Wood vs Aluminum/Paper vs. Plastic

[Ranger_Tim]

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 similarity here with RV's. I am migrating from the boat culture to the RV culture and see myself drawn to the truck camper strongly. Having grown up on the Chesapeake Bay I knew my way around boats and recently sold off my second boat, a solid wood and fiberglass sportfisher from a higher end manufacturer. I bought this craft with an eye to seaworthiness, solid build and craftsmanship, and eventual resale value (if there is such a thing in boats). I was not disappointed.

Now that I have been transplanted to the wilds of Idaho the siren song of the truck camper is calling me to begin the search for my own portable camping unit. The days of sleeping on the ground are over and I want the security and comfort of a four season camper that is easy to park and will provide my wife and I a place to rest at night.

I have now run into the same wood vs. aluminum debate, however the parameters and circumstances that affect the camper decision are somewhat different. Allow me to begin a conversation by stating that there are certain things that concern me as a prospective new TC owner:

1) Durability of construction, i.e. how the camper superstructure will fare in the long run. Will aluminum welds outlast the life of a wooden framed model? Will rot prove the eventual downfall of most wood TC's? Or is the wooden model the best compromise for most of us, including its relative ease of repair and resistance to mechanical stress?

2) Both wood and aluminum seem to be offered in relatively lightweight models, so is there really a difference between them in terms of weight? Will a wooden camper soak up enough moisture over time to tip the scales?

3) Not to imply that these brands are superior to any others, but (for example) the new offerings from Camp Lite and Travel Lite seem to compare head to head weight-wise, yet are worlds apart in terms of design and construction philosophy. Is this just the age-old more taste, less filling debate? Surely there is some type of rationale for wood to still be a material of choice?

4) Some will probably tell me to forget about this and concentrate on features and suitability rather than design differences under the skin, but I can't shake the feeling that this is somehow going to mean a great deal to me after the ink is dry on the sales contract.

What are the other elements of this comparison that I am not seeing? I would rather go beyond the hype of the advertising slogans and base my decisions on real-world experiences. No agenda here, just a desire to spend the hard won cash from the sweat of my brow on a product that won't make me wince when I see it sitting on my truck. My first boat was a foam-filled fiberglass yard monument that shuddered with each wave and felt totally incapable on the water. The second one still makes me smile each time I remember how it parted the seas with confidence and gave me an assurance of a solidly built craft that would get me home when the going got tough. Is this satisfaction and pride of ownership too much to expect from a TC borne of an industry that is pumping out product on a slim margin and has to cut many corners in order to out sell the competition? Am I actually still making sense?

It's late and I'm kinda confused after looking at TC web pages for the last eon. Thanks for listening to the rambling!

Idling in Idaho

[jtlingo123]

I bought a 72 Dolphin as my first TC and knew it would need some work. To my surprise I had to re-build the entire front end and I was blown away by how little was there and survived for 30 years!

[JRS___B]

Are the costs still about equal?

About 35 years ago we had our previous house aluminum sided. We went with aluminum because at that time we could not afford the extra cost to "upgrade" to vinyl siding.

Now I am getting prices to redo the siding on our current house and find out that aluminum siding is all but obsolete because of cost. Vinyl is now much cheaper.

So if aluminum has become so expensive, it seems like maybe a person could get more bang for their buck with wood.

[recycler]

I am a wood frame t/c advocate.. a good quaility wood framed camper will last a lifetime..and since they use aluminum for heat sinks in electronics...

[bobndot]

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

[sabconsulting]

Hi and welcome.

You'll probably have to get used to the fact that truck campers aren't built quite as well as yachts. Keeping the weight of the camper down is a big theme, so they may not have that heavy-duty quality construction you were used to on boats - it is just a compromise.

Rot does takes its toll of wooden campers - I certainly know that. One of the problems is that water gets in through seams, spreads and rots large areas you cannot see and are not aware of until you have a big repair job - that soft spot or discoloration in the corner often turns out to be the tip of the iceberg.

Good question about aluminum welds. Saw a few pictures on here of welds with improper penetration cracking / failing. On the plus side, if a weld cracks, it just needs re-welding, where-as the damage due to water tends not to be quite so localized. On the other hand if you have to re-weld any of the structure you need to get access to it and make sure you don't set fire to anything adjacent. I had fun trying to re-weld the aluminum door frame in-situ!

I guess whatever construction material you go for you will eventually need to repair something. If you are good with wood then a wooden truck camper is easy to repair. So I suppose you have to consider the question of when you do need to repair something can you do it yourself or will the construction materials mean you'll have to pay someone else to do it. However, buying a used truck camper you run the risk that water has already leaked in somewhere and you will have to do some repairs sooner rather than later (as I found).

Re. resistance to stress - we've taken our camper over bits of the Sahara desert and if you look at the trip reports you will see many campers get used in pretty extreme conditions.

If a camper does soak up water than any increase in weight is the last of your worries. However, they do soak up 'stuff' (equipment, accessories, etc). It seems that often you need to add 1000# to the dry weight of the camper to get a realistic weight once you've added all the stuff the manufacturer forgot to weigh, extra accessories, fresh water, food, tools, etc.

Another construction technique is the fibreglass clamshell design - very much like a modern yacht.

Good luck with your camper selection.

Steve.

[insp1505]

If you're a boat guy don't forget to check out the construction of Northern Lite and Bigfoot campers. The structure is fiberglass similar to the way a boat is made I think.

That said I really enjoyed my aluminum framed Arctic Fox but it was my first camper, never owned a wood one for comparison though. It was a very solid and well built camper, I took it through some pretty rough places like this for example clicky


I only owned it 3 years so I didn't have enough time on it to see if any welds were going to fail with age but some of the places I went with it were a good test to how strong the aluminum frame was. One thing I can tell you with aluminum framing is that in very cold weather the frozen condensation will outline the framework of the aluminum in case you lose your stud finder and need to screw something heavy into the wall :B