rcolediver
Member
I'm sorry is this is not the right place, never posted anything before. Thought some of you out there as I have read, might be interested in a repair I just completed on the 2011 Big Horn.
Just purchased this so I knew it was a problem, but thought I could live with it. Nope, I couldn't. My unit was built with some laminated, wood backed panel. Of course when water got in there around the 5th wheel pin and other places, it warped , sagged and generally looked terrible. I'm certain I'm not the only one with this issue.
The fix. The dealers around here wanted upward of $2000 to fix it, and with the same material. That was not a fix I wanted to pay for. My options were, all diamond plate or ??
As I quickly found out, that cap was all one piece. 8' x 8'. That wasn't going to happen, couldn't find it, or handle that size of material. So it was going to be 2 sheets, of 4'x8'.
As a side note, there is No insulation in there. which of course is directly under the bedroom. So first order of business , 3/4" foam board, cut into the correct shapes and pressed into the framing.
Then on to the repair. I decided to use Some FRP panel as a template, about the only thing I could find that would make the bend, and not warp in the water, and not $100 plus a sheet Home depot carries it, 35 bucks a sheet.
Well, after getting the FRP put into place, I liked it so much, I just used it and did not put on the diamond plated. Never liked the look of that plate anyway. Now, its white in color. looks like factory. Water has no affect on it. and it was way cheaper than Diamond plate. I did double it up on the bottom vertical area, to make it a bit stronger, bought some molding to cover the seams. I put lots of screws in it, where there was not a single screw in the original panel. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll attach some photos. It does resolve the issue of using the wrong material in the first place. It was going to get wet under there, and it did. Now, it can get wet with out any problems.
Thanks
Just purchased this so I knew it was a problem, but thought I could live with it. Nope, I couldn't. My unit was built with some laminated, wood backed panel. Of course when water got in there around the 5th wheel pin and other places, it warped , sagged and generally looked terrible. I'm certain I'm not the only one with this issue.
The fix. The dealers around here wanted upward of $2000 to fix it, and with the same material. That was not a fix I wanted to pay for. My options were, all diamond plate or ??
As I quickly found out, that cap was all one piece. 8' x 8'. That wasn't going to happen, couldn't find it, or handle that size of material. So it was going to be 2 sheets, of 4'x8'.
As a side note, there is No insulation in there. which of course is directly under the bedroom. So first order of business , 3/4" foam board, cut into the correct shapes and pressed into the framing.
Then on to the repair. I decided to use Some FRP panel as a template, about the only thing I could find that would make the bend, and not warp in the water, and not $100 plus a sheet Home depot carries it, 35 bucks a sheet.
Well, after getting the FRP put into place, I liked it so much, I just used it and did not put on the diamond plated. Never liked the look of that plate anyway. Now, its white in color. looks like factory. Water has no affect on it. and it was way cheaper than Diamond plate. I did double it up on the bottom vertical area, to make it a bit stronger, bought some molding to cover the seams. I put lots of screws in it, where there was not a single screw in the original panel. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll attach some photos. It does resolve the issue of using the wrong material in the first place. It was going to get wet under there, and it did. Now, it can get wet with out any problems.
Thanks
