Thread: Hardwood slats / T&G for caravan lining?

you could cut your own tongue & groove -- slot cutting router bits come as thin as 1/16", but 2.4 or 3.2mm might be more durable from the perspective of tool life.
your wood processing setup would need to be precise, and finishing the T&G in place might be near impossible

another option is butt join the slats and stiffened the rear with vertical slats

but I think your best bet would be to prefinished floating flooring or make your own
glue 2-3mm thick slats of your preferred hardwood species to sheets of 5mm ply and send the lot through a wide drum sander to bring the face veener thickness down to just over 1mm

I'm guessing that custom veneering would exceed your budget.

attaching?
personally I think the flexing a carvan goes through requies srews or rivets

rather than a tongue and groove edge joint you could use a shiplap joint, with a, say, 2.5 mm rabbet on a 5 mm dressed board

some of that prefinished flooring can look ok

Gloss Lining Boards | Glosswood

made from Paulownia, which super light & these are pre finished

Originally Posted by Gaza

Gloss Lining Boards | Glosswood

made from Paulownia, which super light & these are pre finished

Great find, thanks Gaza. At 260-290Kg/m3 that is a third of the weight of most hardwoods. Even at 10mm thick it would still be half the weight of a 6mm hardwood. Looks like I could 'secret screw' it to the steel ribs with small self-tappers too.

I've spoken to my local Bowens and it isn't cheap, around $70 per square metre for the 90mm boards and $80/sm for the 150mm boards. They also have unfinished 150mm boards available at a little over $50 per square metre. Just need to decide which way I want to go.

Thanks for all the other suggestions too, there are some ideas there I hadn't considered. If the Glosswood doesn't pan out I will probablly be looking at processing something myself so I'll bear them in mind.

Thanks again,
DD

What about 4mm vee jointed plywood?

Originally Posted by Dusty Dave

Great find, thanks Gaza. At 260-290Kg/m3 that is a third of the weight of most hardwoods. Even at 10mm thick it would still be half the weight of a 6mm hardwood. Looks like I could 'secret screw' it to the steel ribs with small self-tappers too.

I've spoken to my local Bowens and it isn't cheap, around $70 per square metre for the 90mm boards and $80/sm for the 150mm boards. They also have unfinished 150mm boards available at a little over $50 per square metre. Just need to decide which way I want to go.

Thanks for all the other suggestions too, there are some ideas there I hadn't considered. If the Glosswood doesn't pan out I will probablly be looking at processing something myself so I'll bear them in mind.

Thanks again,
DD

Check the INTERNET for straight Paulownia suppliers. it's possible to buy 10 x 150 mm or 16 x 150 mm RS for about half the price. The Glosswood boards are competitive given there finished but you can save money if your prepared to finish them yourself.

Whitewood

Didn't they line old boats with cedar? I have seen really thin T&G boards. It would be lighter than hard wood too!

Originally Posted by Dusty Dave

Hi everyone, I am working on a 'show' caravan and I'd like to line the walls and ceiling with hardwood - preferably aligned longitudinally. The caravan will not be fitted out internally as it will be a multi-purpose mobile space.

I need to minimise weight but maximise the integrity and quality feel of the lining. Separate, thin slats will obviously have a tendency to flex and gape, but tongue-and-groove will likely be too heavy unless I can find something really thin. I reckon anything over 6mm will get me into trouble with weight, and less would be much better.

The internal length is around 4.5m although things like windows and roof hatches will interrupt many of the courses, so I can probably get away with shorter lengths and a few carefully placed butt joins. I did consider using a sheet product but I haven't found anything suitable (I definitely do not want fake grain melamine!) and it will still leave the problem of butt joins, unless the product is so good that I decide to compromise and go with a vertical alignment instead. Obviously a sheet would provide a lot more strength in less weight which is attractive.

There are steel ribs every couple of feet or so that I plan to attach to using a suitable adhesive, so as well as suggestions on a lining material I could also use some pointers to an appropriate adhesive that will not be overly destructive to take apart in the future if required (for repairs etc).

I'd really appreciate any suggestions as I've hit a bit of a brick wall on this!

Cheers,
DD

No fitout at all? Caravans are built to be as light as possible, so the exterior frame and cladding on its own is not all that strong. All the cupboards, benchs and full length overheads in vans (especially the older ones) form a structural part to stiffen and brace the them.