Forum Discussion

Bigfootchevy's avatar
Bigfootchevy
Explorer
Mar 12, 2014

Bigfoot Camper is Hurting Tonight!!

Camper Damage
The first picture shows you what my Bigfoot Camper and Boat looked like when I put it away just before the winter.

The next 12 pictures show you what I found this morning.

At this point I have no idea what the extent of the damage is. People coming tomorrow to help clean up the mess.

Will keep you posted. Worst winter in 20 years.

Paul
Truck Campers

44 Replies

  • Bigfootchevy's avatar
    Bigfootchevy
    Explorer
    Mar 18, 2014
    Jaxom wrote:
    Has the insurance adjuster been out yet? Best of Luck to you.



    I talked to the insurance adjuster on Saturday on the phone. We could not come to a time when we both could be at the camper together. All this week I am away so it looks like it will be next week or maybe the week after at the earliest. He didn't seem in much of a hurry after I explained the roof damage. He said it's not easy to fix. I will keep you posted.

    He did say if they write it off I may be able to buy it back cheap and I thought it would make a great Bunkie at the cottage.

    Paul
  • Jaxom's avatar
    Jaxom
    Explorer
    Mar 18, 2014
    Has the insurance adjuster been out yet? Best of Luck to you.
  • dakonthemountai's avatar
    dakonthemountai
    Explorer
    Mar 15, 2014
    Sue Bee wrote:
    I am so sorry about your camper. Please don't beat yourself up about this, as this sort of thing could have happened anywhere, it could have been under a tree, it could have been broken into, any number of things could have happened, and at least it happened when no one was in it. It is a thing. A very nice thing, something that you enjoyed very much, granted, but no one was hurt physically. This is what you have insurance for, so you can help to mitigate your loss.


    "LIKE".... NOT your fault by ANY means! As you said, you are not a carpenter. How many folks, other than on this thread, would even know what a collar tie is or would be used for? You would be surprised how little most folks understand about construction.


    Dak
  • FreeLanceing's avatar
    FreeLanceing
    Explorer II
    Mar 14, 2014
    Not to beat this thing to death but, collar ties were needed here. You can do the same thing with cables but you need something to keep that load from spreading those walls apart. You can do a real heavy header front and rear supporting a good size ridge beam, but you wont gain any clearance going in and out. That said sorry this happened. It must have went fast to do that much damage. Normally its kind of a slow creaky process. If you weren't around you could not notice. We have had lots of structures fail around here. Record snow fall some rain and wind the weak links broke this year. Good luck to you.
  • Sue_Bee's avatar
    Sue_Bee
    Explorer
    Mar 14, 2014
    I am so sorry about your camper. Please don't beat yourself up about this, as this sort of thing could have happened anywhere, it could have been under a tree, it could have been broken into, any number of things could have happened, and at least it happened when no one was in it. It is a thing. A very nice thing, something that you enjoyed very much, granted, but no one was hurt physically. This is what you have insurance for, so you can help to mitigate your loss.
  • covered_wagon's avatar
    covered_wagon
    Explorer
    Mar 14, 2014
    wnjj wrote:
    covered wagon wrote:
    X2 they are called collar ties or ceiling joist. Without them a roof is left precariously undone. They need to nail across from rafter to rafter with a minimum of 3-16d galv. box nails into ea. rafter.

    New roof should be steeper to shed snow load. Steep roofs are stronger too


    A steeper roof will put more side wind load on the support posts so may not automatically be the best choice either.


    That's why my engineer calls out for 4-6'' deep holes augered into the ground, footing poured on the bottom, post then inserted and cast in place. 8x8 even 8x10 posts are specified for posts to go down the 4 foot depth cast in place. It all depends on his wind/ seismic lateral load calcs.

    People... this is why it's important to do it right. Make the engineer do the design.
  • wnjj's avatar
    wnjj
    Explorer II
    Mar 14, 2014
    covered wagon wrote:
    X2 they are called collar ties or ceiling joist. Without them a roof is left precariously undone. They need to nail across from rafter to rafter with a minimum of 3-16d galv. box nails into ea. rafter.

    New roof should be steeper to shed snow load. Steep roofs are stronger too


    A steeper roof will put more side wind load on the support posts so may not automatically be the best choice either.
  • ticki2's avatar
    ticki2
    Explorer
    Mar 14, 2014
    Bigfootchevy wrote:
    First let me thank everyone for your comments.

    Just so everyone knows I didn't build this storage unit myself, I hired two carpenters (roofers) from this area that where building homes at the time. I believe that was 4 winters ago. So it was never a few hundred dollar half built storage shed. At the time I questioned them about the collar ties and was told they where not needed. At the time I expected to see collar ties on every other rafter and that's not what they did. They claimed they did it a different way. What do I know, I am not a carpenter.

    But after several people being here today we don't think that having collar ties would have helped in this case. It looks like one of my 6 by 6's middle support posts twisted very badly and forced the 2 by 10's off the other two end support posts. Therefore allowing all the support for the rafter to go free. I have 2 by 10's and 2 by 8's split like toothpicks at the top of the structure. I have no idea why would this middle post twist so badly as to pull everything apart. Like I said earlier it been up there four years without a problem.



    Paul



    Sorry to hear of your loss , what a mess . Hope your insurance comes through for you if you have any .

    Your instincts were good about the collar ties , your carpenter/roofers were not . Don't beat yourself up . Any carpenter worth his salt would have known better and had more support for that roof . The post twisting can happen , even after years , but if everything were fastened properly it would not have caused a failure .

    As far as steel vs wood , around here where we see 8-10 feet of heavy eastern snow the failure of metal structures is far greater than wood with heavy snow loads , something to ponder . Best of luck
  • covered_wagon's avatar
    covered_wagon
    Explorer
    Mar 14, 2014
    I hate to argue..... the failure is clearly from no collar ties/ joist. The king post style your talking about is for a cathedral roof but the ridge and post support beams need to be load calculated for specific size..... as I can tell they used to small of cross beams to rest all the ridge weight. Esp.when considering snow loads.

    I'm sorry this happened to you. If you want a real nice looking strong snow load looking structure I would get an engineer and have him calc out for glu-laminated beams and steeper snow shedding effect.
  • Bigfootchevy's avatar
    Bigfootchevy
    Explorer
    Mar 14, 2014
    First let me thank everyone for your comments.

    Just so everyone knows I didn't build this storage unit myself, I hired two carpenters (roofers) from this area that where building homes at the time. I believe that was 4 winters ago. So it was never a few hundred dollar half built storage shed. At the time I questioned them about the collar ties and was told they where not needed. At the time I expected to see collar ties on every other rafter and that's not what they did. They claimed they did it a different way. What do I know, I am not a carpenter.

    But after several people being here today we don't think that having collar ties would have helped in this case. It looks like one of my 6 by 6's middle support posts twisted very badly and forced the 2 by 10's off the other two end support posts. Therefore allowing all the support for the rafter to go free. I have 2 by 10's and 2 by 8's split like toothpicks at the top of the structure. I have no idea why would this middle post twist so badly as to pull everything apart. Like I said earlier it been up there four years without a problem.

    Anyway we removed the storage unit roof today and all the snow from on top of my Bigfoot. From the outside it didn't look all that bad. Skylights and air conditioner were badly damaged, a few small holes, but less than I expected. But the roof just didn't look right.

    So I opened the door to the camper and I saw frozen water on my oven door and kitchen table. Some snow on the floor. As I walked in I noticed the wood around my kitchen cabinets was broken. Then I noticed the roof was pushed down around the kitchen cabinets and around the back of the camper. Air conditioner and skylights where badly damage inside as well. There was a large amount of snow on my bed and the roof was pushed down maybe 6 inches on one side. I believe whatever is between the inside ceiling and the outside roof is completely destroyed. Inside Doors where hard to open and the mattress was frozen to the bed board. What a mess.

    The truck camper appraiser is coming tomorrow and I suspect he will be writing this camper off.

    My Wife and I where seriously shaken up by seeing our camper in this condition. I never expected it to be this bad. This was our first truck camper and we have been across Canada in it and up to Alaska. I should have ensured I kept the camper in a safer place.

    Paul

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