Quality Prodution Spring 2002 Rexhall Industires, Inc. Newsletter Greetings and Happy New Year from the Engineering Department here at Rexhall Industries. This quarter’s newsletter is, like some of you, heading out in a different direction. I’ve been asked to discuss from an engineer’s point of view what makes the Rexhall difference. I’ll be honest; my first reaction was…You’ve got to be kidding!! I know our product, but I try to stay away from the others. My next thought was, “O.K., Rod. Think about it. What do we offer that makes us different?” What makes a Rexhall motorhome unique? What makes Rexhall a better “Bang for your Buck?” For me, that’s easy. The hard part is relating my thoughts in a way that anyone can understand them. I found that the most difficult part of this was going to be: how do I tell you that we build the BEST Motorhome in it’s class? That no matter what you’re told by some salesman about how good another motorhome might be, we really do have them beat? Let’s start with the top and work our way down and around. For those of you who haven’t noticed, our roof is a single piece of gel coated fiberglass. The fiberglass is 3/16” thick. As I said folks…it’s one piece. No seams mean a much lower chance of leaks. It runs from the front cap to the rear and is double sealed on with a “Polybutyl” tape. This provides a flexible watertight seal. We don’t do this just once, we use it twice. First, between the actual roof/side walls and the front or rear cap. We then screw the caps into place at 6-inch intervals. Next, a molding is installed that has polybutyl tape inserted in it. The molding is applied to space out between the existing screws. We rivet this in place at 6-inch intervals. What this means is that the seams on our coach are attached every 3 inches. Finally, all seams are filled with silicon. This creates an airtight joint that just won’t leak. But, I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s get back to the roof. As you probably noticed, our roofs are bowed. That’s because we use a “C” channel type construction. All of our roofs are vacuum-sealed. The process is simple. The molded roof (we make it here) is placed in a vacuum form. Next, it’s shot with glue and ¼” rigid foam is installed. The prefabricated roof steel is placed in position next with appropiate foam inserted before the ¼” luan (Plywood) is installed and attached to the steel. Once everything is secured the luan is once again shot with glue and the ceiling fabric is installed. The whole unit is sealed and the vacuum is turned on. Approx. 90 minutes later it’s opened up and a solid roof structure removed. You ask how much weight it will hold? I don’t have exact numbers, but we’ve built coaches used by police and military units that use the roof as observation posts. In my opinion, that would be pretty strong. Now, a lot of motorhomes are built using rubber membrane roofs. They are lightweight and are declared by some to be maintenance free. I had a discussion with a salesman about this. He said, “Yeah, they’re nice until you back up under a tree”. When I asked him what he meant by that, he told me about an experience he had with a tree branch and a rubber roof. It went something like this. “I backed up and settled in for the night under this really great pine tree by Bridgeport, CA. About 2 a.m. it started to rain. I got soaked and couldn’t figure out why. Needless to say I went outside and climbed up on the roof. I found a pretty good rip in the roof where a branch had poked through”. While I can’t guarantee that you can’t put a hole in a fiberglass roof this way, the chances are real slim. As I said earlier, our roofs have a steel substructure. The fact is, our whole coach has a steel structure. Roof, side walls, floor, it’s all the same. We use a minimum of 18 gauge tubular steel in our construction. We weld the floor structure directly to the chassis then weld the sidewall with a stitch weld to the floor. The roof is attached to the sidewalls. It’s like a welded cage. We don’t use bolts anywhere in our steel substructure. Now, some of you might ask why not? It’s simple. The welded cage is superior. Even hardened bolts can sheer. A continuous weld is stronger and safer. Hence the welded cage. There are other reasons I prefer a Rexhall. We take time, and strive to ensure a solid coach is built that will last. Our Quality Assurance Team runs each and every coach through an exhaustive set of testing to ensure our quality. All slide out units are thoroughly water tested with approximately 30 minutes of “Rain”. The slides are extended and retracted a number of times to make sure the seals work and keep water out. The electrical, LP and water systems are tested repetitively to ensure that as coach owners, you won’t have trouble with them. We have a PDI Team here at Rexhall. PDI stands for Product Development and Improvement. We meet on a weekly basis to discuss new ideas and changes that can improve our units. We strive continuously to improve our coaches so you, the owners, get the most “Bang for your Buck”. Lastly, we have a Warranty team that will go out of its way to help you. Am I proud of Rexhall coaches? You bet. Are you looking for the best? Take a real close look at us. I think you will find the answer. If you have any questions that I can help you with, feel free to contact me at rodj@rexhall.com. Rod Jones Engineering Dept. Click to return to:  REXHALL TECH TALK HOME Click to return to: TECH TIP HOME Click to return to:  HOME PAGE