ajriding wrote:
HMS Beagle wrote:
The structure actually isn't fiberglass. The structure is a sandwich with a thin skin of fiberglass on the outside, thin luan plywood on the inside, and wood glued in-between to take the shear forces. Foam too, but the foam is quite weak compared to the wood. Each of the elements by themselves is weak and flexible, if any of these elements f... not without reason.
We are not discussing fiberglass siding campers, rather fiberglass campers, built out of fiberglass, not wood. Built like a boat. The fiberglass is the structure. There should be no wood structures in these. Bigfoot is one brand. Big difference.
Might be some wood under the floor, secondary structurer..
I am quite familiar with the Bigfoot product having owned (and worked on) three, and I am quite familiar with boats having owned numerous boats including the 45' one I built. There are very few construction techniques in common between a Bigfoot camper and a boat. Fiberglass is not the structure in a Bigfoot, it is one component of the structure. They are a fiberglass outer skin, stiffened and strengthened throughout with wood, which also makes up the entire inner skin of the sandwich. If you pull all of the wood and foam out of a Bigfoot (or Northern Lite or other) you will have a very flexible skin not capable of supporting itself as a camper.
I think the OP did the right thing by passing on this one. The amount of renovation required would far exceed the value. It is also another lesson that things can photograph well in spite of major problems.
