Interior wall panel options

[Kris K]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the midst of a complete interior reno of my 1985 Bigfoot. After the painstaking task of removing 35 year old wood panelling that disintegrated in many spots, and tore apart where the glue still held fast, I am looking ahead to when I rebuild the walls.

I have a couple of questions:

1) Has anyone used anything other than wood panelling? What have you used, and how did you find it? Anyone use plastic panelling? How is it? Know any Canadian suppliers?

2) How did you rebuild the structure behind the panelling? I'm especially interested in what you did in the corners.

Thanks folks!

[CARSMills]

I have never redone the interior of any RV, but there is a product called "Glasboard" that is thin, light, strong and durable, comes in panels... you will need to search a supplier near you to look at this product and see if it's suitable for your needs. It's called FRP, fiberglass reinforced plastic. There are a few suppliers in SK...

https://cranecomposites.com/frp-wall-panels

[Kris K]

This stuff looks great, and thanks for the suggestion, but it looks like it has to glue onto another surface, like drywall or plywood, or some other sort of paneling. I'm hoping to put my walls right over top of my closed cell insulation, and preferably over a layer of reflectix as well. It seems like if I glued an FRP panel over the reflectix that I'd be risking it just falling down, or pulling the reflectix off the wall?

Anyone used FRP in something like a Bigfoot trailer before?

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Kris K

This stuff looks great, and thanks for the suggestion, but it looks like it has to glue onto another surface, like drywall or plywood, or some other sort of paneling. I'm hoping to put my walls right over top of my closed cell insulation, and preferably over a layer of reflectix as well. It seems like if I glued an FRP panel over the reflectix that I'd be risking it just falling down, or pulling the reflectix off the wall?

Anyone used FRP in something like a Bigfoot trailer before?

You can do what I did in my TrailsWest Campster renovation which is glue western red cedar blocking directly to the fiberglass shell and then screw the paneling to the blocking. Depending on the thickness of the blocking you can add various types of insulation between the shell and the new paneling. My blocking was adhered to the walls with thickened epoxy. The white color in the photo is the insulation that I put in with a tight pressure fit between the blocking. I did add a vapor barrier before I put up the paneling. I used 1/8" plywood but coated both sides with a high quality mold preventing, moisture blocking, primer before I installed it and I sealed all the joins between panels. Then I painted the outside of the panel with Benjamin Moore Co best quality mold resistant white, water based enamel. It has showed no signs of any mildew or mold formation in the rainy Pacific NW. Pay attention to prep work and you can use wood paneling. FRP is much heavier.

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