. They'd need to nearly double the price and with the flood of other types of trailers and cheaper prices they'd price themselves right out of business.

**Frederick L. Simson** · 07-04-2007, 08:57 AM

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gina D. @ Jul 2 2007, 08:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Quote:

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ronsmith100 @ Jul 2 2007, 08:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Quote:

Solve the problem of rivet busting

Burro

[/quote]
And Trillium,[b]Fiberstream and......

[/quote]

Fiber Stream's rigid screws into it's wood framed interior has it's own unique ways of failing.

Or, at least mine has, making me contemplate a complete frame-off reconstruction.

Pete Dumbleton · 07-04-2007, 03:36 PM

You know, if anyone is concerned about rivets failing, it doesn't take much effort to DOUBLE the number of original rivets to put half the load on each of them. Rivets through fiberglass are easy to seal if you take your time.

Try doing that on a 'stick built' trailer...

Herb P · 07-04-2007, 06:17 PM

If I'm not mistaken, I think Joe is just gluing the cabinets in place on the new trilliums.. I didn't take a long close look but that's what I remembered thinking...

I know they do this on boats and it seems to hold up well.. I wonder what they use and whether you can do it after the fact...

Opal · 07-05-2007, 01:24 PM

Quote:

You know, if anyone is concerned about rivets failing, it doesn't take much effort to DOUBLE the number of original rivets to put half the load on each of them. Rivets through fiberglass are easy to seal if you take your time.

Try doing that on a 'stick built' trailer...

Hi,

I've spent a lot of time trolling here. Learning all I can before ordering a Scamp 5th wheel, and saving up to try and pay in cash. I keep reading about worries about the rivets. I understand Scamp is good at working with people on what they want in their scamps. Do you think that If I requested it, they would add more rivets? The idea of having more, to add more stability appeals to me more than changing it or modifying it, as I've read some others do.

brendadave · 07-05-2007, 02:36 PM

Quote:

If I'm not mistaken, I think Joe is just gluing the cabinets in place on the new trilliums.. I didn't take a long close look but that's what I remembered thinking...

I know they do this on boats and it seems to hold up well.. I wonder what they use and whether you can do it after the fact...

When I visited the factory, that is what I learned, They glue the upper cabinets and the corner ones before finishing with the insulation etc. They told me the glue holds so good you can do chin-ups on it and not pull it off.

I think in my older Trillium they must be guled as well, I know I have never seen rivets or screws. If it has held for 31 years, that seems impressive.

Lainey · 07-05-2007, 02:56 PM

I had a couple of funny "why I went glass" experiences last night. My apologies to my neighbours if you are reading this, I am not making fun of you, really.

Wanting to pull my little egg out of it's cocoon near the fence so I could take some pictures for the potential buyer, of course I just wheeled it (by hand) to where I wanted it. This was easy to do with the handy dandy wheel I added to the jack stand. You all know what I'm talking about.

Then I wanted to get it back up onto its concrete wheel pads, but was just a little afraid of letting go and having it back into my neighbour’s Acura beside me, so I went to ask for help from another neighbour (not Acura guy). The Mrs. Bulgemobile was home, but Mr. was away, so she said she would send him over when he got back.

In the meantime, I am out cleaning the egg out and another neighbour walking by (also a bulgemobile owner) stopped to chat. He ended up taking a tour and couldn’t believe how clean the unit is and that 4 people could sleep in there. I asked if he would mind giving me a hand lifting it onto the blocks. He didn’t understand at first

(silly me, assuming that people knew how light these are). Once I explained, he still looked a bit in disbelief, but lent a hand. What a shocked look! He couldn’t believe it could be done that easily! Acura guy looking nervously out his window

Fastforward to later in the evening. Mr. Bulgemobile comes over, flashlight in hand to check out the ball size needed to pull the trailer forward… That just goes to show how people don’t understand what a lightweight trailer really is.

jack maloney · 07-05-2007, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Do you think that If I requested it, they would add more rivets? The idea of having more, to add more stability appeals to me more than changing it or modifying it, as I've read some others do.

Seems to me that more rivets = more potential leaks.

ronsmith100 · 07-05-2007, 09:08 PM

I am quite convinced that rivets are an economic trade-off. The whole concept of "flexibility" so that the rivets "pop" (after all they *are* called "pop" rivets for a reason) is simply an economic way to do it. It is not the best way in my opinion.

If I was the Casita or Scamp Engineer and I didn't have to answer to anyone about costs I would "tape" the cabinets to the egg shell using 3M VHB (very high bond) tape. I know some of you will guffa a bit but unless you have used this stuff in industry you would probably think of it as two way carpet tape... which it is not at all. I have used this tape to bond together two 1500lb panels of fiberglass that were used for carbon fiber molds for soaring planes.

This tape is pretty expensive and assembly would be slow and tedious.

But... if the world was...

Ron