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wacnstac · 04-05-2006, 07:40 AM

Ok, I want to do this with as little hassle as possible. The trailer I bought has obviously had some leaks for some time. There is a dry rotted hole right through the floor underneath the lh side gaucho pad that goes right up to the side of the trailer. How to fix this? I'd prefer to shop vac out the rotted wood/insulation under this shore up the belly pan and work from above. But I've started reading posts here and it looks like if I must go to the edge (wall, which I must do) the floor actually is bolted in along there. Also will I be able to unscrew the large screws that are bolted to the frame that bridge the gap between the pieces of plywood? I'm looking to replace the full front or maybe half of the front piece of plywood.

wacnstac · 04-05-2006, 01:03 PM

I guess what I'm really worried about here is how to support the new piece that I would be putting in that is rotten. Is there any way to determine where the floor supports are ahead of time (so I don't hit them with a saw blade) and also could by body already be collapsing since presumably I have at least one section of wall where there is no wood? From what I've been reading the floor actually supports the walls. I'll try and take a picture tonight.

Holzarbeiter · 04-05-2006, 08:28 PM

I have not done the front section, only the rear.
Your front floor section you are looking to replace is about 3' wide, there are no crossmembers or longitudinal tubing in that section of frame. What I have learned is, that you are better of taking off the underbelly in that area, it is more work in the begining but should make your job easier in the long run. I also went ahead and removed the lower interior skins for better access to the floor channel.
Good luck and keep the faith, it is not that bad ones you get started

wacnstac · 04-06-2006, 05:48 AM

Actually it's not in the very front but under the left gaucho are and there is a crossmember there. I can feel it with my hand. I cant feel a floor channel there.

rebel beck · 04-06-2006, 06:12 AM

Look under balrgn and go to his site he has some pictures where he had to do this it may be some help it was for us. We ended up having to get a carpenter to finish ours. But we are not much do it yourself folks when it comes to carpenter work.

Becky

wacnstac · 04-06-2006, 07:38 AM

I can't find the Balrgn link to the pictures. Anybody have it handy?

Jim & Susan · 04-06-2006, 09:29 AM

Look him up under the member list above. He has a link under his member profile to a couple of different sites of his.

You can see how I did it here, it's a long thread, but you can look down thru there for the information you need:
http://www.airforums.com/forum...nte-15132.html

Jim

wacnstac · 04-06-2006, 09:10 PM

Here is where the floor is rotted out in the left hand front of my 31' International. I got the Gaucho out tonight. Looks like I could make some clean cuts with Sawzall and put a patch in. The C channel ends about where the floor really starts to get rotten. Could slip one end of the new wood into the C channel, use the support beam and then undo the belly a bit in the left front to screw the wood back into aluminum there (there is no C channel on the curve).

To me it seems like somehow water is getting into the C channel and had been running down it to this point for some time. The next big task, find the dam leak. It's a pretty good one where-ever it's coming from. I caulked the top of the blue trim that is rivited to the bottom surround of the trailer tonight. Somehow I don't think it will be that easy but it's a start. Was up on the roof for a while. Saw a couple of missing rivets that where a long way from the side that is leaking and put tape on the temporarily. The caulk around the refer vent doesn't seem to be the greatest, but honestly to really get in there I'd have to bust the rivets loose on the top surround which I'm kindof scared to do.

The weather sealing on the top is kindof a mixture of nice flexible gray stuff and some hard grainy feeling black stuff. I'll post some pictures of that tomorrow.

wacnstac · 04-06-2006, 09:29 PM

BTW I think the whole C channel is seeing leakage because I also see just a bit of dampness on the side of the wood under the twin bed on the same side of the coach.

ALSO, A QUESTION. WHERE EXACTLY IS THE GAS LINE THAT RUNS UNDER THIS SIDE OF THE COACH. ID HATE TO CUT IT.

wkerfoot · 04-06-2006, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wacnstac

BTW I think the whole C channel is seeing leakage because I also see just a bit of dampness on the side of the wood under the twin bed on the same side of the coach.

ALSO, A QUESTION. WHERE EXACTLY IS THE GAS LINE THAT RUNS UNDER THIS SIDE OF THE COACH. ID HATE TO CUT IT.

The gas line should run under the trailer, exposed, and then up to each appliance.

Bill

wacnstac · 04-06-2006, 09:43 PM

Actually on mine it follows the trailer tonge and enters under the belly on that side. And another question. It seems like I might have to take the leveling jack off in that corner to drop the belly. Is that hard to do? I'm afraid there's going to be rusted bolts that will want to snap.

Jim & Susan · 04-07-2006, 07:05 AM

I'd say you're right on track here, so far.

It is my understanding that the gas lines are required to be run on the outside of the trailer, by code. It seems a mystery why it would be in the belly pan. Maybe somebody on the forum with the same model trailer can comment on this.

I think you are finding the types of areas where leaks commonly occur, as well. In my trailer I had a leak around the running lights that ran down the wall and rotted the radius area just like this, but on the other side of the camper by the door. If this is the only area that has rot/damage, I would try to "piece in" a section of plywood, rather than replace that whole sheet of ply. You'll have to be the judge based upon what you find underneath the floor (i.e. frame rail and other floor support locations).

You are going to need to remove the "inner skin" or wall panel directly above the rot in order to properly fasten the new floor piece back in. Once you remove the panel, it will be clear how to fasten things back together. You will need to drill out the rivets holding that panel on. There are lots of threads on how to do this sort of rivet/inner skin removal and reinstallation. It's not terribly difficut, but is a bit time consuming.

Maybe somebody will have an idea how to do this without removing the wall panel. There are many very clever people here on the forum.

You are probably going to need to remove al least part of the belly pan in that area to do it correctly. Again, not difficult, by takes a little time. The good news (no, really) is that you will be able to take a look at the frame in that area and make sure the leak hasn't damaged the steel (i.e. rusted). That leak has been there a while, but the steel probably won't be too bad.
You'll also be able to reseal things in that area to prevent future leaks.

Again, somebody with more experience than I will surely offer a few more tips on this. Keep us posted.

Jim

wacnstac · 04-07-2006, 07:53 AM

I was thinking that I could save myself the trouble to taking off inner skins by taking the underbelly off in that corner and using sheet metal screws going upward to tap into the aluminum plate that the wood is hanging from. Should give it enough support as no-one will be standing there. I would then splice it into adjacent wood from underneath.

wacnstac · 04-07-2006, 10:08 AM

Any comments from the peanut gallery on screwing the patched piece of floor up from the bottom into the aluminum plate?

malconium · 04-07-2006, 10:52 AM

I think that attaching from the bottom is feasible but not necessarily the best way to do it. The aluminum channel is not all that thick. You might want to consider some sort of toggel bolt. Also if you were to detach the front part of the inner panel above the floor area you want to repair you could make the repair entirely from above without removing the belly pan if you wanted. You could use decking screws through the channel from above into the plywood. They probably would hold better than sheet metal screws into the aluminum channel. If you could get at least some access behind the wall in that area you could still bolt through to below if you remove the banana wrap along the side in that area.

You can tell where the cross members are by looking for the screws or bolts that hold the plywood floor down. The lengthwise frame member is about 14" to 16" in from the side of the trailer. They are spaced right about 5' apart. There are no screws or bolts into them holding the floor down so you can't find them looking that way. One of the old fashioned stud finders that has a magnet in it would be one way to find the metal cross member. I cut out a lot of my old floor using a circular saw set so that the blade depth cut almost all the way through the plywood. That way all I had to watch out for was the screws or bolts.

Malcolm

wacnstac · 04-07-2006, 11:01 AM

There is a cross member right in the middle of the rotted out section of floor which will be quite convenient. You can kindof see in my picture there are holes on either side of it in the floor. I also want to cut out just far enough to get into the C channel a few inches, this will also give me support. As far as doing it from below, I figured this would give me the added advantage of removing wet insulation (as much as I can) and the ability to splice the new wood with the old with the plywood strips scanning the joint between old and new floor that could be screwed in with wood screws from below.

wacnstac · 04-07-2006, 12:07 PM

BTW I really like your idea of using a toggle bolt from below and that will probably be the way to go.

wacnstac · 04-08-2006, 06:32 PM

I ended up taking a panel off and am coming in from the top. Tearing off the belly pan and the bannana strips didn't seem too apealing to me.

wacnstac · 04-08-2006, 07:40 PM

Any suggestions on how the splice the new plywood to the old especially along the joint that appears closest in the picture. The old plywood in this area will want to sag if it is unsupported.

**azflycaster** · 04-08-2006, 07:44 PM

What if you screw a block of wood 2 inches wide to the bottom of the old floor. Have 1 inch under the old floor and 1 inch under the new floor. You could just drop the new piece in and screw it to the block.