Tekmodo announced the addition of seamless composite sidewall panels to its established portfolio of thermoplastic composite solutions for recreational vehicles. Together with Tekmodo’s composite one-piece roof and flooring systems, the new one-piece sidewall capability creates a complete floor-to-roof offering for RV manufacturers, the company said in a release.
Tekmodo’s one-piece composite roofs are already in high-volume production, and its one-piece composite flooring solutions have been used in RV manufacturing for years. Adding sidewalls gives manufacturers a single partner for transitioning more of the vehicle envelope to a one-piece engineered composite panel.
Wood has been an RV industry standard for decades, but its limitations are well established, Tekmodo said. Wood-based materials absorb moisture and can swell, rot and lose integrity over time. Tekmodo’s thermoplastic composite panels are hydrophobic and impervious to moisture. They will not absorb water, rot, mold or corrode, providing a more durable material platform for RV floors, walls and roofs.
“Wood is still widely used because it is familiar, not because it is the best material for an RV,” said Kevin Rudolph, vice president of sales at Tekmodo. “The industry knows what happens when wood meets water. By adding one-piece composite sidewalls to our proven roof and flooring solutions, Tekmodo can now help manufacturers move beyond wood across the entire vehicle envelope.”
Tekmodo’s wide-format lamination capabilities can produce continuous floors, walls and roof panels up to 120 inches wide and 50 feet long. This allows us to supply a single factory-bonded panel without seams to the specific panel size required by the OEM. In comparative testing, the Tekmodo composite roof panel was approximately 28% lighter than 9mm plywood while delivering approximately 34% higher machine-direction flexural strength.
Tekmodo’s RV composite panel offering includes:
- One-Piece Composite Roof Systems: Large-format roof panels designed to reduce installation steps and eliminate seams between roof deck sections
- One-Piece Composite Sidewall Panels: Full-height, wide-format panels that eliminate joints while providing consistent stiffness and moisture resistance
- One-Piece Composite Flooring: Structural flooring proven through years of RV production and engineered to resist moisture, flex and point-load deflection
Panels can be engineered to manufacturer requirements, the company said. Tekmodo supports customers from development and prototyping through testing, production trials and full-scale manufacturing, backed by vertically integrated extrusion, lamination and fabrication capabilities.
Tekmodo is now accepting new OEM composite panel programs. RV and trailer manufacturers can request samples, test data, pricing or a production trial by contacting Kevin Rudolph at [email protected] or 574-970-5800, or by visiting tekmodo.com.
