Tiny pin holes over bunk canvas

[tlhdoc]

Mike Coleman didn't use Sunbrella on their old PUs.  It is a newer material.  As I said earlier on maybe the Sunbrella had a product applied to it that wasn't supposed to and the roof of the bunkends on Coleman/Fleetwood PUs is not Sunbrella.  It is vinyl.  
 
PS: We also get lake affect weather changes and temperature changes like you get

[Shredder]

Have no way of proving what I'm about to say, it's just some camp talk with other popup owners but I've taken note of it ...

Awhile back we made one of our fall fishing trips to northern Michigan and camped in a litttle remote NFS camp site with some other popup owners. It was a beautiful site, large white and norway pines just towering over us and the wind making the most beautiful sound blowing through those trees. Everyone there covered their bunk ends with those plastic tarps and convinced me to do the same. Not only did the tarps provide a little extra insulation but offered some protection to the top of the bunk ends from the pine needles. They say the pine needle acts much like a parahute in that when they break loose from the tree and fall, it's the jagged end down and the fluffy side up. They calaimed it would lead to pin holes in roof of the bunk ends.  I've not bothered to prove that one way or another, I just simply have covered mine ever since!



Fly

I live in Northern Mi, and actually where I'm now sitting, can look out my window and see those white and norway pines. And we camp under them quite a bit, next to trout streams. Me thinks your fellow campers were fibbing. The pine needles will not put holes in your tenting. The tree's sap will present a much more difficult time than the needles, and probably explains the tarps......Shredder

[wavery]

The sunbrella was stiff and the fabric was cracking/ripping, at the memory folds. I've seen this on a lot of old Colemans selling at the local dealer and my friends.
 
The Sunbrella isn't moist or fabric like, it is hard and coarse where the fabric cracks or rips. It's especially prevailant on corners, as where the bunkend tarps wrap under the bunkends. ....................................
 
While the Sunbrella did look brittle, dry, and stiff on my friends, it was definitely never left out in the blazing sun unless they were camping or hunting. It was always put down for storage.
 
Now if you never seen that damage, great, I have in several cases. Just enjoy what you have and be happy it wasn't you having this.
 
Have a good one.

Mike,

I'm not trying to argue or belabor the point here but a lot of people read these threads and I think this issue could be helpful to some.

I think that we may have mis-understood what you were referring to as "Cracking". It may well be "Ripping" as you stated in your post.

Any material will "rip" if enough stress is put on it (Mylar and some other high-tech materials would be an exception). Corner ripping is very common on PUs and it is from over-stressing the material by improper set-up. Usually it is from installing the corners on the bunk-platform before lifting the canvas from the inside or some other mechanical problem (like forgetting to install the bunk supports). It's not necessarily a failure of the fabric.

The corners of the bunk-end canvas should be pulled over the corners of the platform after installing the supports and lifting the bunk-end canvas to avoid over-stressing the corners or other areas.

[Mike Up]

Mike,
 
I'm not trying to argue or belabor the point here but a lot of people read these threads and I think this issue could be helpful to some.
 
I think that we may have mis-understood what you were referring to as "Cracking". It may well be "Ripping" as you stated in your post.
 
Any material will "rip" if enough stress is put on it (Mylar and some other high-tech materials would be an exception). Corner ripping is very common on PUs and it is from over-stressing the material by improper set-up. Usually it is from installing the corners on the bunk-platform before lifting the canvas from the inside or some other mechanical problem (like forgetting to install the bunk supports). It's not necessarily a failure of the fabric.
 
The corners of the bunk-end canvas should be pulled over the corners of the platform after installing the supports and lifting the bunk-end canvas to avoid over-stressing the corners or other areas.

This is the corner where the tarp on the Coleman was ripped. Since it was so hard and brittle, I called it cracking because a rip starts at an edge where holes were forming on these from the material just cracking from being brittle. In places, a rip did start on an edge but in others, it did not. Here the flaps that fold under and contain the bungy cord had a corner in the material where it folded under the bunkend. At that corner in the material, it was coming apart. There were really no forces pulling on it except the same bungy force that pull on all camper models.
 
Have a good one.
 

[wavery]

This is the corner where the tarp on the Coleman was ripped. Since it was so hard and brittle, I called it cracking because a rip starts at an edge where holes were forming on these from the material just cracking from being brittle. In places, a rip did start on an edge but in others, it did not. Here the flaps that fold under and contain the bungy cord had a corner in the material where it folded under the bunkend. At that corner in the material, it was coming apart. There were really no forces pulling on it except the same bungy force that pull on all camper models.
 
Have a good one.
 

That blue material is not Sunbrella. That looks like a plastic or PVC coated nylon or something? The other (grey) material looks like Sunbrella.

[Mike Up]

That blue material is not Sunbrella. That looks like a plastic or PVC coated nylon or something? The other (grey) material looks like Sunbrella.

This is my camper, not a fleetwood or coleman. I only posted my camper as a point of reference, to show the location of the failed Sunbrella along with the descriptive text to further explain.
 
I don't know how your monitor is calibrated but the tarp is blue and white. It's Aqualon, which is Sunbrella's direct competitor in the marine industry also.
 
Have a good one.

[beacher]

.....There were really no forces pulling on it except the same bungy force that pull on all camper models....

Ahh, bungy force!  That wasn't covered in either Statics, nor Dynamics classes in college!


Hmmmm....How do you show bungy force on a free body diagram?