Why you dont install laminate in a boler.

[colin k]

Good story for you.
This summer we decided to head out to Halcyon hot springs In Nakusp B.C .My Boler had a regular pump sink where you pump up and down on the handle and water magically appears at the faucet. The GF didnt like the pump thing so i decided to install an electric pump with a shiny red button to activate it. You can buy these pumps at any rv place. So the switch to turn the pump on was mounted directly in front of the faucet. Meaning. The switch was closest to you as you stood in front of the sink. So you push the button just under the faucet spigot and water magically comes out into the sink.

Worked great. We were now in the 21st century.
Here is an old picture of the counter and sink with sink cover installed.(At bottom of page)

I dont have a picture of the new setup but you get the idea. Just a new spigot and shiny red button.
So on with the story.
On the drive to Nakusp we encountered rough roads. Smooth highways but rough sections in the steep mountain passes. I was driving in front and my friend was behind me driving his camper.
We came upon a long 4 lane section and my friend passes me and they flag me down. We stop and (pat) (friend) tells me that smoke was coming out from behind my boler tires. I look at the boler. Nope .No smoke. But there looked like what appeared to be clear liquid streaming out from the gap under the door.All bolers have the gap so dont think yours does'nt.
I open the door and water is pouring out of the door. I cant tell where its coming from but i can see a waterfall of water streaming over the counter onto the bunk area of the boler. I look at the sink spigot and the tap is apparently running at full blast with the sink cover nicely in place. The water cant run into the sink because of my wonderfull cover but instead water is waterfalling over everything. Great effect by the way. Try it out for yourself.

I turn off the water VIA the shiny red button and wonder who or what turned the water on.

What had happened was the sink cover jumped up in the air as i hit rough sections of the road. The sink cover is held in by gravity and will not move unless a force is acted upon it vertically. The sink cover jumped up, Hit the shiny red button,and fell down perfectly in place to cover the sink.
Long story short. Lots of towels came into play. Cushion covers were removed etc etc and laminate floor ?
Yup. All nicely swollen. And the great thing about laminate is if you dont wipe up spills right away your floor will swell as if it were stung by a bee.

The floor did recede after a few months but you can clearly see the damage . I will replace it sometime when i have a few hours.

I have since moved the shiny red button to the back of the spigot so the sink cover can not touch it again.

The camping trip BTW was ok at best. The campground SUCKED . Halcyon campground is basically a parking lot. No privacy. Its all about the dollar tourist trap.Not my idea of camping.
It rained the whole weekend. We still had fun but was not my best trip.
So...
My lessons.
1) Dont install laminate in a boler.
2) Dont camp at tourist traps.
3)Dont install the sink switch in front of the spigot.

The End

[Bonnie]

Bummer. I will make note. Thank you for your comments about the laminate. I found some on sale and was about to go get some for the Play Pac. Think I'll stick to more water friendly stuff.

Bonnie

[Gerry]

Yup. All nicely swollen. And the great thing about laminate is if you dont wipe up spills right away your floor will swell as if it were stung by a bee.

I have always said THIS was the big draw back of the Laminate floors, Even though I believe my Boler has no Major leaks, while raining, I am sure over the course of the Spring or Fall after snow has fallen and we get warm days and there is no way to get to the Camper due to deep snows there are some puddles in there (can see stains on fiberglass floor when I do open her up in the Spring. So unless I was going to re-floor it yearly or take it out after every season or put her in dry storage, I would not use it in this application.
I have it all though my house and love it but as far as in the camper..I bought fiberglass because of it ease of maintenance I am NOT going to put a high maintenance product in it.
Gerry the canoebuilder

[scott fraser]

What had happened was the sink cover jumped up in the air as i hit rough sections of the road. The sink cover is held in by gravity and will not move unless a force is acted upon it vertically. The sink cover jumped up, Hit the shiny red button,and fell down perfectly in place to cover the sink.

Oh man, who would have thought of this happening? By the way, that is a great interior, the cabinets and counter are beautiful!

[Alf S.]

Hi: Glad to know "This doesn't only happen too me"... Nice cabinets and I am sure the floor will be nice too!!! I covered the fiberglass floor with a cut to fit piece of Berber $20 bucks and just pull it out shake it off and put it back!!! If you got 20 min. I will tell you the story about the earwig that some how plugged the hole in my brand new bar sink taps
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Herb P]

Almost Rube Goldberg... But really, I have a big cutting board over my stove burners and I have a bungee cord to hold it down and in place... A flying butcher block can do a lot of damage to the inside of the trailer ...

Nice woodwork ... Come to calgary, bring your table saw; I'll supply the beer...

[pjanits]

Forget Calgary,
Come to Schaumburg, Have table saw AND beer.

[Benny K]

Accidents like this can happen, anywhere, anytime....hopefully it`s not the norm...A relative was wondering what was happening to his laminate floor in the kitchen...it was swelling along the joints....what happened was that their dishwasher developed a leak and water seeped under the laminate and wasn`t visible....the laminate just kept swelling....so the laminate wasn`t the problem....I have laminate in my 13' and there is barely visible joint swelling in over 3 years of use and I used a cheap product.....I was very skeptical of the laminates years ago, but am now impressed how well they hold up otherwise..... ...Benny

[Greg A]

The solution is the new vinyl laminate that HD sells.
It is just like laminate in terms of strips and look, but it is all vinyl and self-gluing which seals all the seams.
I put it in ours and it looks great and is bombproof. You also need no underlayment, it is built in to the product so it is a breeze to install. We have two kids and spent 10 days at the beach and we were sure glad that we went with this stuff instead of laminate.

[Brian B-P]

I assume that Greg's stuff from Home Depot is resilient plank flooring.

In another of those "coming full circle" things, it seems like sheet vinyl flooring is replaced by "laminate" (plastic laminated onto a wood product), which is being replaced by... vinyl flooring, which was the right answer in the first place. Okay, it's in strips, but wait a while and it will be back to one continuous sheet, which is the most functional answer for a small space, although the interlocking planks may provide a significant installation advantage (the reason that vinyl tile exists, but the interlocking would be better).

I have plastic-on-wood-product laminate flooring in my house, in both glued and snap-together forms, and there is no chance I'm putting it in my Boler... but it it works for other people, great!

[Gina D.]

You mean, like

This?

[Bonnie]

You mean, like
This?

Not to hijack this thread, but Gina, where'd you get that table? It folds flat for travel, right?

Bonnie

[Greg A]

That's the stuff Brian





Only I got the Cherry....

[Nancy]

We also have been looking at the Allure TrafficMaster stuff at HD. We will be putting in it our kitchen at home. If it doesn't work out we can easily take it out. In our town it is offered in 3 colors.

Nancy

[Lainey]

If you got 20 min. I will tell you the story about the earwig that some how plugged the hole in my brand new bar sink taps

[james kent]

Sorry 'bout the floor but how about a thread showing more of those cupboards?They look GREAT!

[CliveAlive]

Thanks for the cautionary tale. I am sorry for your experience. I was considering bamboo. Maybe not now.

However, I am really interested in the cabinetry. It's what I have in mind for mine but in a light Birch. On the overhead it looks like you attached to or perhaps veneered the fiberglass. Are the lower cabs custom framed -- or what? Anyway - it all looks terrific and I (and perhaps others) would like to know how you did it.

[Brian B-P]

Thanks for the cautionary tale. I am sorry for your experience. I was considering bamboo. Maybe not now.

While I 'm not a fan of wood flooring in this situation, the bamboo would probably be better (for water damage resistance) than the compressed and glued tree fiber which passes for "wood" in the base layer of the "laminate" floors.

[Lainey]

While I 'm not a fan of wood flooring in this situation, the bamboo would probably be better (for water damage resistance) than the compressed and glued tree fiber which passes for "wood" in the base layer of the "laminate" floors.

Bamboo is very good to use in environemtns where it might get water - kitchens, bathrooms

[colin k]

Thanks for the feedback on the cabinets. I am a cabinet maker so i dont know if you would want to tackle this. All the cabinets and doors are made out of solid cherry hardwood. I had some floor left over from a job i did and decided i would rip the stuff down and make cabinets. I machined all sides with a shaper so all panels fit together kind of like tongue and groove. All professional doors in a shop are made this way for strength. I left all existing fiberglass cabinets in place because they make a perfect sturdy cabinet to attach your wood to. All the frames for the doors were screwed to the fiberglass from the inside of the fiberglass cabinet. Drill 3/16 holes through the fiberglass where all your wood framing will be attached. Hold your finished framework up to the fiberglass. Tape it on if you cant hold it. Reach through the framework door openings and with a pencil trace some holes on the inside of the cabinet where you drilled. Remove the frame. Drill a few pilot holes where you traced on the frame. Put the frame back on and screw the framework to the fiberglass from the inside. When its held in place with a few screws. Trace all the other holes on the inside of the cabinet. Remove frame again and drill all pilot holes in the frame. Make sure you dont drill right through the frame otherwise all your screws will show. Apply construction adhesive to frame and reattach to the fiberglass and screw it back on. after all the framework is done you can make doors and attach them normally because you are new screwing to wood and not fiberglass. So basically thats it. Do the lower front cabinet first. The countertop goes on afterward and all consruction is done as if it were in a house. Upper cabinets same. Make a finished frame first the size of the fiberglass cabinet. Screw your frame on from the inside and its clear sailing after that.
Cherry hardwood is quite light so all the cabinetry added about 40 lbs total.

The valance under the upper cabinet is a different story and was a real cow to make.

Heres a front view.