Re: [VAC] Trailer Weight, 63 a/s 26' LY

["Dr. Gerald N. Johnson" <geraldj@xxxxxxxx>]

Any time you use wood and fabrics in a product, controlling weight is
difficult or impossible. No doubt in my mind, the RV maker's plan a
weight and maybe make one prototype to meet that weight and carve that
weight in stone for the literature, then use wood of different density
(more moisture, different variety, different source) and the weight
wanders all over the place. Its not too practical to select the wood by
density, its chosen by color (maybe) and for size to fill the hole its
supposed to fit. Then the customer asks for an added cabinet, two more
drawers and the product is suddenly 500 pounds over the design weight if
the wood had been consistent. A customer that wants walnut instead of
birch probably adds 700 or more pounds UNLESS the finish wood is a
veneer on birch plywood. A veneer on particle board will be a lot
heavier but cheaper to build.

And all that water soaked into the floor can add a lot of weight. The
only way to know the true weight of any RV (and I'm wondering about
aircraft where weight is really important to survival) is to go weigh
it. I think aircraft custom interiors may use thin metal skins over
paper honeycomb with paper thin wood veneers to control weight though
the panels cost 20 times the price of solid black walnut... Which is to
say I believe weight can be controlled, but its probably not practical
in the RV industry because of cost, though the modern Airstream
approaches the price of what aircraft used to cost.

Gerald