David's on the slide
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bodybuilder, There are no bottom tracks on the design, called Slidex, which the company says makes jamming or the build-up of debris unlikely. Additionally, any slight bowing of the floor under load doesn't affect the sliding action.
Operational trials which lasted a year have been completed and the design in now being marketed.
Lawrence David says that the double sliding doors are inherently rigid, being a laminate of reinforced plastic and plywood.
At the same time, they are thin enough to allow a 2.41m (7ft 11 in) interior width within a maximum of 2.5m (8ft 2.5in) overall.
The doors slide past each other and are located at the bottom by guide lips_ At the top the doors hang on rollers which have unusually large spindles with plastic tyres revolving on them.
According to Lawrence David, this results in an increased bearing area and the sliding action is frictiondamped.
The Slidex design allows access to half of the body at a time but for lengths over 7.9m (26ft) a centre pillar is required, to give extra roof support.
Although the Slidex body is steel-framed, it is lighter than most sliding siders, claims Lawrence David. The company believes that a 7.3m (24ft) body is around 254kg (.25 ton) lighter than a conventional design