Scamp and Oxboard (MDF/Chipboard)

[Cathy P.]

We were looking at the Scamp online and got the brochure. We have had bad experiences with MDF/Chipboard and I had thought Scamp did not have it but it turns out that they have oxboard and a search tells me that is chipboard. They say they have been encasing it in plastic since the 70's and have not had problems. To me, water is an enemy and glue, wood chips add weight and movement = disaster in the making. Can anyone give feedback on this and is there a fiberglass egg that does not use any, absolutely no, chipboard. Thank you, Cathy

[honda03842]

We just bought a 1991 Scamp 16 and I was concerned myself. It actually is perfect after 20 years. I do intend to paint it with white Herculiner to further incapsulate it but it looks like it came from the factory.

One person's experience.

Norm

[Mike Magee]

I believe the new Lil Snoozy will not have any. As I understand it, the floor is molded fiberglass with whatever interior finish flooring you want (vinyl or laminate).

[Brian Bran]

I have a 1976 Scamp with the original floor and it's also perfect.No rot anywhere.Pretty good for a 35 year old camper.

[Ken C]

Hope some of this helps. scamp has resin soaked wood, Not encasing in plastic. Casita has the encapsulated wood floor in fiberglass, AKA bath tubbed in. The scamp floor is good in that it can air dry out someone mentioned which is a good point.

Yes, snoozy has no wood in the floor. They are the only one is production that have this feature. On a side note, not molded fiberglass, camp-lite has non wood floor and is all ALU without wood anywhere in the construction.

[Ray N]

Until last year I didn't realize that some particleboard and MDF are now quite waterproof. We were having our kitchen counters done and in the store there was a sample of the base particle board soaking in a glass of water. I don't know how long it had been there but obviously quite some time, several days at least. I took it out and it looked like new.

The same thing happened with an MDF floor that my son was putting in last fall. I advised him to avoid it but he told me it was waterproof. I doubted it, took a bit of it home and put it in water. Same story - after a couple of days it still looked fine.

I was used to the old, un-treated stuff that falls apart if it gets wet. Some modern things really are improvements over the old.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Ken C

Hope some of this helps. scamp has resin soaked wood, Not encasing in plastic. Casita has the encapsulated wood floor in fiberglass, AKA bath tubbed in. The scamp floor is good in that it can air dry out someone mentioned which is a good point.

Yes, snoozy has no wood in the floor. They are the only one is production that have this feature. On a side note, not molded fiberglass, camp-lite has non wood floor and is all ALU without wood anywhere in the construction.

Aluminum is a great heat conductor or cold as the case may be. Wood on the other hand is not such a great heat conductor. Fiberglass is a better conductor than wood, but a lot worse than aluminum. This is all stuff I confirmed a number years ago when I bought my first canoe and tried a few first.

I think I'll keep my wood floor which is hard enough to keep warm in cold weather or cool in hot weather.

[Ken C]

camp-lite can spray foam insulation under the floor for winter folks. They even had an ice fishing model. Just tossing that idea out there in case Cathy has never seen those before.

[Andy B]

Chip board and particle board are both heavier and not as strong as plywood. Both of those attributes are not good things for a light weight trailer. In the home building industry they are not generally recommended for floors, although some builders will use it anyway because it costs less. I have also experienced the swelling/delamination issues due to moisture on a shed I built. I will never use it again for any structural application or where there is any moisture. With the size of the floor in a small trailer, the cost savings over plywood is only a few dollars, and then the owner has a lifetime of inferior product.

[Cathy P.]

Thank you for all of your replies. We have been looking for awhile now but want to do it right after having the stick trailers - floor separating, swollen counter tops, black mold, etc. amounting to something good for about 5 years! We have been looking at the Scamp, Eggcamper and we just last week looked at the all aluminum Camplite since when searching for small and lightweight, it pops on the list. We are older, mid-50's quickly slipping to late 50's so want something that we can hang onto. Years ago we met an older couple traveling with a 13' older Scamp and pulling it with a Pinto wagon. (We probably would have something like a mini-van or a smaller truck if we got the 5th wheel.) Again, thank you and hopefully this is the year we are able to make a decision and a purchase.

[Donna D.]

Doesn't matter what's on the floor really... moisture from leaks is a maintenance issue. You'll either end up with a rotted floor or mold everywhere if not taken care of. What the floor is made of is the least of my worries, how well the vents and windows are sealed is far more important to me. YMMV

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Cathy P.

We were looking at the Scamp online and got the brochure. We have had bad experiences with MDF/Chipboard and I had thought Scamp did not have it but it turns out that they have oxboard and a search tells me that is chipboard. They say they have been encasing it in plastic since the 70's and have not had problems. To me, water is an enemy and glue, wood chips add weight and movement = disaster in the making. Can anyone give feedback on this and is there a fiberglass egg that does not use any, absolutely no, chipboard. Thank you, Cathy

MDF is a totally different product from OSB, which is the product used for the flooring on modern Scamps.
Though similar,OSB (oxboard?) is engineered differently from waferboard (chipboard?) in that it is oriented strand board in which the layers are as described and produced under greater pressure than waferboard.
IMHO... It is inappropriate to lump all engineered wood products into one category and reject them.
Most modern houses are built out of this stuff, in one form or other, from the floor joists to the roof.
I have made my living on the fact that... "everything put together, sooner or later falls apart" and 30-40years of service with reasonable care is more than I need and more than I can expect from most any other product including a new $40,000 Tow vehicle.
Anyone who has worked on older Scamps has seen floor damage,fiberglass cracks, wiring problems, and problems involving everything from appliances to upholstery.
I have had several in which the floor was excellent after nearly 30 years.

There is no reason to fear the OSB flooring anymore than any other part of the trailer... With proper care, you can expect remarkable service and longevity from a Scamp. After seven years of ownership, Mine is still in excellent shape, in spite of the fact that I have been less than meticulous,being limited by less than adequate ambition.

[Carol H]

My scamps floor is the original 20 year old and there are no signs of any issues with it. As Floyd suggests that with proper care of the trailer (ie fixing leaks should they happen) the floor Scamp uses will last for more years than you are likely to own the trailer.

[Ed Harris]

I have had 2 Trillium's among others that had a Sandwich floor of fiberglass/plywood/fiberglass construction.
In both trailers interior leaks allowed water in but the construction would not let it back out!
The result was rotted,smelly and molded floors. I learned to drill small weep holes around the perimeter of the tub mainly in storage areas to let any water out and when I drilled the first ones water streamed out for some time.

These things are not always as they appear really.