Another Bent Bed-Bow Support?!

[darkstar]

For the second time in as many months, we had some light-to-medium winds, about 10 to 20 mph which resulted in the bed-bow support (shepherd's hook) being bent and it's now unusable.  The first time, I was willing to chalk it up to the possiblity that I may have helped bend it myself while putting it in its bracket, but we have been very careful with the replacement support that we bought.  When we pop up, I'm careful to put the pressure on the straight part behind the hook.  The trailer is an '03 Coleman/Fleetwood, and I believe the supports  are made of aluminum.  We are really upset about this because we really can't take the pop-up anywhere as long as it appears that the support will fail in even a modest wind.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  We are not the original owners, so I don't know if I should email the company or not.  Has anyone ever tried to buttress the support by welding a brace to the hook?  Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated...Brady

[wavery]

For the second time in as many months, we had some light-to-medium winds, about 10 to 20 mph which resulted in the bed-bow support (shepherd's hook) being bent and it's now unusable.  The first time, I was willing to chalk it up to the possiblity that I may have helped bend it myself while putting it in its bracket, but we have been very careful with the replacement support that we bought.  When we pop up, I'm careful to put the pressure on the straight part behind the hook.  The trailer is an '03 Coleman/Fleetwood, and I believe the supports  are made of aluminum.  We are really upset about this because we really can't take the pop-up anywhere as long as it appears that the support will fail in even a modest wind.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  We are not the original owners, so I don't know if I should email the company or not.  Has anyone ever tried to buttress the support by welding a brace to the hook?  Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated...Brady

Mine bent in some extremely strong winds, last year.

I went to Home Depot and purchased a 10' length of electrical conduit pipe. If I remember correctly, it was 3/4". My son-in-law has a pipe bender but you can buy one at Home Depot for about $12. It seems to bend hard at first but once you get the hang of it, it's easy.

I bent the pipe to the exact configuration of my good brace. I then cut the conduit as short as I could, about 4" past the bends (for weight). I cut the straight pieces of the damaged brace off far enough so that I could put them 4" up inside the bent tubing. I drilled through the 2 pieces with a 3/16" drill and pop-riveted the parts together.

You can actually make 2 new braces out of one 10' piece of conduit.

My intention was to paint them white but I just haven't gotten around to it. They work and look great. They are 10 times stronger than the original.

If I get a chance tomorrow, I will go down and take a picture of one so that you can see what I mean.

[tlhdoc]

Was it the same bed bow that bent the first time?  If it is, it may be covered by a one year warranty.  Make sure the new pole you get is steel.  I am still surprised that the poles are bending.  I had to replace one pole several years ago.  We often camp in the wind and haven't had a problem again.  Good luck with the fix/replacement of the pole.

[beacher]

.....They work and look great. They are 10 times stronger than the original..

The only problem with that is that you removed the intended "safety" feature of your PU.  A highly skilled Fleetwood engineer once sat at his desk for untold hours calculating wind shear forces into the design of your PU. :compumad:  Based on the aerodynamic forces caused by the conestoga ends and airfoil-like top, the shepards poles were designed to fail at the precise moment to prevent llift to the bunk ends. :yikes:  Now you went and modified the support structure to the airfoil!  Next strong wind, your entire bunk ends should flap up like wings and snap right off!  

I digress.  I sat here picturing this in my head and doodling exploding PopUps.:p

Seriously, when a PU is caught in a strong wind gust at Thornehill Broome, the conduit reinforcement sounds like a really good idea!

[wavery]

The only problem with that is that you removed the intended "safety" feature of your PU.  A highly skilled Fleetwood engineer once sat at his desk for untold hours calculating wind shear forces into the design of your PU. :compumad:  Based on the aerodynamic forces caused by the conestoga ends and airfoil-like top, the shepards poles were designed to fail at the precise moment to prevent llift to the bunk ends. :yikes:  Now you went and modified the support structure to the airfoil!  Next strong wind, your entire bunk ends should flap up like wings and snap right off!  

I digress.  I sat here picturing this in my head and doodling exploding PopUps.:p

Seriously, when a PU is caught in a strong wind gust at Thornehill Broome, the conduit reinforcement sounds like a really good idea!

Geez :eyecrazy: ................your imagination is as bad as mine :J

All kidding aside, I actually considered that the brace may have been designed as a fail safe. I considered it for about 2 minutes :p  but I did consider it.

If the stock brace fails in a strong wind, the tent area loses all of it structure. It then acts more like a sail then a wall. The stiff tent sides will deflect the wind. However, when the stiffness is lost, it collects the wind.

The weakest point in the conduit brace is now the long straight piece (which is the original aluminum extrusion. What has me concerned about that is, if that fails in a strong wind, it will bend in half and could act as a sword and assail the person in the bunk. We have decided that if things get so bad that I think the brace will break, we will retire to the dinette for the night  or maybe even the TV.

[Manchesterjim]

We have decided that if things get so bad that I think the brace will break, we will retire to the dinette for the night or maybe even the TV.

Now if its up to me.......our GUESTS would get the bunk with the higher probability of scewering......!  :p
 
Good thing I don't have the entire say-so!
 
Jim

[wavery]

Darkstar,

As I promised (some time ago), here is a picture of the brace that I fabricated. The one on top is the fabricated brace. The one below is an original.

Cut the (damaged) original on the lines, insert them into the bent conduit and pop rivet it.

[darkstar]

After explaining the situation with my two bent ploes to Fleetwood tech support, they have agreed to send me two new poles at no cost.  Only one will be the newer steel, as they do not make the same size  front bed anymore that matches my Carmel.  The poles are supposed to be here in about a week.  We're keeping our fingers crossed because we're planning a trip around June 8th.  I will probably do the modifications that are described  here, so thanks for all the info!