Aluminum vs ?? Floor

[charliem]

[font size="3"]Am I missing something? With more and more composites being used everywhere, why not make the floor a sandwich of composites and foam. We are using plastic composites for landscaping, decking, fencing,  and other building applications. Thus they are becoming very affordable and available. Lance, Forest River, and others use a sandwich of thin plywood and rigid foam to achieve strength and insulation properties. The plywood only provides a rigid hard surface to protect the foam. Why not apply composites here and truly eliminate rot? This, with or without the aluminum decking, would make a strong, light, and thermally improved floor. Your thoughts?

BTW, my aluminum vs wood story: After installing a new sink and faucets with compression fittings a small leak developed. Slow drip-drip -drip that went undetected for a few weeks. When I discovered it I simply tightened the fittings and dried the floor. No wood, no rot, no sweat.  [/font]

[david]

I think I understand the philosophy that led LL to build everything in aluminum, except for the thin Azdel paneling- It can all be welded together. Once you develop a mindset, ie welding, then you tend to stick with it.

The floor could be done in composite but then you would have to bolt it to the heavy aluminum trailer frame.

David

[pinstriper]

I just had my deck boards replaced with composite, and while it solves the rot problem, the strength to weight ratio sucks. My old cedar boards had joists at 24", this stuff requires no more than 16" spans, and even at that is heavier than the wood.

[sandyu]

I have pulled my quicksilver through some major storms and never had any water issues. However I could see how water could come up around the wheel wells if not properly sealed. Water can do some crazy things.

[leslie]

So I have the new (?) vinyl flooring that has a wood pattern over the aluminum slat floor. At some point, it will wear and need replacing. I do not know what sort of adhesive has been used for this.

For my purposes, I would prefer just to have the aluminum floor on which I can place my own interlocking foam tiles, and clean and replace them when I wish. I think charliem has the best way to go with this.

What are the downsides to installing your choice of foam tiles, other than the time it takes?

[charliem]

[quote source="/post/15012/thread" timestamp="1441755282" author="@leslie"]So I have the new (?) vinyl flooring that has a wood pattern over the aluminum slat floor. At some point, it will wear and need replacing. I do not know what sort of adhesive has been used for this.

For my purposes, I would prefer just to have the aluminum floor on which I can place my own interlocking foam tiles, and clean and replace them when I wish. I think charliem has the best way to go with this.

What are the downsides to installing your choice of foam tiles, other than the time it takes?[/quote][font size="3"]Other than installation time/effort/cost I can't think of any downsides. Repairability is certainly a plus as is the insulation value, Vinyl doesn't provide much insulation. The rubber is quiet and comfortable under foot. And the other day, after traveling to a campsite, I opened the freezer and a glass freezer container fell to the floor. It just bounced! [/font]

[charliem]

[quote source="/post/15001/thread" timestamp="1441738785" author="@pinstriper"]I just had my deck boards replaced with composite, and while it solves the rot problem, the strength to weight ratio sucks. My old cedar boards had joists at 24", this stuff requires no more than 16" spans, and even at that is heavier than the wood.[/quote][font size="3"]I think in the strength/weight/cost trade space there is a solution. Certainly the straight resin plastics are heavy, but they are cheap. On the other end the carbon fiber composites are strong and light (think aircraft), but they are expensive. Of course, to David's point, some fabrication techniques would change. I just envision this composite-foam-composite going through a laminating press and producing a strong. light floor surface and attached to the frame as common plywood floors are attached today. But now with Scott gone we'll never know  [/font]

[billmoore]

About a month after we bought it we did the foam tiles. I wouldn't really recommend them for anyone who has a toy hauler. Ours are already showing significant wear in the areas where we strap the motorcycles down. They don't seem to stand up well to the compression forces. This winter I will be replacing them with something more durable, probably something along the lines of the Racedeck tiles...

[freeskiken]

I have the camp lite carpet in my 2011 16 QBB. It works great. I use some other small carpet in othe spots still exposed. Then I can take them out to dry if I split something or to clean them.

[forestwanderer]

Well here we are in our 13QBB on first major outing in Perce Quebec where the humidity level is about 100% with a dew point of about 64 degrees and a floor temperature below this.  This only means one thing, condensation on the floor inside the trailer.  For sure one of the first things that will be done when we get back is to lay down some foam type tiles on the floor.  This is the only way i can see getting around this issue.

[freeskiken]

We were out this weekend the temperature was a high of 7 degrees Celcius. The only condensation I saw was a little in the corners in the bathroom because the door was closed.

[spot1]

This is probably old news, but new to me.

In the following Truck Camper Magazine article, looks like LivinLite is moving to aluminum framed composite floors in Truck Campers. Don't know how wide spread composite floor installation will be in the LivinLite product line.

http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/news/tcm-exclusive-2016-camplite-announcements

We're happy with the aluminum floor in our CampLite 11 since the majority of nightly lows are
above 30F during trips. We covered the floor with Vinyl and rubber backed rugs. Also use
a desiccant type and electric dehumidifier.

[whoofit]

[p]This is working for us, with me a bit over 200#. Poly Iso insulation covered by 4mm vinyl plank flooring. Both from Home Depot. [/p][p]
[/p][p]http://livinlite-owners.com/thread/1632/floor-insulation-adding-rigid-planks[/p]

[spot1]

Woofit, Looks good!!!!!!!

[whoofit]

Thanks! The height is perfectly matched to the threshold height of the man door when installed so no more swept radius needed there for sweeping. All in all a near perfect solution. If I were to do it again I would remove all the screws along the floor edges. They are a bear to fit around...and the Azdel panels are glued in place already making them fairly redundant.