trailer made out of cardboard!!

wireman wrote:

BadgerMcAdams wrote:
Well, I can see the manufacturer's logic in this...The financial dept. of the company...

"Well, we need to cut costs and weight...I hear that people still can't pull one of our 5ver's with a Prius yet, so how do we make that happen people?"

"We could call Toyota and have them mount a 5th wheel plate to the top of their cars...easy peazy!"

"But what about the weigh issue? We have to find a way to drop the trailer weight to make it so that anyone driving anything can pull one of our trailers."

"Well if weight is the issue, we can take wood out...that's heavy isn't it? I've never been to the factory so I haven't ever seen a real piece of wood that goes into our trailers."

"I've got it! Wood is made of wood...Cardboard is made of wood...or cards...one or the other. If it is made of wood, we can argue that we still use all-wood construction in our trailers. IT is just modified wood. We would have to get with legal on it, have them do a liability analysis, but I think we are in the clear on this. Just substitute "Modified Wood Structural Bracing for the plywood we would normally use, and we are golden. Heck, I might even be able to get a trailer now to pull behind my Prius! I think a 32 footer with 5 slides! My kids will enjoy those once we get parked! Wheeeee!!"

And that, is why there is cardboard behind the cap on your trailer...This is how it begins...or continues.

So true. Sounds like you were on the management team at one time.:)

Yup, good write up.

BadgerMcAdams wrote:
Well, I can see the manufacturer's logic in this...The financial dept. of the company...

"Well, we need to cut costs and weight...I hear that people still can't pull one of our 5ver's with a Prius yet, so how do we make that happen people?"

"We could call Toyota and have them mount a 5th wheel plate to the top of their cars...easy peazy!"

"But what about the weigh issue? We have to find a way to drop the trailer weight to make it so that anyone driving anything can pull one of our trailers."

"Well if weight is the issue, we can take wood out...that's heavy isn't it? I've never been to the factory so I haven't ever seen a real piece of wood that goes into our trailers."

"I've got it! Wood is made of wood...Cardboard is made of wood...or cards...one or the other. If it is made of wood, we can argue that we still use all-wood construction in our trailers. IT is just modified wood. We would have to get with legal on it, have them do a liability analysis, but I think we are in the clear on this. Just substitute "Modified Wood Structural Bracing for the plywood we would normally use, and we are golden. Heck, I might even be able to get a trailer now to pull behind my Prius! I think a 32 footer with 5 slides! My kids will enjoy those once we get parked! Wheeeee!!"

And that, is why there is cardboard behind the cap on your trailer...This is how it begins...or continues.

So true. Sounds like you were on the management team at one time.:)

westend wrote: I'd suggest to reinforce the ceiling cavity with extruded foam. You could just position blocks of the foam and glue them in place.

:-( to do that would mean "disturbing" the main joint across the top of the trailer (roof to front cap nose) to get access to the cavity. Not sure I want to do that at this time.

eend wrote:
I took some pictures of my cardboard trailer but I have no Idea how to load them.

You can use this image handling app: RVnet photo posting

I took some pictures of my cardboard trailer but I have no Idea how to load them.

budwich wrote:
yes... there is "no cell structure" like cardboard, the "1/4" inch thick panel is "full fibered" BUT if it gets wet, it likely loses its physical form and at the very least, usually appears to lose the contact surface / glue such that the top fiberglass sheet pulls away from the substrate.

I recently dealt with the issue on my Terry Dakota where the upper clearance light on the front top curve section leaked over time. It resulted in the seperation of the two layers. I "injected" in epoxy resin via the the side seam (taking off the metal corner bead) and also thru the clearance light cavity. Its not perfect but hopefully will hold although the integrity of the substrate is suspect as the glue interface surface is no long intact. Various videos on line provided the "guidance" or "directions". It was relatively easy to do a "triangular" shaped area about 1.5 feet at the top trailing down along the side for about 3 feet. I guess time will tell if I was successful. I am still considering what to do at the crest of the curve at the very top. The "substrate" there has dropped such that it doesn't support the curve shape. That is because at the top, behind the panel / filon is fiberglass insulation as opposed to foam and thus there is no solid sublayer (ie. the top panel was just curved / form around the cavity... the reason for the filon in the first place). I was thinking of injecting a bit of "low expansion foam" into the cavity but worry that it might not help since there isn't any solid "containment" in the area. I will likely leave well enough alone.

I'd suggest to reinforce the ceiling cavity with extruded foam. You could just position blocks of the foam and glue them in place.

bobndot wrote:

siamese wrote:
Oh, you got the cardboard upgrade! Tissue paper is standard.

:B

:B X2

siamese wrote:
Oh, you got the cardboard upgrade! Tissue paper is standard.

:B

Oh, you got the cardboard upgrade! Tissue paper is standard.

Well, I can see the manufacturer's logic in this...The financial dept. of the company...

"Well, we need to cut costs and weight...I hear that people still can't pull one of our 5ver's with a Prius yet, so how do we make that happen people?"

"We could call Toyota and have them mount a 5th wheel plate to the top of their cars...easy peazy!"

"But what about the weigh issue? We have to find a way to drop the trailer weight to make it so that anyone driving anything can pull one of our trailers."

"Well if weight is the issue, we can take wood out...that's heavy isn't it? I've never been to the factory so I haven't ever seen a real piece of wood that goes into our trailers."

"I've got it! Wood is made of wood...Cardboard is made of wood...or cards...one or the other. If it is made of wood, we can argue that we still use all-wood construction in our trailers. IT is just modified wood. We would have to get with legal on it, have them do a liability analysis, but I think we are in the clear on this. Just substitute "Modified Wood Structural Bracing for the plywood we would normally use, and we are golden. Heck, I might even be able to get a trailer now to pull behind my Prius! I think a 32 footer with 5 slides! My kids will enjoy those once we get parked! Wheeeee!!"

And that, is why there is cardboard behind the cap on your trailer...This is how it begins...or continues.