The Grand Tour

by David Bessmer

Something I don't admit often is that I actually used to give RV plant tours. During a brief stint in sales with a now-defunct manufacturer, I was frequently called on to escort folks through the factory and show them how our well-built but heavy wood-frame trailers were put together.

I wish we'd had someone like Stephanie Emmons to do our tours. I'd have gotten more work done, and the tour customers would have been a lot happier. Stephanie, who gives tours at Holiday Rambler's travel trailer and fifth wheel factory in Elkhart, led me through the plant last August. It would be patronizing to say what a delightful young person Stephanie is, so I'll just say she is an extremely knowledgeable and engaging tour guide and let it go at that.

I'd like to say this was a private tour, but we were accompanied by my old war buddy Jim Mac. Jim is the Indiana marketing manager for Monaco Coach Corporation, which means his job is to get taken to lunch by Holiday's ad agency. This day he actually took me to lunch, and then skulked along behind Stephanie and me on the tour, taking pictures when we weren't looking.

WIRED

I had expected the tour to start at a big overhead door where frames were rolled in, but instead Stephanie led me to where the wiring harnesses are rigged, which is more interesting.

Holiday Rambler uses a color-coded, automotive-style wiring harness that eliminates a lot of service headaches for dealers and owners as the years go by. Harnesses are rigged on a jig about as long as a large travel trailer, with a gridwork of bolts protruding from the surface. According to the wiring scheme for each trailer, the harness maker runs wires through this gridwork to form each circuit in the proper length. The completed harness is lashed together, coiled and hung on a rack for delivery to the floor department where it is installed.

FRAMED

Next, we looked at wall and roof sections as they were rolled into the plant. Holiday Rambler's famous Alumaframe walls and roofs are made in another building and trucked here.

When I first worked with Holiday Rambler 25 years ago, Alumaframe was a butt-welded, tubular-aluminum affair. Nowadays, it's a sophisticated system like that used in the superstructure of aircraft, both lighter and stronger.

Vertical and horizontal aluminum J-channels interlock, rather than butt, and are double welded at each joint. This structure is so strong that the C-channels, like aircraft framework, have holes punched in them at regular intervals, which provides several benefits. First, it eliminates several hundred pounds of weight from the coach. Second, it enables wiring to be run through the walls, using grommets to prevent chafing, so that outlets, switches and light fixtures can be installed in the walls, not just in the cabinetry. Third, these holes allow the framework to "breathe," so that moisture and heat can dissipate throughout the structure rather than concentrate in one area.

The wall sections arrive already laminated to the interior wall paneling, bead foam and vapor barrier. Once the walls are upright on the coach, the framing will be filled with fiberglass insulation that is glued to the vapor barrier so it won't sag, and the outer aluminum or fiberglass skin will be hung.

Roof sections have nine and ten layers to the walls' five. They enter the assembly plant with the inner layers already laminated to the aluminum I-beam roof frame. Working downward you have: a vapor barrier; structure foam insulation; another vapor barrier; luaun panel; and interior ceiling panel. This year, Aluma-Lite and Presidential products have a foam-backed vinyl headliner that are considered a tenth layer, with additional insulating properties.

Later, when the roof is in place, fiberglass insulation will fill the framework. Thick bead foam insulation that's tapered for water run-off is laid over the framing. On top of that is 5/16-inch luaun roof decking.

The top layer is RV 2000 felt-backed vinyl roofing. This stuff is 350 percent more puncture and tear-resistant than rubber roofing, weighs half as much, and it doesn't chalk and streak like rubber. On the off chance that it does need repair (let's say somebody drops an axe head out of an airplane and it happens to land on your roof), you just lay a patch over the puncture and weld it on with a heat gun. Some say a hair dryer will do the job just fine.

Stephanie is happy to show you samples of rubber and RV 2000 roofing. I couldn't cut the RV 2000 with my pocket knife.

FLOORED

Speaking of Stephanie, I'm getting ahead of her tour, here. After showing you newly delivered wall and roof framing, she'll at last take you to the beginning of the assembly line, where we start with the steel floor frame.

Steel frames are welded and coated off-site. I-beam rails and triangularly reinforced cross members are lighter than the old-fashioned tubular rails and solid-plate cross members, yet plenty strong enough. Frames are electro-coated (as opposed to painted), so that every tiny nook and cranny is fully coated.

The wire harness, holding tanks, and fresh water tank are now installed. Part of the framing that holds in the tanks is bolted on, so tanks can be repaired or replaced easily, if necessary. Holiday Rambler uses "no-fuss flush" holding tanks that have an internal spray mechanism to make cleaning out the tanks easier and keep electrodes clean.

Now the sub-floor tubular-steel framing is put in place and filled with fiberglass insulation. The underside of the sub-floor is sheathed with Darco, an extremely tough material that serves both as a rot-and-tear-proof moisture barrier and as a final guard against road hazards. The main heating duct runs through the sub-floor framing and supplies heat to the holding tanks so they'll to help prevent freeze-ups for winter travelers.

The floor decking is 5/8-inch Weyerhauser Sturdiwood, an oriented strand board that is extremely moisture-proof. This seamless decking is lag bolted, glued around the edges and screwed to the floor framing so your floor won't squeak if someone like me lumbers around on it.

Now the floor is flipped upside-down to have the underbelly, suspension, shock absorbers, brakes and wheels installed. Between the frame rails the underbelly material is a corrugated composite material that resists damage better than metal, is far lighter, and adds insulating value.

Right-side up, the floor continues down the line on a dolly that allows it to roll sideways.

Linoleum flooring is put down over the entire floor. This might seem wasteful, since most of the coach will be carpeted, but it's actually more economical than cutting to fit, Stephanie explains. Also, it protects the wood floor deck from leaks and spills. Next comes a cushy carpet pad and high quality nylon carpeting. Plastic is laid over the carpeting so it's delivered to your dealer clean.

PLUMBED

By this time, things are getting pretty lively, and Stephanie and I have to step gingerly past stockpiles of cabinets and supplies and busy production workers. Cabinets are beginning to be set on the floor and bath and kitchen plumbing installed.

Based on past home-repair experience, I'd plumb the whole darn coach before thinking to test anything, but Holiday Rambler pressure tests the plumbing at 80 psi, twice the recommended maximum, before they start installing stuff that will make the plumbing harder to get to for repairs.

WALLED

At the next couple of stations, workers install big things like shower enclosures, interior walls and floor-mounted cabinetry that don't fit through doors very well. Holiday Rambler makes its own high-quality cabinetry and buys finely milled hardwood doors and drawer fronts from a preferred supplier.

Once the big stuff is in place, sidewalls are set and secured to the frame with lag bolts spaced at no more than 16-inch intervals.

Upper cabinets and window valances are hung to stay. Every screw is sunk into a wood backer that's glued to the wall paneling.

After workers have finished running wiring through the walls and gluing fiberglass insulation in place, the outer walls can be hung. Standard .040 smooth aluminum is applied with a single, riveted lateral seam that's covered with trim. Optional gel-coat fiberglass is glued to the framework. Stephanie explained that aluminum-skinned coaches average about pounds lighter, but that the more expensive fiberglass can be easier to repair and adds some insulation value.

CAPPED

After the roof structure is in place fiberglass end caps are positioned and screwed to the framing. Holiday Rambler makes its own end caps so ensure consistent quality. Windows are installed using plastic radius-corner inserts.

EXPANDED

I got a good look at a bedroom slideout that was about to be installed. The slideouts are built and wired apart from the assembly line and installed near the end. Large rubber gaskets seal out weather in the in and out positions and squeegee water off the exterior as the structure slides in for travel. I could see and touch the wedge-shaped sill plate that the flush-floor structure slides on. It's an extremely tough plastic that seems as friction-free as if it were oiled.

The slideout mechanism is a rack-and-pinion electric system that takes up less space than a hydraulic and is very reliable.

TESTED

Holiday Rambler is smart enough to inspect and test their trailers at every station along the line, but units also get the white-glove treatment as they're completed. Units are periodically rain-bath tested for leaks.

YOU SHOULD GO

If you want to see how some of the finest mobile living quarters in the world are made, let me strongly suggest that you come to Elkhart and look up Stephanie Emmons. Stephanie gives tours at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm Monday through Friday. The tour takes an hour to an hour and a half. And it's time well spent.

The plant is at 1722 West Mishawaka Road, just off Nappanee Street (State Road 19) on the southwest edge of town. If you want to call ahead, dial (219) 295-8060. Tell Stephanie I sent you.

Dave Bessmer is a freelance writer living in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has spent the better part of the last 25 years in or hanging around the RV business as a publisher's representative, an RV manufacturer's representative and an advertising and public relations writer and executive. He loves fishing, and combines all three in a yearly RV trip.