Lots of rotten floor

[ArtStream]

Vern, I've been lurking on your thread.
Best to your son. If you stop rubbin that spot on top of your head, it may grow back LOL!
Nice work on the rot

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by ArtStream

Vern, I've been lurking on your thread.
Best to your son. If you stop rubbin that spot on top of your head, it may grow back LOL!
Nice work on the rot

I'm gonna go ahead and do the front separation fix while I'm in there. I wish I had asked more info from you when we talked about it at the Can Opener '08. I think I have a good plan with the help of a common pal...

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

No progress today other than rubbing a bald spot into my head trying to figure out a solution for this problem. The C channel is pinched where it lays on the front end of the frame rails. I tried prying it open but nothing is budging. I will try putting some support blocks under the main frame rails 1/2 way forward of the axles then retract the power jack. I'm hoping the front of the frame will sag enough to open the c channel enough to insert the ply..

I remember an old thread about rear end sag where someone successfully used a fork lift or a loader bucket to flex the frame enough to slide in the flooring from the outside.

[bertro]

Six good sized men on my bumper let me slide in the last 4x8 sheet in the rear. Worked great. Robert

[Wabbiteer]

Painting the tops of the iron that will be hidden by the flooring is good Zen.

I found scabbing (screwing) 2x4 blocks to the plywood lengthwise with the desired thrust, standing on the 2x4s to eliminate rebound and clamp floor in place, THEN tapping the blocks with a sledgehammer croquet-style worked very well... except shell will move too.

Note: even with a chamfer on the corner of the flooring forcing it may move the shell & C-Channel (the alignment to the frame rail drifts while its loose)...

I ended up getting flooring in and aligned and then got to use soft western red cedar boards and a sledgehammer to finish seating the C-Channe from the outside to restore the channel through-bolt locations to outriggers etc...

[catson4]

I had to replace the rear 8 feet and the bathroom foor in my 1991 34'r. I used what was called 3/4" plywood. Actualy 19/32. I used Exterior/ marine grade B/B, pluged & sanded both sides. I did install it in the rear in 2 pieces. The seam runs down the center beam of the frame. The bathroom section I was able to lift the wall that seperates the batjhroom and the rear bedroom with a steady preasure on a 6" wide pry bar I made from a piece of angle steel and flat stock welded together. My friend pryed the wall up as I slid the new bathroom floor into place from the bedroom side.
To make it all fit, I used my electric hand plane and cut down the edges by 3/64" in thickness and made that cut 1 1/4" wide so I had a slight interfrence fit where the the plywood fit in under the aluminum studs and sill plates.
I then painted the floor with KILZ brand oil based primer and went on with the finnised flooring, Pergo, carpet and tile.
Some photos.
Top Left, rear bedroom after POR 15 aplied.
Top right, ROTTEN Bathroom floor, under hot water heater, enlarge this photo and you will see what I was up against.
Bottom left, bathroom floor cleaned up & POR 15'ed.
Bottom right, NEW bathroom floor. The rope you see in the shower was used to pull the new heater duct back into place.

[catson4]

This has been a fun project. I have learned a lot from this forum. Would not have had the success I have if not for the knowlege contained herein. I thank everyone again for the help I recieved.

Check out the posting for "FLOOR FINNISHES" to see more of this floor project..

top left, new floor in bedroom.
top right, new hot water heater and floor primered.
bottom left, floor all primered.
bottom right, new heat ducts.

[87MH]

From your picture below, there appears to be no evidence of your removing the inner panels - my question is, how did you attach the "C" channel to the floor and how is the shell and the flooring mated to the frame in the area of the bedroom where you removed the old flooring?

Apologies to HiHoAgRV for asking this question here, but catson4 does not appear to have his own thread on this repair.




Simply installing new floor without the proper reconnection of the frame/floor/shell interface will seriously compromise the strength and expected life of the trailer.



If the mush of what was left of the original OSB crapboard was allowed to remain as an interface between the shell and frame it will soon degrade to nothing. What soon follow after the disintegration of the OSB would be a severe case of rear end separation.

[HiHoAgRV]

Thanks for the input, I think everyone here has the same approach. The POR15 is due to arrive tomorrow, that will let me seal up the frame surface rust. I do plan on sealing the plywood, probably with some spar varnish that remains from a wooden kayak project.

This morning I tackled the pinched c-channel. I blocked the frame rails and slowly lowered the front jack. Creaks, groans and the frame dropped more than enough to open the channel for ply insertion. It is unbelievable how flexable these trailers are! It's also unbelievable how little there is holding the front together. I left some pressure on the jack because I was concerned about things ripping apart.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f36/...ion-35237.html

[HiHoAgRV]

I managed to make a perimeter pass on 1 piece before a hung brush in the power hand planner shut me down. Time for a new tool!

[3Ms75Argosy]

Hi Ho... here's an idea.. get a bottle jack (or floor jack from a small car). Cut a 2x4 just short of it's length + the height of the jack. Put a scrap piece of plywood on the ceiling by the rib. The idea is to jack the front of the trailer shell up from the floor joist or crossmember below. With the jack on the frame (just to one side of the plywood that you need to insert) you raise the shell just enough to pop in the plywood piece. Then move the assembly to the new plywood side, and raise it again. If you were doing a bellypan off, I'd say to put the jack on the ground, but I think you're bellypan is still in place. Don't put the 2x4 directly on the ceiling... use the plywood to spread the load on a rib.

Good luck! Looks great!
Marc
Oops, looks like I posted just after you posted a solution!

[Don McKelvay]

Hi Ho,

Many thanks for all the details AND the pictures as I am sure others will learn a great deal from your work - great to see folks sharing and caring - one never knows when we might need to use this information.

Cheers,
Don

[HiHoAgRV]

The first side dropped right in. This is a test fit because I needed to mark some locations in order to try a new method for joining the 1/2's in the middle.
I plan on overlapping the two pieces and doing a scarf joint down the middle. I've done these on thinner ply when building kayaks and they make a real strong joint. The other reason I am gonna try this is the spare tire takes most of the room and I would be pushing it to put a doubler piece below the joint.
The photo shows the total overlap between the 2 pieces I will have to create the joint.
But first I have to get another power planer...

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Don McKelvay

...- one never knows when we might need to use this information.

Cheers,
Don

I can predict that many folks will need to do a floor replacement if they don't pay attention to leaks.

Today was a challenging day - I was able to work on the 34' for a few hours this morning before we had to take our son to the hospital for knee surgery. Long story short, we are back home, no surgery, waiting to reschedule.

I hope to get 1) a surgery schedule and 2) a new planer to complete the floor sections - tomorrow.

Anyway, late this afternoon I was able to sit in the 34'er during a thunderstorm and watch 1/2 of the window frames, all of the awning hardware and most of the bananna wrap joint pour water into the trailer. One rivit in particular, that holds a catch on the stainless stone guard, POURED water down the inner skin and filled the belly pan.

[catson4]

87MH,
When I removed the old flooring EVERY bit of the "OLD CRAPBOARD" was removed. I used spacers to keep the "C" channel space the same as it is in the front of the trailer. I found one spot in the front of the trailer to measure for a reference.
The bedroom floor was not like the floor under the hotwater heater with the exception of the area just rearwards of the batheroom for about 10" along the outside wall. It was starting to go bad,water stains and surface mold so I took it all out at the same time as replacing the bathroom floor. Where you see the seam of the old & new floor in the bedroom is where there was a factory seam, so that is as far forward as I removed and the rest of the floor is in good shape , even if it is "crapboard". I like that description. It fits. Why they used that stuff is beyond me.
I also was able to leave the original anchor screws in place. Each of the original screws was coated with POR 15. Each new floor piece has a very small notch cut to just fit around each old screw. After the new floor sections where installed, the very small spaces left around the old screws where then filled with an epoxy cement. There are also several new screws that secure the new floor to the frame & "C" chanel. I have the advantage of the rear storage doors under the bedroom floor on each side and was able to get at the "C" chanel that way. Also I loosened the rear belly pan section where it attaches to the bottom of the rear bumper & frame and had plenty of room to attach across the rear. Also took out the smaller triangular shaped pieces of the belly pan at each rear corner for access there.

And the fact that each piece of the new flooring is an interference fit so they are tightly fit into the "C" chanel will insure no movement and a secure floor. When I stated earlier that I "planed the floor ply down by 3/64" around the outer edges", that is as close as I thought was necessary to explain. Sorry, but some was a "smidge" less or a smidge more because of the clearance in the "C" chanel. The "smiges" where done with a sander or hand held sand paper. I measured every 6' along the "C" chanel, marked the plywood and planed & sanded as needed.
The bathroom floor area was easy to get at the "C" chanel to secure the new floor because of the hotwater heater opening, the wheel wells & shower stall.

Hope that helps

[87MH]

Claude:

Great explaination - thank you for posting your solution.

[HiHoAgRV]

After a couple of down days due to a blown up planer and rain, I finally made some progress. Like I said a post or two ago, I was going to have some problems doing a splice down the middle with a backing board so I decided to try a scarf joint. I test fit one of the panels and used the original pattern piece to mark the overlap in that I was going to have in the two floor pieces. I placed the two new floor pieces face to face and offset them at the joint as shown in the photo. I then added a mark on the top panel the matched the exposed area on the lower panel. This marked the area that I needed to taper.

[HiHoAgRV]

Then I broke out the brand new Ryobi planer and started cutting away at the boards. The good thing about using this method on plywood is the different layers give a visual of the amout of wood removed. The goal is to get a nice even taper from the edge of the lower board to the mark on the upper board.
Flip them over and test fit, removing more where the humps are and Ta Da! a scarf joint ready for glue.

[dieseleagle]

That's outstanding. Now, with an outdoor grade glue, like Titebond III, the glued joint will be stronger than the wood itself.

[HiHoAgRV]

The reassembly starts. POR 15 is on the frame, as soon as it drys I will get to figure out how to attach the insulation and then insert the new floor!