Oh-Oh! What'S That Noise?

[Ted]

A couple of weekends back we were headed down a fairly well graded gravel road. A noise similar to that annoying sound of an aluminum can being squeezed over and over again caught our attention. We determined it was coming from the camper. With me in the camper while my wife drove, I was able to locate the noise. The siding on the font of the camper below the window, the section that faces the front of the truck bed, was slightly warped or bowed. As the camper flexed, the siding would make popping sounds.

Today I pulled the camper off and removed the front siding. I can find no frame damage or any reason why the siding would do this. So I intend to put it back together with some changes but want to get input from others as to good idea/bad idea or other suggestions before I do.

The siding is simply stapled along the outside edges and then the corner trim is screwed on over that. I intend to run beads of a epoxy along all of the frame pieces before I re-attach the siding. My thought being this will give the siding some support in the middle and not just on the outside. I also am considering adding a few screws along the frame pieces in case the epoxy doesn't hold. My only concern about adding the screws is wondering if that would inhibit some of the designed flexibility of the camper. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions will be appreciated. Ted

 

[Argonaut20]

I wonder why the bow in the first place. Was the panel cut oversize? Was the panel attached slightly skewed? Before I epoxied the panel, I would want to know that it was fitting the frame correctly. I might also try a few pop rivets first with a trial run to be sure I was fixing the problem before I went to epoxy. As for the epoxy, do what you think best.

 

[mtnman]

Ted,
Before I did anything along the lines of epoxying the siding to the frame members, I would call the factory and talk to Chicali. You should understand the original manufacturing procedure and why some kind of fastener was not used in the original manufacturing process. It could be a cost decsion, therefore implementing your idea may be okay. On the other hand, there may be a good technical reason for not doing this. One that I can think of is the expansion rate of the aluminum siding. I know that on my travel trailer, when it is parked in the hot sun and I spray water on the aluminum siding, there is all kinds of creaking sounds caused by the contraction of the long length of siding. If you constrain the siding's ability to buckle, by fastening to every frame member, you might end up with a bunch of cracks in the siding where the fasteners are installed. I would think this would only apply to long continuous lengths of siding. Anyway, just call Chicali and he will advise you.

 

[DirtyDog]

Next time you are in the east indies, pick up some of that natural plant rubber, that should do the job.

 

[Ted]

I wonder why the bow in the first place.

That is still bothering me as well. Might have an answer in something mtnman said.
I know that on my travel trailer, when it is parked in the hot sun and I spray water on the aluminum siding, there is all kinds of creaking sounds caused by the contraction of the long length of siding.

Average daily high temps the last few weeks have been about 100. Maybe that has caused the siding to expand and, therefore, bow a little.

I would call the factory and talk to Chicali.

I called this morning but they are doing inventory and Chicali was not available. You are right about finding out why they do not do this. I will call again before I put it all back together.

Thanks for the serious input. As for DD... not sure what to say. The guy acts like he runs the show.

 

[mtnman]

Ted,
Always trying to help. I've picked up some great ideas from this forum and want to contribute the same if possible. I'm an engineer and always tend to analyze, sometimes too much - my wife would say. Be sure to let us know what Chicali says. I've visited him and Stan at the factory and found that they will "bend over backwards" to help anyone who asks. They're genuinely good people, and have loads of experience with these campers. I'd be surprised if they can't dial you into what the problem is and provide a good solution.

 

[K6ON]

Ted,

Call over to ATC and talk to Marty or Jeff...With as many years they had at FWC, If they can't help you, no one can. They are also closer to you than FWC. If you have a couple minutes, run out there and I'm certain they can solve your problem.

 

[BSS]

Try moving the camper back 1/4-3/8" or so in relation to the truck bed and installing a fat piece of foam weatherstripping or two between the camper and the front bed rail and then re attaching the camper. I actually used a bead of Great Stuff foam and it worked like a charm for me.

 

[Ted]

With the unexpected passing away of one of their staff, things have been a little off kilter at FWC. But I finally got a chance to speak with Chicali. I told him about the noise and what I was thinking of doing. He said that he has heard of that before on Tundras. They have a vent in the front of the bed and he believes wind coming through the vent causes the siding to flex and make noise. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me as the noise is at slow speed on dirt roads, not high speed on a highway. But whatever. He did say not to epoxy or screw the siding to the frame as they do need to flex seperately and that could cause the siding to crack.

He suggested I wedge a piece of foam pipe insulation between the camper and the bed of the truck. So BSS, seems like yours is the winning suggestion. We plan on getting in about 20-25 miles of dirt roads this weekend so that will be the test.

Argonaut20, the panel appeared to fit correctly and was not hanging over anywhere when I put it back together. That was a good idea to check, though, thanks for bringing that up.

Mtnman, I'm an engineer as well and our wives would probably have a laugh comparing engineers. I just tell people we can't help it - Being Anal 101 is a required course.