Bracing a bunk to side of Scamp

[foofght]

Any structural concerns in bracing a bunk to the side of the scamp? The red in the image represents the framing of my bunk that's braced to a (green) strip of wood. I'll have another brace on the other side of the window. SS bolt with washers to even the load and the wood strip itself also spreads the load. This is to prevent the bunk from falling over laterally. Most of the load is vertical being managed by the red framing. Thoughts?

[foofght]

I'm wondering if I can just pull back some of the rat fur and insolate and just glue on the strip of wood with a strong adhesive? That's a bit more permanent, but it seems like there'd be less risk of a bolt causing damage on the outside hull. Thoughts?

[bertherr]

I think I would try to figure out what I could rivet to the wall. Using the Scamp rivets, washers, & caps it would be water tight & uniform looking outside. Maybe just a couple of D-rings to take the lateral load that you dropped a pin through? Bert

https://www.lodimetals.com/1-mountin...hoCPUoQAvD_BwE

[Thane]

I think the response to static loads would be fine but you would need to attach the vertical supports to the trailer to restrain the dynamic loads while in motion and in response to kids climbing and such.

Overall a good idea, I hope it works well for you.

[Markz]

Do you want it to be a permanent modification to the camper or reversible some time in the future? This will dictate the direction your installation will go.

[redbarron55]

When I rebuilt my Scamp 16 I changed most of the interior and a part of that was installing bulkheads and twin beds by removing the Ensolite insulation, roughing up the fiberglass and gluing and screwing (from the outside into the wood structure) for a more monolithic structure.
If you bond the frame to the shell and carry the loads to the floor structure you will stiffen both the bed frame and the camper shell.
As far as I know none of the small fiberglass campers have any of the interior structure bonded to the shell, although some of the wooded cabinets in the deluxe Scamps are screwed from the outside into the wood.

[Thane]

Nice job on your rebuild.
Just for info, Escape trailers have wood support blocks fiberglassed to the shell which are then covered by wall covering. The cabinets, benches and such are then attached to those blocks. There are no fasteners through the shell for these items, only vents and such.

[foofght]

I was going to use stainless steel screws with large washers to hold blocks that I'd brace the bed to; however, I thought gluing blocks of wood to the Fiberglass would be even stronger.

I'm going to use 3M 4200 to adhere a pair of foot long blocks to the fiberglass wall. I've exposed the fiberglass by cutting and peeling away the fur and ensolite. This puts the lateral load across a large surface area then the screws.

I'm also going to screw the bunk framing into the dinette seats for extra measure. Overall, I'm thinking this should be pretty solid with the vertical load going to the floor and dinette seats, all while laterally braced.

[Thane]

Sounds good, well thought out.