How (most) Ultra-Light Travel Trailers are made

The main frame/chassis/undercarriage is brought in at one end of the factory.

The floor assembly is based on an aluminum frame enclosing foam insulation, with 5/8” plywood screwed to the frame and linoleum laminated on top. The chassis is then flipped upside down, and the axles, wheels, and underside wiring, plumbing, and heating ducts are installed on the bottom side of the chassis. In some models extra insulation and heating ducts are added to aide in winter camping. This mess is then covered with a layer of corrugated plastic material which encloses the bottom side, keep out some cold and helping

to reduce wind drag.

The trailer is then flipped back upright for the construction phase. At this point the interior walls, cabinets, framing are installed onto the floor. These elements are screwed down to the

plywood floor. Next, kitchen and bath components are installed into the trailer and plumbed in. Wiring to the cabinets and lighting, and plumbing is completed to the sinks, shower and toilet.

Once the interior items are installed, the walls can be erected onto the floor. The front, rear and side walls are built separately, based on a framing made from 2” square tubular aluminum material.

Rigid foam insulation is cut to fit inside the frame and layers of fiberglass is laminated to the outside of the frame. Luan plywood and a layer of laminate material is laminated to the inside, completing a one-piece wall assembly. The wall is then lifted into place and screwed down to the floor. The other three walls are built and attached in the same manner.

An aluminum framed roof assembly is built similarly to the walls, but in many cases, could have either a flat roof or arched steel trusses to create curved roof. The roof is covered with EPDM rubber which us glued down to make itwaterproof. Roof vents and an air conditioner is added and screwed down and sealed.

Slide outs are assembled separately and mounted to the trailer.
Doors and windows are installed and sealed.
Graphics are placed on the walls.

Meanwhile, people are com

pleting the interior, mounting and wiring the electrical panel, lighting, heating, microwave, oven, televisions, mirrors, drawers, cushions, and carpets.
Once the trailer is complete, a quality assurance inspector goes over the inside and out, marking anything that isn't correct with pieces of red tape. Cabinets, marks, scratches, etc. Then someone goes back in and corrects the defects.

Buying a Travel Trailer

Selection: First of all, it is really hard to find an independent online review source on the web for travel trailers. Roaming Times has a pretty good list of trailer reviews (http://www.roamingtimes.com/consumer/index.aspx). There are many manufacturers each with many brands. How do you know what is good or bad? We learned that it is initially helpful to visit a few larger RV dealers and listen to pros and cons of various models they carry.

Brands: Thor is a giant company that owns most of the brand name trailers. Under Thor is Airstream, Breckenridge, Crossroads, Dutchmen, Keystone, Heartland, and Redwood. Under each of these brands are sub brands. For example, under Dutchmen you have Aerolite, Aspen Trail, Coleman, Denali, Fourwinds, Grand Junction, Infinity, Kodiak, Komfort, Lakewood, Rubicon, and Voltage. Forest River is another large company that owns a pile of brands each with sub-brands. It is mind boggling. And in many cases each sub-sub brand is manufactured

independently from the others. For example, we visited Forest River’s Surveyor/R-Pod factory in Goshen, IN. They not only fiercely compete against Thor’s brands, but other Forest River’s brands.

Tours: The Elkhart, Indiana area is home to most of the trailer manufacturing in the US, but Oregon and California are also home to several brands. In Goshen Indiana we toured three factories recently, Forest River’s Surveyor/R-Pod factory, Thor/Keystone’s Bullet/Cougar/Passport factory, and Thor/Dutchmen’s Aerolite/Kodiak Factory. It was fascinating to see the way RVs are made and variations among the brands we saw. In my next blog I will describe the process and post more pictures.

Ultralight brands we like and why:

Crossroads/Sunset Trail - Well built. Nice design. Wide stance. Good brand.

Evergreen/Everlite - Nice design. Fiberglass roof (vrs EDPM). More environmentally friendly ingredients. Walkable roof.

Northwoods/Artic Fox - Four season. Strong. Built in Oregon.

Airstream - Bulletproof design. Holds resale best.

Forest River/Surveyor - Well built. Lots of aluminum. Good QC program observed. Walkable roof.

Construction: generally, the ones with corrugated steel sides are typically wood framed, while the ones with smooth fiberglass siding are framed with aluminum. Aluminum is much lighter, tighter, and holds together down the road better long-term. The wood ones tend to tweak and tork and as a result, their roofs need to be caulked yearly or they leak. If you are looking at

used ones, I'd avoid the wood framed ones.

Framing: The better aluminum ones tend to have more framing in the walls and roof making them stronger. A good example are the Surveyor by Forest River and the Everlite by Evergreen.

Roofs: A curved roof is usually better than flat for strength and to shed water, most being ma

de with steel trusses. Even better, get one with the EDPM rubber that comes over the edge down the wall a bit, as this would help to prevent leaks in the seam between roof and walls. I would advise that if you can get one advertised with a "walk on roof", do it. Some with flat roofs are walkable, some aren't, and same with arched roofs. An advantage to walkable roofs aside from general strength is if you ever wanted to mount a solar panel, you couldn't get up very easy there to adjust it.

Wheels, axels and brakes:

Make sure you get a spare tire. Most chassis have two 3500# axles. Most have leaf springs but some are putting in torsion arm suspension which is supposed to be a better ride…I dunno. Many brands, such as the Outback and Crossroads are putting the wheels further apart front to back. Supposedly it is to improve towing. All have electric brakes, so your tow vehicle will need a brake controller installed.

Weight: Aluminum is much lighter than wood, so towing is easier and you get better mileage with less weight. Pay attention to the shipping weight of the RV, not load capacity or other weights. Add about 500# for “stuff” to that and you have your towing weight, compared to the capacity of your truck. For example, I have a Tundra Truck with a towing capacity of 6000#. So the heaviest trailer I would consider is around 5000# including the trailer, stuff and a buffer. For example, the Komfort/Dutchmen Pacific Ridge P27RL looks like a really nice RV made by a good company. The ship weight of it is 6700# plus 500#=7200#. That’s pretty heavy requiring one to definitely need a 3/4 ton. Alternately, a Keystone Bullet model 278RLS weighs 4945# plus 500#= 5445#. Look for ultra light models to keep the weight down.

Length: Another thing to consider is size. 30ft is nice and roomy, particularly for a family. But the longer it is, the harder it is to tow with more sway issues. AND, some state, national and forest campgrounds have length limitations of 25 to 30'. Our RV is 26' and we squeak by sometimes.

Slideouts: Travel trailers can have zero, one, two or three slideouts, with travel varying from 18” to 30”. The more and deeper the slideouts, the more expensive the trailer.

Storage: We’ve seen some nice big trailers with ridiculously small outside storage compartments. So small you couldn’t even fit a small grill through the door. While you can pack quite a bit of stuff inside, there are items you’d rather not bring indoors (grills, hoses, firewood, propane, etc). Look for large storage compartments that pass through to the other side, with large doors.

4 vrs 3 season trailers:

Some of the manufacturers advertise 4 season capability. This means you can camp in the freezing termpuratures without fear of freezing and breaking pipes. A good example is Artic Fox, but there are others. They install heating ducts inside the space under the floor and insulate critical parts. Others typically advertise “passive” heating of the under space, meaning the ducts emit some heat while heating the RV.

5th wheels: Nice and roomy, and they don't have the same towability issues of travel trailers. Downsides are that they take up valuable cargo space in the bed of the truck, and they are more difficult to unhitch.

Summary; Honestly, if were just Deb and I, I'd consider something smaller, with a bed big enough for the two of us, a decent kitchen, and a bathroom. We toured the Forest River Surveyor/R-Pod plant in Elkhart.

The R-Pod is really well made and looks pretty cool and retro,

as does the Everlite Element (although very pricy). The Dutchmen Pacific Ridge and Forest River/Surveyor are made in Oregon which is nice. So is Artic Fox which is supposed to be really well made. We also like the Keystone Bullets.