JACOB VISIT'S "THOR INDUSTRIES"
Last month I visited Thor Industries, I learned a lot of what they put into there motorhome, thats a whole lot more advanced from earlier motorhomes that were built in the industry.
Chassis
What I learned while I was there was quite interesting. Starting with there hired graduate engineers that use a CAD (computer aided drafting) system to design there motorhomes. Then the Ford Chassis apparently aren't perfectly straight coming from the factory. So there sent to a huge machine shop outfit called Moryde. Almost all the medal used for the coach is laser cut.Then they build a camber rail system under the chassis rails to support the vertical rails that support the hovering horizontal floor supports going across the chassis about every 24 " so that the floor substate never touches the chassis which almost eliminates vibrations coming from the chassis to the floor of the motorhome.Then
there are neopreme spacers between the floor supports and the substrate.
When they extend the chassis on longer class c motorhomes they extend it near the cab so the extension isn't weakend near the back of the coach where all your cargo and tow weight is cause the bulk of your weight is in the center and the rear for towing. Then the drive shaft that comes from Ford is modified to eliminate multiple universal joints to having 2 that go straight to the drive train. Then its spun at 3000 rpms to straighten and eliminate vibration.
Next they use 8ft by 24ft marine treated subfloor instead running 4x8 boards across the chassis its one big board or two on larger models with only one seem near the rear of the coach. So there's your foundation! not bad hugh!
Walls
The walls are made with tubular aluminum with medal backer to hold there cabinets.Then a high density foam is used in-between all of the wall frame which is literally really hard to break. (they produce all there own high density foam themselves and sell what they don't use to the other manufacturers. Then the wall gets a fiberglass backer which is vacuum bonded to another fiberglass, backer using high strength resins.
Roof
The roof has a TPO roof (Thermoplastic Polyolefin.TPO is a blend of polypropylene and ethylene-propylene rubber. While TPO can be manufactured in colors, the most obvious choice for the TPO membrane is white. It offers a reflective quality rarely found in roof systems, reflecting close to 87% of the sun's damaging UV rays OFF the roof. The roof membrane stays close to ambient air temperature, which means heat is NOT absorbed in the roof membrane and transmitted into the interior of the building. If your facility is air conditioned, it lightens the load put on air conditioning units and reduces air conditioning costs.Its used on all your new industrial buildings, its used on the Walmarts, Stadiums and has up to a 35yr life span, Thor Industries offers an 11yr Warranty on theres. The nice thing about it is it can adjust to various weather conditions and is easily repairable.
Cabinets
They just opened a new facility which is a cabinet wood factory. Thor is now building real wood cabinets in all there motorhomes. I found it interesting that a bulk of there wood working labor is done by the Omish.I learned that they use OSB (oriented strand board)in the middle of the hardwood face. Its used as the boarder for the doors and cabinets with rubberlike little ball bearings in between the connecting joints to prevent the cabinets from ever cracking and to ensure long life longevity of the wood. Then the finished product goes through a 10-12 stage finishing process in which the wood is hand sanded with air sanders by the Omish and spray stained, and wiped in a well ventilated down draft staining building.Then they even go to the extent of hand staining with a brush inside the grooves to give it there unique look. And then it is sealed.
