"Shocking" discovery in my AF

Cadillac Jack wrote:

anutami wrote:

Cadillac Jack wrote:

FreeLanceing wrote:
As a certified welder of 20 plus years myself, I've said before you can't take a handfull of illegals, give them a hood and gun and expect any kind of quality welds. Welding alm is hard, really hard to get it right. Those tacks will not hold up under the flexing and vibration of going down the road. I'll stick with a wood frame. Wood is more durable and easy to fix. Anyone with an alm shell camper, trailer, fifth wheel, should be concerned. I would bet the skin and filon is the only thing holding a lot of those rigs together.

Word! Spot on in my opinion. Welding is a skilled trade and an art form. Especially Aluminum. When I climbed in and around the aluminum framed truck campers while looking to buy I was absolutely horrified by what I felt and saw with my own two eyes.

My wood framed TC feels like a brick sh*t house. But that being said, it still needed to be built properly by skilled craftsman. That's why I bought a camper built by a small and reputable company that relies not on fancy color brochures and big slide outs but on word of mouth real world reputation.

Cadillac Jack, any chance you can elaborate on this? How were you able to see the aluminum frame on a new camper without removing the skin? What were you looking for? What did you feel that lead you to believe it was garbage? Any info would be helpful. Thanks

There is a company that makes all aluminum units. I was very interested in their TC. I crawled underneath one of their TT to inspect the welds. Did not like what I saw. Incomplete welds, really nothing more than large tacks. I also climbed in and around and through the TCs. The back ladder felt like it was going to fall off the camper. Im not a big guy only 200 lbs and the entire back wall flexed. The interior cabinetry was misaligned and the doors did not open and close properly with large gaps present. Were these just one off anomalies ? Maybe.I could go on but what's the point. Folks will just get mad.

As to the comment above about companies not being able to afford QC throughout the building process I might agree, but the problem I have is the massive price tag that comes with these campers. 30 grand should come with QC in my opinion. 15 grand maybe not so much, but for crying out loud.

Here is an example of what I was talking about.

Just looking at the manufacturer's video of construction of the "all aluminum made" TC is enough to say "no way". The welds shown in the video are tack welds and look very sloppy and appear to have little strenght. The aluminum isn't even well fitted before the welding.