Wood vs Aluminum/Paper vs. Plastic
There are certain things in life that guarantee a lively discussion and the "no wood, no rot" construction mantra is no exception - at least it is in the boating industry. Seems like there is a simila...
Forum Discussion
I have owned both wood and alum. frames and can say, the alum. frame seemed to transfer cold through the studs when i would sit up against the wall and lean on it . You could feel the cold studs,so i had to use a blanket between me and the wall . I didn't feel that on the wood camper.
It was too difficult for me to tell if that would make any difference in furnace use because the slideout leaked cold air , so it ran most of the time during winter use.
I think buying a unit that is as light as possible and easy to repair without special skills or tools is important when driving it on top of a pickup truck on highways where it can be damaged. I would rather be able to make a repair in a fashionable time-frame than wait for a specialist to get it done in 6 months. I would rather have a wood framed alum. skinned rv .
Im not so sure about those all alum. tc's that are being mfg. today and how they will hold up. From my experience seeing cracked alum. framed trailers come into the shop time and time again, i have my reservations.
I found that doing installs on a wood unit gave me more bite when driving screws than driving them into a thin alum. stud. I guess thats why they started to fill the alum. studs with wood . So why not just build the entire thing using wood.
Alum, might be lighter per foot but i think you will use less feet of wood building one vs more feet of alum. I think the weight ends up being pretty close to the same.
This company says basically the same thing.http://www.excelrvs.com/smart-shopper/wood-vs-aluminum
Here are two rv net discussions on wood vs alum. http://www.rv.net/forums/Index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/22000301/srt/pa/pging/1/page/1.cfm
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25098937.cfm
It was too difficult for me to tell if that would make any difference in furnace use because the slideout leaked cold air , so it ran most of the time during winter use.
I think buying a unit that is as light as possible and easy to repair without special skills or tools is important when driving it on top of a pickup truck on highways where it can be damaged. I would rather be able to make a repair in a fashionable time-frame than wait for a specialist to get it done in 6 months. I would rather have a wood framed alum. skinned rv .
Im not so sure about those all alum. tc's that are being mfg. today and how they will hold up. From my experience seeing cracked alum. framed trailers come into the shop time and time again, i have my reservations.
I found that doing installs on a wood unit gave me more bite when driving screws than driving them into a thin alum. stud. I guess thats why they started to fill the alum. studs with wood . So why not just build the entire thing using wood.
Alum, might be lighter per foot but i think you will use less feet of wood building one vs more feet of alum. I think the weight ends up being pretty close to the same.
This company says basically the same thing.http://www.excelrvs.com/smart-shopper/wood-vs-aluminum
Here are two rv net discussions on wood vs alum. http://www.rv.net/forums/Index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/22000301/srt/pa/pging/1/page/1.cfm
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25098937.cfm
