Vantare Slide Cutout Structure Reinforcement

[travelite]

CC_Guy,

In the 40' Marathon thread you brought up the complexity of reinforcing the Prevost structure for aftermarket slide-out installation. A while back I did some FEA modeling of the Wanderlodge chassis in anticipation of a user installed slide. The Wanderlodge chassis has a substantial c-channel backbone which provides a great platform for slide installation. Still, design these days tends to be driven by deflection criteria as opposed to building to stress - this leads to good fit and finish and rattle free performance. The point is a Wanderlodge chassis is probably strong enough to support the slide given it's central c-channel backbone, but to keep the basement doors from falling open and the slide from leaking due to excessive flexing, a deflection based design criteria is the way to go. I don't know if the same can be said about the Prevost chassis because it's much more of a spaceframe then a central c-channel design. I imagine analysis would show that reinforcing the slide cutout is even more important in the Prevost chassis. I was initially scared of Vantare slides because they're not designed by Prevost. Seeing in person what Vantare did to reinforce the structure allayed my fears. Below is just a glimpse of the structural beams Vantare added. The Vantare beam under the salon slide is 20 inches tall with 4"x4" upper and lower chords and 2"x4" diagonal webbing. The same treatment is given to the Stateroom slide cutout. The two beams run under the slide cutouts and are joined to the Prevost chassis with 1" thick plate steel. The advantage of the H chassis is that beams of this dimension can be used while not taking away from basement storage or access. There's no doubt in my mind that Featherlite drew upon their extensive trailer building experience when making these Prevost chassis mods; the welds are excellent with good penetration: