Different TT construction
It seems that the industry is slowly moving away from wood stud, fiberglass insulation and aluminum siding to the fiberglass skin, aluminum tubing, solid foam for wall construction. Both have their p...
Forum Discussion
Ralph Cramden wrote:Terryallan wrote:SidecarFlip wrote:
Longevity all distills down to how an owner maintains either. No maintenance equals a short life with either construction method. Water son't discriminate.
Actually. water does discriminate, or more to the point AZDEL walls do. AZDEL will not rot.
Actually it doesn't. Azdel is not a miracle product. Most manufacturers using Azdel, Coachmen included, only use it in select areas. Its used for the outer substrate layer of only the sidewall lamination between the Filon and foam/aluminum framed core. The inner layer substrate (with vinyl wall covering) remains luan plywood. As does the floor assembly, the roof assembly etc, along with the front and rear wall panels. Add to that all of it is assembled with low VOC adhesives that are not very resilient to H2O, thank the EPA. If you want a sidewall panel which uses Azdel as opposed to luan plywood completely, look at Lance.
Granted the Azdel will not rot, swell up, or fall apart like luan plywood. However if you get water in the mix the Azdel is not doing you much if its delaminated from the core, or the Filon releases from the Azdel, or the inner luan layer swells up, delaminates, or falls apart. Same if the water gets to the floor assembly, the roof assembly etc. You will still have pristine virgin Azdel in the sideall that will not rot, but huge issues elsewhere not easily repaired. IMO its nothing but marketing, sure looks good on the brochures and websites.
Is Azdel better than luan plywood....yes it is, that's a no brainer. Is it worth basing a purchase on or believing you can never have delam? Not so much.
Said it wouldn't rot. Didn't say it wouldn't delam. there are too many variables to say that.
And to answer another poster. Only the walls in my TT have AZDEL. And yes it is 50 percent lighter, and makes a much lighter TT than luan sided TTs. How many 31' stick, and tin, or luan, bunkhouse TTs with a 15' slide do you know of that weigh less than 5000lbs. Look in my sig at one.
