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Belly Board and Structure Bolts

Yahoo Message Number: 533

I just wanted to bring a couple "new" issues to the table... I really hate sounding negative towards Four Winds because I know it doesn't sit well with some RVer's, but when I starting addressing these issues, I never thought it would explode into this. Four Winds has simply given me a wealth of information on poor quality issues, which one would usually NOT find in one model of RV...

I found two more concerns last night and one more this morning that I will be posting leter today on the RVFactor Blog...the first is belly board. In Randall Eaton's book, 2007-2008 RV Comparison Guide, he mentions belly board, and his comments fed my curiousity. So last night, in the rain, I crawled under the coach to see if I had the great stuff (galvanized steel), the good stuff (Heavy ABS Plastic) or the worst crap in the industry (MY words, not his!). Well, you guessed right...I found I had a fabric belly board, similar to the cheap blue "tarps" you buy at Walmart. It is a single layer plastic woven material that has been heated on one side to "melt" the material into a moisture resistant material. I was wondering if one of you Jayco owners could check and report on the type of belly board you have. An easy way to tell is to lightly score the material with a pocket knife or sheet rock knife in a small square. If it is fabric, it will cut easily. Then tape some duck tape over the opening...it will be better and stronger anyway.

The other issue is that I found what appears to be 1/2" bolts with less than a 1.25 inch flat head holding the body to the framework under the coach. There appears to be no more than one spaced every three feet apart, so on my coach, there may be no more than 16 bolts holding the body to the chassis. That is less than 20 square inches of surface holding 10,000 plus pounds of body...and since the floor is only 1 inch thick, with no metal, only plywood and OSB board, the heads would easily pull through in any type of roll over accident, separating the body from the chassis. Just wondered if any Jayco owners can identify how the body is attached to the chassis.

Another issue relates to condensation moisture I found in our bedroom slideout under our mattress which I will also add to my blog. Sorry for the long post...

Denny

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Re: Belly Board and Structure Bolts

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 538
I guess I never thought about what is great or good stuff for a belly
board. Our GS has galvanized steel. Floor is 2 layers of 3/4" OSB type
flooring. This is it's fourth year. No problems with flooring. Still
have a small leak in bedroom slide. Each time I work on it I get less
water from rain. Last very hard all day gave us about 2 table spoons
of water. Original leak created a flooded rear section of carpeting.
Took awhile to clean up the water and dry every thing out. Good luck
getting a slide leak fixed.

Re: Belly Board and Structure Bolts

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 539
Quote
Just wondered if any Jayco owners can identify how the body is
attached to the chassis.

Denny,

Don't know about the chassis attachment bolts on our Jayco 33DS but the
underside liner material is definitely woven plastic tarp stuff.
Hmmm... I guess the good news is that at least it's not blue :-)

One of the pictures I posted here shows this underside material.

Bill

Re: Belly Board and Structure Bolts

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 542

Bill, I think you have the Greyhawk which is the one that was competing with the 33K Dutchmen that I have... both on a 19,500 chassis. Makes me think Jayco went with the same fabric as Four winds to compete. I wonder if the Seneca also have the fabric.... my guess is that they do not.

Denny