An Easy Structural Upgrade For Basement Mounted Items
I just did a mechanical inspection on a really nice 320. I want to mention one often-found item that can cause issues if left unattended, yet costs little to permanently fix.
Joey bed and hose/shore power reels often break the lower FG floor under the coach. This can allow water to migrate in (unless you use the coach in the desert SW of course).
The reason for the failure is that you have a relatively heavy item that gets torqued (and therefore transmits that torque through the mounting bolts) mounted on non-structural area. Remember, except for the box beams, the floor of the basement is a THIN sheet of FG, 1 ½" form and a THIN sheet of FG. None of this, particularly if you don't spread the load, can handle the torque of a Joey bed locking into place with a couple of hundred pounds on it. Same, to a lesser degree for the hose/shore power cord reels.
For the reels, the solution is quick and inexpensive: Use four 3"X3" sheets of 1/8" aluminum with a hole drilled in the middle for the through bolt as the "backing plates" below the reels. Use a good sealant and torque up the through bolts. You have sealed the area (covered any cracked or deformed FG) and have spread the load.
Properly addressing the MUCH heavier Joey bed is a little more complex. Yes, you will use those same aluminum backing plates (I like 4"X4"), but you are still squeezing that foam core—not a structurally good idea. So, get out your hole saws. Using the existing mounting holes, from ABOVE (inside basement) drill through the floor of the basement-side FG with a 3-4" hole saw. Stop as soon as you punch into the soft foam core. Use a screwdriver to remove the foam core. Now, make a wood plug the exact thickness of the foam core and the same diameter as the hole. If you have a good set of hole saws, often the next size up from the one you used to drill the hole in the floor will be a nice tight fit in the hole. Inset it in the hole and through bolt. Now, you are squeezing the Joey bed rail above (lots of surface) and the aluminum plate below (good amount of surface area), and you can now reasonably torque the bolts so that they carry the lateral load of the Joey bed slamming closed, as the wood plug will not deform as the foam did.
Sooo, take a quick look under the basement and see if those bolts have deformed or cracked the FG.
Topic: An Easy Structural Upgrade For Basement Mounted Items (Read 889 times)
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