Vinyl Siding Durability on New FWCampers

[camsf]

I have a 2011 Eagle with standard aluminum siding and have spent 4 years rolling into dense woods and some pretty burly NFS roads. Been thinking about a Fleet upgrade for awhile and happened to call the Woodland shop today to see if they had a demo on floor I could take a look at. They had one and it happens that they just decided to sell it....so I went down and ended up buying it.

Point is this new unit has vinyl siding in a light grey finish. I'm concerned about scratches as I do tend to go into some narrow places. Anyone have feedback on the vinyl siding durability? Wondering if I should consider getting it wrapped (seems like an extreme thing to do though).

 

[DavidGraves]

Howdy

I had no idea FWC had adopted Vinyl siding........

I guess I can say it is lightweight and has many years use in residential applications so things like UV wear etc should be designed in.

Is it Aprils Fools day ?

David Graves

 

[camsf]

Vinyl siding vs Aluminum in most settings looks always to be much better. However an off road application has unique challenges. I'm wondering from current owners if they have had issue with scratches in their siding from dense forest trips. My truck doors have certainly taken a beating at times and those surface scratches have mostly buffed out. No worries on the aluminum siding but have to think the vinyl is a whole other matter....and cant imagine you are buffing out scratches on that type of material.

 

[JWL]

Are you thinking of the “Smooth” siding? Everything thatI have checked is still aluminum.

 

[Wallowa]

https://fourwheelcampers.com/video/camper-siding/

"light Grey" you mentioned is called "Silver" by FWC and is aluminum...all campers are either aluminum [ most models] or newer is fiberglass over 1/8" wood sheets...no vinyl ....at least this article does not mention any...plus disadvantages of fiberglass are spelled out in this video...

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

It is not vinyl siding.

Just smooth aluminum siding.

 

[camsf]

Aha thanks Stan. I thought it was vinyl. Makes sense.

 

[bsharp007]

I wonder why they went from the smooth fiberglass to aluminum?

 

[Wallowa]

I wonder why they went from the smooth fiberglass to aluminum?

Viewing the article in #5 above, which lists the shortcomings of fiberglass...aluminum makes more sense for off road use, which is the FWC niche...

 

[camsf]

I guess regardless of the material used that my question still stands as seen in the attached photo (of a Swift for sale elsewhere on WTW). This hasn't happened on my old school 2011 Eagle with the old aluminum siding. I'm guessing that I'd just need to be much more careful in tight woods than with my old rig.

 

[Wallowa]

I guess regardless of the material used that my question still stands as seen in the attached photo (of a Swift for sale elsewhere on WTW). This hasn't happened on my old school 2011 Eagle with the old aluminum siding. I'm guessing that I'd just need to be much more careful in tight woods than with my old rig.

What exactly was the question? Not vinyl...as for photo of scratches on Swift...two observations: First black anything on exterior will show dirt/scratches more that standard white, as in FWC aluminum siding. Our '16 Hawk [std FWC white aluminum siding] has been dragged through a lot of brush and limbs [Note: Don't challenge foliage of a Utah juniper, very stout!] and yes there are some scratches on our Hawk but none that standout....like I assume on your '11 Eagle; some scratches but not really that noticeable...think of them as combat ribbons!

 

[JWL]

My Corrugated (I guess that’s what you call it) aluminum Hawk does not have scratches, but my Tundra does! When I bought my Hawk I really liked the smooth, my dealer said it will show scratches. Living inTexas and Mesquite country I went with the standard. It’s still looking good.

 

[Bwht4x4]

I have a 2013 Hawk with the Fiberglass siding and I love it! Looks great still to this day. I use it almost exclusively for hunting trips and it has held up really well. Personally I can't stand the look of the corrugated aluminum siding and I'm glad there was another option back in 2013.