Rant: is it possible to ever take off a piece of skin and just do what you originally intended? As you can see, the scope of this fix has expanded to fit the time available...
Here's the scoop on the hidden spare tire area. Sorry about the quality of the photo, but the reflection this morning is blinding the camera, too. Oooh, but the shine...
OK, I've done a quick frame drawing and tried to provide some visual sense of this with the photo. Yes, Virginia, there is an alcove between the forward frame and tongue channels ,which is prepped for a tire alcove. The top of this area, up against the floor, is protected by a sheet of what appears to be 1/16" plastic that has a layer of fiberglass between it and the floor. All this is squeezed by the frame members, so although it's smooth, it's something of a slight dome, thicker out in the center and squeezed to practically zero as it goes between the frame and the floor. Very compromised as far as insulating qualities, to be sure. As a matter of fact, the entire front end seems very compromised as far as insulation goes.
In the outboard compartments there was the standard stapled fiberglass, which I'll replace with solide foam. The fiberglass was in pretty good condition, except in one compartment, where it has fallen.
There was a mouse house in that dark triangular area. The only path I could discern for a mouse getting in there was through the frame from the rear. It had accumulated a hoard of candy, bird feed (from a PO), yellow fiberglass (Airstream uses red, so I need to find where the heck I've used yellow!) and a ton of those little blue DeCon poison rods. A ton. No skin or bones of mouse were found. I think I'll plug up the frame channel when I put the insulation in.
Note the threaded nuts in the cross member. I believe they're for installing the spare tire trapeze. BTW, the circle in the drawing is 30" in diameter, about 1/2" wider than the tires I'm using.
