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Old 11-08-2011, 09:49 AM   #1
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1978 23' Safari
Columbia , Illinois
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General Renovation Question

So I am starting on my renovation of my 1978 Safari 23 and there is some floor rot by the front door and along the seam in the bathroom that runs right under the water pump. My question is if I need to remove the shower/sink/toilet/divider walls to inspect the rest of the floor and /inspect fix some plumping issues how hard is that process? All furnishings are removed but walls, closets, etc are in place.
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Old 11-08-2011, 11:28 AM   #2
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1981 31' Excella II
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Sounds like you have the beginings of rear end separation and floor rot around the bumper area. Can you get to the floor under the sink to inspect it? Do some more checking and see what you find. You can make small patches if they are not structural. Most rot problems involving the rear floor are structural because the main tie points between the body and frame are at the back.

At the front, I would say pull the right inner skin to the right of the door to make your patch there and make sure that all edges of the patch are supported even if you have to add them.


Perry
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Old 11-08-2011, 11:36 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crane422 View Post
So I am starting on my renovation of my 1978 Safari 23 and there is some floor rot by the front door and along the seam in the bathroom that runs right under the water pump. My question is if I need to remove the shower/sink/toilet/divider walls to inspect the rest of the floor and /inspect fix some plumping issues how hard is that process? All furnishings are removed but walls, closets, etc are in place.
The trailer probably has bad entrance door gaskets, window gaskets and especially the sewer vent pipe cover gaskets, which only last 2 to 3 years.

Andy
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Old 11-08-2011, 03:26 PM   #4
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1978 23' Safari
Columbia , Illinois
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General Renovation Question

Perry I am going to do a full inspection of the floor next week so hopefully there is no separation and only some general run of the mill floor rot!

Andy I have been on the phone with Bonnie at your place twice in the last two days and she is helping me order all kinds of gaskets and sealers and the like..she has been wonderful thus far.

My first goal is basically all new gaskets and resealing all lights, covers etc. Then on to the expensive stuff.
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Old 11-08-2011, 06:42 PM   #5
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Well don't spend money on anything you might have to rip out. Removing the belly band in the back is a good idea.

Perry
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Old 11-08-2011, 07:33 PM   #6
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1978 23' Safari
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Umm whats a belly band?
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Old 11-09-2011, 05:15 AM   #7
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It is the band at the bottom of the trailer that serves to cover up the seam between the body skins and the curved skins that go under the trailer. At the back, there is a flat plate that usually has a hatch door on it to store your sewer hose in. The plate goes up under your floor and tends to funnel water up under the floor. To inspect the seal at the back you need to remove that trim or belly band so you can see what is going on right there. I call this plate the funnel plate and it is the root of all evil when it comes to Airstreams. This plate is responsible for most of the rear floor rot and frame separation problems you will find plenty of reading material about on here. I was lucky to have a rear bedroom model and there is not near as much stuff to deal with back there. I had to replace the last 4 ft of my floor. I will post pictures soon.

There is also a lower plate which is actually part of the belly skin. This plate servers to funnel water that gets through the top hatch into the interior of the belly skin where it soaks the pink fiberglass insulation and that tends to rot your frame and belly skins.

Perry
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Old 11-09-2011, 06:30 AM   #8
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1978 23' Safari
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well that sounds awesome...I am starting to think that the cheapest part of this trailer was buying it.

Oh well if I wanted easy I would have bought a pop up.

Looks like vacation will be an exploration of belly bands, under sink inspections and floor fixing...woo hoo

Thanks for the info!
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Old 11-09-2011, 06:41 AM   #9
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Here is a closeup of what is under the belly band. The link leads to more pics and my repairs. I have not had time to organize the photos yet. If you view them in order they will be chronological.

Index of /AS-Temp/81-ExcellaII-31ft/Floor-Repairs

Perry
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Old 12-19-2011, 08:39 AM   #10
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1978 23' Safari
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Working on the rear end

Well finally got around to working on the beast a little this weekend. Decided to remove the A/C for maintenance and still had some day light and decided to remove rear bumper and see how bad it really was...yikes!
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Old 12-19-2011, 08:50 AM   #11
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That looks like would have looked in another 10 yrs of neglect. I got to it just in time. Looks like you have your work cut out for you. If you are lucky that frame rot does not go very far forward. You can have a welder repair it if that is the case.

Perry
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Old 12-19-2011, 10:16 AM   #12
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Lucky

I am very lucky..it literally stops right there...there is almost no rust on what we would consider the interior. I am getting the feeling that most of this damage occurred once she was parked in 02...up until then it appears it was very well maintained unit. Just shows how fast things can go downhill once it starts to be ignored. I have a welder friend and he thinks it will be a fairly easy fix once I remove the tanks and open everything up so he can get in there. I just cant get over what a HORRIBLE design the rear end of this thing has. It literally just funnels and holds water.
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Old 12-19-2011, 12:38 PM   #13
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Pull the belly band and the bottom skins and get all the pink stuff out.

Perry
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Old 12-19-2011, 01:29 PM   #14
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