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harmanrk's avatar
harmanrk
Explorer
Jun 12, 2017

The plastic under the trailer, and cross members.

Trailer is a Solaire (Palomino/Forest River) 190X, Hybrid with slide.

Are the plastic panels needed? Other than keeping dirt and debris off the tanks and wiring, does it do anything?

While hooking up to come back from camping this past weekend, I noticed one panel has a bit of a sag to it, and when looking closer, found that a few of the self tapping bolts that hold it in place have worked their way out over time.

This also lead to a bigger discovery. Just above and behind the rear wheel/axle, and just in front of where the grey water tank outlet is located, one of these self tapping bolts has had it head snap off, but it is not just holding up the plastic panel, but also goes though some sort of cross member (appears to be about 1 inch round tubing that goes across the trailer.). The cross member appear too small to be structural to the trailer, but I'm thinking with the location to the grey water tank, it may be a tank support.

Anyone have any information on what the configuration under these trailers is? I assume I'm going to have to either take it to a dealer for service, or remove the plastic to find out what the cross member does, but I'm not sure the plastic panels will be reusable after I remove them.

Thank you for any information you may have.

7 Replies

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  • harmanrk's avatar
    harmanrk
    Explorer
    Jul 04, 2017
    Was finally able to get the underfloor opened up, and fixed. The cross member in question only served to allow a place to bundle some wires to, and to screw the plastic underfloor to. Put an new self taping screw in to hold it to the frame. Also found that the cross member to the rear of it, was never attached to the frame at all, the flat tab on the end of the cross member did not have a hole in it, and was not attached at the factory. Put a self tapper in that one too, before I buttoned it back up.

    Thank you all for the input on this.
  • opnspaces's avatar
    opnspaces
    Navigator II
    Jun 20, 2017
    I think you'll find that the corrugated plastic (Coroplast) is just hanging there to hold a few pieces of fiberglass insulation to the bottom of the trailer. The cross piece might be nothing more than a place to screw two different pieces of the Coroplast into.

    At any rate it's not structural so go ahead and pull it down and have a look. It does help on reassembly though to use something to hold the center of the sheet up while you install the screws around the edges.

    another post dealing with the underbelly Link
  • harmanrk's avatar
    harmanrk
    Explorer
    Jun 14, 2017
    Thank you all for the information. It sounds like I will need to be careful when removing the panels, to not damage them any more than needed, so I can inspect and repair the cross member.
  • slider45's avatar
    slider45
    Nomad
    Jun 14, 2017
    ScottG wrote:
    Often there's a bunch of loose wires, plumbing, insulation and other stuff that the panels protect and hold up.


    All I know too this is the primary purpose of these panels.
  • spoon059's avatar
    spoon059
    Explorer II
    Jun 13, 2017
    Like they said, usually if you have an enclosed underbelly, you also have ducting and insulation under it. That enclosure helps keep the insulation up and keeps your trailer warmer in colder weather. The tradeoff is that you have less access to the underside of your trailer.

    You can take off the zip screws or cut a hole in the panel to get access if you need it.

    You are likely right about the bar being some sort of strapping to hold the tank on. I've heard very infrequent horror stories about improperly supported tanks falling out when full of water... but I've never seen it in person. Regardless, I try not to drive too far or too fast if I have water in any of my tanks.
  • kerrlakeRoo's avatar
    kerrlakeRoo
    Explorer
    Jun 12, 2017
    Often those panels help with temperature, they are to prevent tanks freezing. I dont know if your units furnace heats those areas or not.
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Jun 12, 2017
    Often there's a bunch of loose wires, plumbing, insulation and other stuff that the panels protect and hold up.

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