A213HW / T21TBHW Bed Framing?

[Brimare57]

Hello fellow campers,

I am poised to order an A213HW or T21TBHW. I've noticed that the twin bed framing is made from wood 2x2's. Other Forest River units, such as the Rockwood Mini Light, have aluminum for the bed framing. Has anyone had any issues with the A-Frame construction?

Thank you in advance

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by Brimare57

...I've noticed that the twin bed framing is made from wood 2x2's. Other Forest River units, such as the Rockwood Mini Light, have aluminum for the bed framing. Has anyone had any issues with the A-Frame construction?

Aside from the screws which miss the piece of wood they are going into? Aside from the extra screws and sawdust at the bottom of each compartment? Aside from the total lack of effort to use correct color wiring or make decent connections in the wire nuts?

No issues at all.

The thing I do like about the wood framing is that I can improve/fix/strengthen it where needed with just normal tools. I've redone the hinges on my dinette seat (the plastic ones ripped apart) and added a lift mechanism to hold it open.

Aluminum framing may or may not be any better. How many cheap aluminum frame chairs and other stuff have you seen fall apart because rivets break or pull out?

On my old Coleman pop-up, the drawers and drawer latches fell apart. Again, that was reasonably easy to rebuild the press board and plastic with more substantial stuff.

Sad reality is that for the most part, parts are the cheapest, minimum strength that could be gotten by with and still have the unit arrive intact at the dealer. And the parts are assembled just as quickly as possible with no quality check that I can see. Where this shows most is in the cabinetry and the wiring and plumbing.

The frames are manufactured by a subtier and are delivered in one piece. The side and roof panels also seem to be made fairly well (there are reported exceptions). The appliances are installed at the Rockwood/Flagstaff factory, but come intact from the supplier.

just my thoughts and experiences, yours may differ
Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan

[Pooneil]

One of the things to remember is that those light aluminum trailers cost a lot more than the standard build models. Wood really is a good material to minimise both weight and cost. I also agree with Fred that one real advantage of the wood is that it's easy to repair the sloppy workmanship. I still find misinstalled screws from time to time and can shore up spots in the framing that aren't quite strong enough. But what would I do with a cracked aluminum weld.