Hard side vs aluminum side trailers
I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were on these trailers. We have owned both and have liked both. What are your thoughts good and bad on these.
Forum Discussion
There is a lot more to it than the covering material.
Most trailers with aluminum skin have framed walls, although Winnebago used aluminum skin when they first started making laminated panels for RV walls. The framing can be wood or aluminum, but most low cost TTs are wood framed, as metal framing is more expensive, found in premium lines like Newmar, Carriage, Excel.
Most TTs with fiberglass skin do not have framed walls, the have lamininated walls, in which the strength depends not on framing, rather on the bond of skin to the core material, usually plastic foam. Laminated walls alway have steel or aluminum perimeter frames, with additional cross pieces and mounting plates laminated into the sandwich, so that the panels can be fastened to each other to make a box, and stuff can be mounted on the walls. Manufacturer literature and salesman talk will call laminated panels "aluminum framed" but they are not really framed at all, in the sense that your house is framed.
Once again, premium RVs can have metal framed walls, skinned with aluminum or plastics, but this is expensive construction and limited to a few brands today. Metal framing makes a RV 2x to 5x more expensive to build than laminated panels assembled as a box, or wood framing following scaled down home building practice.
In the price range most of us buy, the choice is not aluminum vs "hard" rather it is framed walls (wood with aluminum or fiberglass skin) or laminated unframed walls, usually fiberglass skin today, as it is the cheapest.
Most trailers with aluminum skin have framed walls, although Winnebago used aluminum skin when they first started making laminated panels for RV walls. The framing can be wood or aluminum, but most low cost TTs are wood framed, as metal framing is more expensive, found in premium lines like Newmar, Carriage, Excel.
Most TTs with fiberglass skin do not have framed walls, the have lamininated walls, in which the strength depends not on framing, rather on the bond of skin to the core material, usually plastic foam. Laminated walls alway have steel or aluminum perimeter frames, with additional cross pieces and mounting plates laminated into the sandwich, so that the panels can be fastened to each other to make a box, and stuff can be mounted on the walls. Manufacturer literature and salesman talk will call laminated panels "aluminum framed" but they are not really framed at all, in the sense that your house is framed.
Once again, premium RVs can have metal framed walls, skinned with aluminum or plastics, but this is expensive construction and limited to a few brands today. Metal framing makes a RV 2x to 5x more expensive to build than laminated panels assembled as a box, or wood framing following scaled down home building practice.
In the price range most of us buy, the choice is not aluminum vs "hard" rather it is framed walls (wood with aluminum or fiberglass skin) or laminated unframed walls, usually fiberglass skin today, as it is the cheapest.
