Bowing/Buldging Walls

TxGearhead wrote:
"This my sound a little strange but I highly recommend you make a cardboard model of your camper rear wings of the camper and everything, just use duck tape or hot glue gun to hold it all together, cut out the sections of the bottom that Bigfoot cut out. This will show you how flimsy the rear wings and overhang are, then with glue or tape reinstall the bottom that was cut out. You will quickly understand what's going on structurally with your camper."
"^^I'm not following the above. What do you do with the cardboard after you make the model? Did you cut out plywood to replace the plastic inspection cover, or cover the entire bottom with plywood?

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The model will quickly demonstrate the structural issue with the camper, this will give RamblinAnne a understanding of the problem and a possible course of action. Dropping the camper off at a RV dealer and getting them to fix it is just a invitation to be taken advantage of. Knowledge is the only defense against RV dealer abuse.

"Texagearhead Quote: Did you cut out plywood to replace the plastic inspection cover, or cover the entire bottom with plywood?"

I did both but it was likely overkill, I have long term plans for the camper (10+ years) and wished to error on the side of caution. It is very difficult to explain but, I framed the opening of the rear overhang with approx. 1"x2" then cut out a tight fitting 5/8" plywood plug, screwed that up into the framed 1"x2". This was done with the camper on the jacks as the dimensions of this opening can change up to 3/8" when sitting on the camper after a few weeks. The elongation and movement of that opening is what's trying to be prevented.

After this I placed 2 cut out sheets of 5/8 marine grade plywood (edges treated with West System resin) over the entire bottom of the camper and screwed up into the basement structure of the camper similar to plastic inspection cover. I used a rope of butyl caulking between plywood and camper structure then sealed the gap with Sekaflex urethane sealant. It will take some work to get in again but see no reason to for many years, Northernlites don't have inspection plates.

On my camper I added a Honda generator and a rear platform with electric step, this adds a lot of leverage to the overhang of the camper and felt the extra sheets of plywood was insurance.

Also the external side wall on my camper above the overhang on the side of the cut out would bulge out when the camper was on the truck and then disappear when on the camper jacks, that bulging has been eliminated.