Replacing my floor

[jerrypike]

I am an airstream newbie, so be gentle
I am gutting the entire interior of my 1973 land yacht
mostly to find and repair leaks, but also to upgrade wiring and insulation
Im wondering about replacing the floor plywood with treated

[Panama Red]

Don't use pressure treated, according to everything I've read on here. Supposedly the chemicals in the wood react with the aluminum and corrode it. Buy a good exterior grade plywood and coat the edges with epoxy or two to three coats of polyurethane paint (that's what I did on my '74). I figured if the original wood lasted 30+ years without any edge treatment, and REALLY crappy maintenance, my painted edge wood, with anal style maintenance ought to last the rest of my life.

Do lots of reading on here. Use the Google search function, and everything you're going to do has been covered extensively. If you have the vista view windows held in by a clip ring, I wrote up a "How to rebuild your vista view windows" thread...

Welcome to the forum. Hope we can be of some help...

-Red, still working on this thing...

[Panama Red]

The vista view rebuild thread is called "Rebuilding vista views and stacks in a '74 Sov"... Last post in it was back in 2013. Lots of great info and pictures in that one...

-Red, promoting his own threads...

[aquinob]

No treated wood that contacts aluminum or steel. Use a good grade of exterior ply as panama red mentioned. If you are doing the whole floor then its most likely a shell off, but do you really need to do that? Have you pulled any part of the belly pan to see what the frame looks like? You may be making more work for yourself, but its your trailer.

[jerrypike]

thanks for everyones help
with this input I've decided not to do a body off
but to only replace the one bad plywood

thanks again

[Panama Red]

Hey Jerry, I replaced the rear eight feet and the front eight feet in my '74 Sovereign, along with quite a bit of frame... Pretty sure I included pictures and everything in my thread "Resurrecting Big Bertha..." It's a big job, but doable. Go ahead and pull the belly pan and side wraps. I had 11 gauge steel bent into 5 inch c channel and made my own outriggers and cross members to replace all the rusted ones. 90% of my outriggers had to be replaced.

Good luck again. Holler if we can help...

-Red, shamelessly self promoting again...

[TennTex]

Hello jerrypike,
I am - hopefully - nearing the end of a similar project to what you are facing. I replaced the rear section of floor and repaired the frame. Give some thought, if you haven't already, to how you will rework the rear skin to avoid the trunk plate that runs under the plywood subfloor. This design is the reason for the damage to the bath area floor and frame. Much written about this; my attempt at it is here (since we're self-promoting ): http://www.airforums.com/forums/f4/s...-a-119687.html
Also, are you going to add gray tanks?
Posting your progress will help the next crazy person, and we'll enjoy looking over your shoulder.

Have fun,
Alan

[jerrypike]

thanks for everyones input

it was very helpful