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Dick_B's avatar
Dick_B
Explorer
Aug 18, 2017

Honeycomb panels for leveling

I carry several pieces of wood to level my TT when necessary. Some of the pieces are heavy and I was wondering if panels made of aluminum honeycomb would be practical AND available.
Nothing on this Forum so far.
I just emailed a manufacturer for a quote on 1 inch thick panels.
Any thoughts/sources?

P.S. I carry the yellow plastic blocks but don't use them because they don't support the entire footprint of the Michelin XPS tires
  • The Anderson levelers work great for us, but they are limited on how far you can lift. Has not been a problem so far, but I figure it is a matter of time before we get a site that needs more height to get level and I will have to drag out the wood boards again.
  • We use two different approaches one for tire side to side leveling and the other for rear stabilizer jack blocking.
    For the tires I purchased 2 8' 1x10 Azek boards from Lowe's. I then halved them on a 45° to bevel them. I created a pocket in the bottom board and set a wide load binding strap (found on the Dalton Hwy) in the pocket. I then screwed them together to form a pair of 1½" planks. The straps are long enough that the farthest wheel anchors it prior to the closest wheel climbing onto the boards. (They do not scoot even on wet grass.) I attached the leftover cutoffs double thick to the landing pads.
    For the leveling blocks I use metal guardrail, wood standoff blocks. They can be duplicated by cutting up broken posts for the same guardrail.
  • I take less wood than in the past and use mainly plastic for weight reasons. Still can elevate one side 3 inches on wood alone. May cut more out.
  • Don't know what kind of camping you do, if you return to the same spot every time, or travel to new places, but if you travel to new places, then you never know how level a campsite will be until you actually get there.

    Every campsite we go to is new. And every campsite is a new challenge. I have found that good old lumber is still the best. I carry 6 foot 11 inch treated lumber boards down to 4 feet 6 inches wide for under the tires, enough to raise one side of the trailer 9 inches (which I have had to do in the past.)

    Because of my trailer length, even a small grade (front to back), can make a big difference in the height of the ground to the bottom of the trailer. I carry 6 blocks that came from a timber out of a 150 year old barn. The wood was so hard to cut, I had to cut to length with a chain saw. I've been using these for years and years now.

    Below is a photo of where we are parked right now, at this moment (Whitewater State Park, Liberty, Indiana). And if you were to do this with 1 inch aluminum sheets.... I think you'd be carrying a LOT of aluminum with you! Wood is just easier. Yes, it's heavy, but it's solid, cheap, and can't be beat by anything. (And yes, I've tried other options for blocking under the jacks and tires).







    As stated above, I think the weight of the trailer on the tires would crush an aluminum honey comb.
  • The material you describe does exist. It's used to make high end cabinets for private Jets that have multi-million dollar interiors. They put a gorgeous wood veneer over them.
    Of course it's only about 5/8's" thick.
  • I have seen aluminum rectangular tubing used with no crushing, but they are as slippery as snot on a doorknob.
  • While strong I suspect you would crush them u der the weight of the tires. Remember no matter how big you cut them, the tires are going to only be contacting maybe 6 square inches of the surface.

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