Changing out heavy steel flatbed for aluminum

[pappawheely]

Swiss cheeze the frame.

 

[dwh]

The garage also has a floor. It is made similar to the camper (2x1 steel tube spaced on 16 inch center with 2 inches of polyiso foam then 3/4" marine plywood screwed on top. Very strong. Both the camper and the garage pod easily support themselves on three jacks while staying level, meaning the floor does not flex much.

Which is why expanded metal would work. The idea that it's gonna sag between crossbraces might be true if you were putting point loads on it, but you aren't. What's the PSI? I.e., weight of camper or garage divided by square inches?

I'm not fighting the good fight for expanded metal, just taking pot shots at what looks to me like a false idea. Aluminum planks would be very sexy and probably more useful for using the bad without the boxes on it, but for just carrying the camper, I don't think it's got any advantage over expanded metal - which could be welded to the existing bed frame for increased stiffness.

 

[Jfet]

Yes, you may be right but for the same weight (expanded metal about 250 pounds, aluminum plank about 300 pounds) the aluminum planks would be sexier. Either would work (or nothing at all) for our camper and garage.

We test fit the welded up 7'x7' ramp door today and installed five aluminum hinges. Looks like it is going to work awesome. You can see some of the garage floor structure in this picture.

 

[LeishaShannon]

A few things we did to reduce weight to under 4.5t (10000lbs) that might help a little:

Replaced steel air filter / mount with a plastic donaldson with air ram - 18kg
Replaced exhaust with shorter lighter one - ~35kg
Replaced lead acid truck batteries with lithium - 30kg
17.5" alloy singles instead of 19" steel - ~160kg (these are only rated at 5070lbs so might not be suitable for your truck)