Fiberglass Laminate vs Stick and Tin Travel Trailers and Fifth Wheel RVs!

what's going on guys so I am out here at Bishop RV Center in Corpus Christi Texas to talk to you all about a topic that I am asked about all the time and I think is one that's pretty important to a lot of people at least as they're researching what type of travel trailer or fifth-wheel to purchase and that is fiberglass versus stick and tin we'll be right back [Music] alright so when you were shopping for a new travel trailer 5th wheel RV probably one of the first things that you are looking for especially if you're new to it is do I purchase a unit that has this smooth fiberglass sidewall over an aluminum frame or do I purchase a unit that has aluminum siding over a wood frame and people really ask themselves that question because obviously there's going to be a difference in how they're constructed also there's probably going to be a difference in price if you look at a unit like this and you get the exact same unit with a laminated fiberglass sidewall you're gonna see a small price difference and that price difference is going to reflect the materials that are used as well as the look that price difference can also come into play when it comes to resale value because there's a perception that the fiberglass laminated sidewall is a better sidewall than stick and tin but let's clarify some of the differences and show you all why one might be a little less expensive however it might be a preferred option for some of you alright so in front of me we have a coachman Catalina legacy Edition this is a traditional stick in tin which means it has a steel frame with a wooden plywood floor system and it has a wooden floor above it in certain areas such as in this storage area right here and on the outside here this is actually wooden studs with a bat style fiberglass insulation and aluminum siding that's essentially installed just like it would be installed on your home on the side of this unit next to us we have this Dutchman Aero light this is going to be a very traditional laminated type wall now whether it's a pinched lamination or a vacuum lamination really doesn't matter because if they're done correctly with the correct humidity controls in place it's still going to be a relatively good process now in some cases you may actually have wood framing behind the fiberglass in the case of most of the rear ends are the backs of these unit it is a wooden frame with fiberglass on it and one of the reasons they do that is because the number of wires that have to go through it some manufacturers don't some manufacturers do what you also need to pay attention to on the sidewall here is that this is what's called pinched or vacuum laminated to and aluminum frame and the aluminum studs are spaced pretty far apart now the purpose of doing it one way versus the other has a lot to do with cosmetics how you want it to look as well as how it's insulated so on a unit like this the walls are generally going to be between an inch and an inch and a half thick depending on the unit most of them are right in between at about an inch and a quarter and it's going to use a foam insulation which is essentially a block foam similar to what might be in a cooler maybe a little bit less dense in the wall system and then they're gonna pitch in on one side with luan wood on the other side with luan wood and then they're gonna bond fiberglass to the luan facing the reason why they do that is the fiberglass is relatively thin and it needs a backer that backer is going to be the Luanne wood backer and on the inside it's going to be your interior wall now it's not a bad form of construction this is a very very common form of construction for most travel trailers and fifth wheels but it is different of course then stick and tin stick and tin is going to have the same luan panel on the inside it's going to have wooden beams going up and down and then it's going to have your aluminum siding directly attached to it on the outside and the reason why you go that route is it's a little bit less expensive from a construction perspective but you make up for it in the form of manual labor so manual labor it takes a lot more manual hours to actually take each one of these panels cut them put them in place or route them out whenever you're done and then tack them up the way that you're supposed to attack mom Plus make sure that they're connected properly to give you somewhat of a flat side there are several different forms of this type of aluminum sidewall now some are a lot flatter than others some have more of like a wavy effect to them some are kind of right in between that real wavy effect and a flat style kind of like this but the reason why some people prefer this is because they feel that that bat insulation and the wood itself is a better insulator than the thinner foam insulation that you get in a sidewall like this that being said it really isn't going to matter much in my opinion both of these walls are going to insulate about the same now I'm not bragging about either and saying that they're great insulators and what I'm basically trying to tell you is there's not going to be a tremendous amount of difference between the insulation of these two walls where a big difference will generally occur or in a couple areas one typically with a fiberglass sidewall and this doesn't have much to do with the reason that that's a fiberglass sidewall but typically with a fiberglass sidewall you're gonna have what's called a sealed and enclosed underbelly which is going to be an underbelly that is protected generally you're going to have the ability to protect your water tanks holding tanks and the bottom subfloor if you have water spray and things like that typically on your aluminum sidewall units you may have that but in some cases you don't this Catalina does have it but some of them don't and it's more likely that you may not have it on some of these so you're gonna want to pick a dealership that carries this type of unit with the subfloor the bottom of it being covered and that is something not all dealerships will do and something that Bishop tries to order most of their units with where one of your biggest differences is gonna come into play is generally if you have a problem where that matters is if you have water that gets into the sidewall here first of all it's going to be harder to identify until you actually see damage on the interior wall simply because these panels are somewhat rigid and they'll cover up any type of water damage but most importantly it's going to be far far easier to repair a sidewall like that that gets damaged from water intrusion versus a fiberglass sidewall with something like this you're gonna have to remove and cut out a large portion fix the damage and then glue it back or in some cases you can access it from the inside by cutting out your panel installing new backer boards and then re gluing this down either way though it's generally not going to look factory-new whereas you can make one of these look brand new even if you've had some type of a major water issue and because the structure of it is primarily wood it's a lot easier to work on even you know some do it at home people have been able to fix some of these to make them look really good again but that is a big difference the second big difference is the fact that because this is an aluminum sidewall it's gonna have less UV interference you're not gonna have to worry about the Sun impacting it as much even if it destroys the graphic so they start to fade you can generally salvage it in some way you can put new graphics on you can a lot of things to make it look nice again on a fiberglass unit you can't now as long as you maintain a fiberglass wold unit and you do a good job taking care of it and you look for areas that could potentially cost delamination or water getting into the wall system this is a really nice product to have it looks nicer it looks more sophisticated it looks fancier it makes your RV look more expensive it's definitely nice in terms of having a smooth appeal and cosmetics mean a lot to a lot of people buying rvs also you're going to pay a little bit more and it's likely to have a few more amenities as options simply because it is considered a slightly more expensive unit even though you can pretty much get any sticking ten style floor plan and fiberglass floor plan in the same floor plan so I wouldn't really say there's gonna be a big difference in terms of what's available from a floorplan perspective between a fiberglass wold unit and a stick and tin unit that being said a lot of it comes down to looks and a lot of it comes down to what you're specifically wanting and what your budget is but I just wanted to make this short video to let you all know that even though people oftentimes think something like this is super cheap and they're built like crap and they're just not going to be a great unit your impression of it may actually be a little bit different than the reality and the reality often times is that they're built very similar except this one has more man-hours involved in certain areas because it requires a lot more wood structure versus an aluminum structured unit and in some cases a wood structured unit can actually be a stronger unit than an aluminum structured unit also you can save some money in some cases on these and it's also something that's easier to repair so when you look at all the pros and cons between the two it's definitely worth being educated on I will tell you from day one I've had the same message about both types of units and nothing's changed I don't think these are bad I don't think they're junk compared to something like this and I do think they do make great starter units for people who might be on a budget and that's going to be important to a lot of people getting into our Ving because if price is your barrier to getting into our Ving then you're not enjoying it and the last thing I want is for someone to say hey that's automatically junk just because people say it is or because people assume it is or people sauce video about how quickly these things are manufactured and they avoid getting something that could get their family out there enjoying the outdoors enjoying the RV lifestyle and building memories anyways guys I hope you enjoyed this video if you haven't had a chance please take a moment subscribe to my channel give me a thumbs up we'll talk to you again very soon [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Big Truck Big RV

Views: 132,681

Keywords: RVing, New RV, RV Shopping, Lippert, Jayco, Forest River, Toy Hauler, Winnebago, Coachmen, Airstream, Dutchmen, Morryde, Offgrid, Solar, RV Solar, Trailer, Apex, Voltage, F450, F350, F250, Living Vehicle, Light Ship, Crossroads, Cruiser RV, DRV, Entegra, Heartland, Keystone RV, KZ RV, Redwood RV, Starcraft, Thor, Tiffin, Venture, Riverstone, Dynamax, Palomino, Prime Time, Shasta, Grand Design, Newmar, Powerstroke, Cummins, Duramax, Towing, 2023, 2024, RV, Travel Trailer, Fifth Wheel, Coach, Motorhome, Toyota, 3500, 2500

Id: mu9iB4LZFdE

Length: 10min 2sec (602 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 03 2019