Fiberglass rigs with plywood bottoms

[stevebaz]

My 1986 Scamp has a factory resin coating on the topside of the floor. The underside exposed floor has no coating. This allows the wood to dry when wet from driving down the road. Without the ability to dry the core wood would retain moisture and then dry rot.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by thrifty bill

Yes I guess I agree. Two manufacturers in the US, I won't mention names, have shown little to no interest in upgrading their product. Eventually they may be drug along as competitive forces intervene.

Originally Posted by rbryan

That's key. Competition means better products. Always has.

What competition? What competitive forces? Speaking as the owner of one of the nameless brands, I can say with certainty the Scamp 13 has no direct competition. Casita has abandoned that segment. There are several new 13' models on the market, and they all cost over $20K once they are fitted out comparably to a Scamp 13S1 with the basic option package, which retails for about $12K. The only thing they really have in common is size. They are certainly not aiming for the same market segment.

As to upgrades, the nameless companies have both made hundreds of incremental changes over the years. Most constitute improvements.

[rbryan]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

What competition? What competitive forces?

I don't disagree with you Jon. My point was that as long as a manufacturer is able to sell their trailers as they are, there is little incentive to change them unless someone comes along in the same market to compete with them. However in need of improvements I may think they are, I'm not their customer.

[MarkyVasquez]

Has anyone replaced their floor with something else besides wood in their FGRV. Like high density polyethylene or starboard. The 3/4 inch will take 3200 pounds pre square inch. Is there any reason why this couldn't be used? Or another like this?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ILG0XC...buying_options

[rbryan]

Weight may be a factor, at about 3.5 lbs per square foot. And, it's hard to find continous sheets of any real size, so there would probably be alot of seams to figure out. It does make an excellent cutting board however.

[stevebaz]

Polyethelene or Starboard is not a good choice as nothing sticks to it. It is extremely heavy. It also has an issue with cold flowing. After a few years the floor panel will start getting wavey between the floor supports. The added supporting and converting to a mechanical means to attach tne floor to the shell will drastically drive up costs. There is no need to fix a floor with little care lasts over 30 years. For a modest investment in proper sealing of the exterior shell with modern sealants there would be very few floor failures.

[Civilguy]

Originally Posted by MarkyVasquez

Has anyone replaced their floor with something else besides wood in their FGRV. Like high density polyethylene or starboard. The 3/4 inch will take 3200 pounds pre square inch. Is there any reason why this couldn't be used? Or another like this?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ILG0XC...buying_options

Marky,

Polyethylene is basically a form of the material that is used to make Tupperware. It doesn't have the right properties to bridge spans and provide strength in the same way as wood does; think of a polyethylene cutting board.

If someone were really willing to go crazy expense-wise, it's possible that FRP grating might be a good starting point. But, as it is grating, it would only be the starting point...

Molded Gratings | FRP Grating | Fibergrate

[MarkyVasquez]

I was just asking if there was another material besides wood. I gave the example of starboard because I did a google search and it came up. They use it on boats.
It's funny how in this day and age we haven't developed an affordable material that would work on boats or travel trailers.

[thrifty bill]

The challenges are weight and cost. Surely there are options out there. Until buyers demand such changes, it will be slow going. Price usually trumps quality with the average consumer out there. And most people do not keep stuff long enough to have problems. It's the fourth, fifth, sixth, etc owner that has to deal with it.

Another surprise to me is how durable wood "can" be. I looked at s very neglected trailer recently, 40 years old, holes and cracks in the fiberglass, stored outside for decades (and not in the desert either). Wood floor was perfect!

[cmartin748]

Say that you could piece all that together. The cost would be around 2 grand just for the floor. Measure twice cut once

[Boler77]

Originally Posted by Matt4483

We have decided to move from our current 13' boler to a 17' model. I recently purchased one locally that looks like it has the usual wear and tear but solid.

My question is: Has anyone applied fiberglass to the bottom/underside of the floor? This model has fiberglass inside and exposed plywood on the bottom. wondering if it is worthwhile for longevity?

Hi Matt83,

Not sure what year your Boler 17' is? I have a 1977 17' with a 3/4" plywood floor. I to was looking at covering the underside with something to protect the floor. After much talk with trailer techs and builders, I was advised to leave it well enough alone. They said if I sealed it, and water or moisture became trapped, the plywood wood rot and fail. Don't know, I have but alot of miles on the old girl in all kinds of weather and I just looked under there today and all is good. So maybe they are correct in saying, let the wood breathe.

[Boler77]

Originally Posted by Ian G.

You are correct that some of the early versions did have exposed plywood floors, as an example late 1960's and early 1970's Boler's but these are not very plentiful.. You will run into some problems where a previous owner has compromised the fiberglass skin encapsulating the floor, when this happens water can penetrate the core but will not dry and therefore can accelerate the damage and decay. When purchasing a used fiberglass trailer in most cases floor problems can be identified just by walking on it, if the floor feels soft or flexes under foot take a closer look

Hi Ian,

Just got off the phone with a buddy that restores Boler 13 and 17's. He told be to leave the wood floor untouched. He said that it has lasted this long leave it. The exposed area underneath acts as a moisture barrier. The top skin is hardened from age. The worse thing he said that will rot the wood floor quicker is storing trailers over grassed areas. The moisture gets drawn up into the wood and then the wood rots. A dirt surface that has proper drainage, gravel or ashphalt or cement, whatever, anything is better than grass, whether it is for a long time and the grass dies or whether is is for a short time on green grass. Highway water he said does nothing to the wooden floor to hasten it to cause it to fail faster. Unless you pressure was it and are injecting water, he said the trailer floor will out last me.

Oh no[emoji16] now I have to find someone to leave the trailer too.

[BobMarieLitt]

Originally Posted by Boler77

Hi Ian,

Just got off the phone with a buddy that restores Boler 13 and 17's. He told be to leave the wood floor untouched. He said that it has lasted this long leave it. The exposed area underneath acts as a moisture barrier. The top skin is hardened from age. The worse thing he said that will rot the wood floor quicker is storing trailers over grassed areas. The moisture gets drawn up into the wood and then the wood rots. A dirt surface that has proper drainage, gravel or ashphalt or cement, whatever, anything is better than grass, whether it is for a long time and the grass dies or whether is is for a short time on green grass. Highway water he said does nothing to the wooden floor to hasten it to cause it to fail faster. Unless you pressure was it and are injecting water, he said the trailer floor will out last me.

Oh no[emoji16] now I have to find someone to leave the trailer too.

Hi.....re floor covering....
I am looking at buying or building a teardrop! I stopped at a dealer who had a 2017 Little Guy Silver Shadow for sale. I was checking axles and taking pictures underneath and noticed Little Guy had built the trailer with a black woven tarpaulin looking material on the belly! Makes sense! It would deflect moisture but allow the plywood to breath! Just my two cents worth! Bob L.

[jgilliam1955]

Originally Posted by Matt4483

We have decided to move from our current 13' boler to a 17' model. I recently purchased one locally that looks like it has the usual wear and tear but solid.

My question is: Has anyone applied fiberglass to the bottom/underside of the floor? This model has fiberglass inside and exposed plywood on the bottom. wondering if it is worthwhile for longevity?

Has anyone looked at having Line X applied under the campers for protection?

[k0wtz]

I never thought of this makes so much sense grass rotting a trailer!

thanks

bob

[k0wtz]

does anyone know what those small rigs cost?


bob