Hello all,
I just bought 1996 U270 1996 U-270 Build # 4951 (from Jerry aka Irwin) recently and loving it. We are full timing and it is perfect step up from my 2003 30 foot Lazy Daze IB. Feels like we are at home :)
I like to fasten cup holders etc to the wall of the 270, not sure of the thickness of the wall. What is ideal screw size and kind?
Thanks
Jamie
Here is a quote from a old thread, where we were discussing the coach wall construction. Don (Don & Tys) described his coach:
"This one (wall thickness) I do happen to know for our coach (99' U270), and I would guess is likely the same for all of the Unihome/Unicoach models, even if the layers differ somewhat. On ours, the blue styrofoam is an inch thick and there is some brown foam of a different (stiffer) constitution. My guess is that they found the brown stuff to be easier to adhere to the laid up fiberglass outer skin. From left to right, there is ¼" Luan plywood, .060" FRP or Filon sheet, 1" blue styrofoam, ½" rigid brown foam of unknown composition, approx. 1/16" fiberglass, and finally the gelcoat. This is a plug from my installation of the washer/dryer. It is shiny because I coated it in the epoxy I used to stick the basement skin back on. This was a test to see how the epoxy resin reacted with the styrofoam before I stuck the skin back on. I am not sure if the blue styrofoam would have fared as well with Polyester resin. Also, it makes a nice souvenir to show people how our coaches are made. So the short answer is 1 ⅞".
Photo below of Don's plug, and a photo of the wall on our '93 U280 when the window was removed to install residential fridge. You can see the foam in ours is slightly different from Don's '99 U270, but the basic construction/thickness is the same.
Unless you happen to hit a frame member, the interior wall "skin" is pretty thin. You can use a magnet to check for steel frame members behind the paneling. Use a fastener suitable for "thin" material, and with sufficient grip to hold the anticipated weight.
Foretravel use steel frame, nice. How wide is the steel frame? What is the spacing between steel frames?
Since the interior wall is 1/4 inch Luan plywood so I guess something like 3/8 inch of screw into the wall will do the job.
Thanks
Jamie,
Use a magnet on the inside paneling to find location and dimensions of steel box beams.
The steel tubing is 1.5" square. I'm not sure what the tube wall thickness is. On my basement floor it's .050" but the side walls might be thicker since they are the primary load carrying members on Unihomes and Unicoaches. I don't think there is a standard spacing. All openings (windows, door, frig vents, furnace vents, etc.) will have a perimeter of steel tubing. You will also find diagonals just like a truss bridge. In addition to using a magnet to find the tubes you can also see the entire structure on the outside in certain cold weather condition where dew forms on the exterior. Just so you know the roof is a similar construction but uses aluminum tubing - so a magnet is useless for find the tubing. I think others have mentioned some stud finders will work to find the aluminum tubing.