Mesh screen for a section of the belly pan...normal?

[Emerson75]

I just recently purchased a '75 Trade Wind. The other day I was under it trying to determine if my axles are bad, and while under there I noticed a section of the belly pan was a metal mesh screen riveted to the solid panels around it. Is this normal? It is directly under the refrigerator just to the left of the door (looking at the door from the outside) and to the right of the axles. I can see the bottom of the plywood sub floor which doesn't seem right to me that the untreated plywood would be so clearly exposed to outside elements. The mesh section is maybe 1' x 2' but I'm just guessing by what I can remember seeing. The good news is that the plywood floor appears to be in good shape from what I can see!

Thanks,
Eric

[Minno]

The screen is the air inlet for the fridge. There is another screen in the plywood floor behind the fridge. While running, cool air comes up through the screen, and flows up behind the fridge. The now hot air vents out the top of the trailer.

Chris

[Emerson75]

Thanks for the quick reply Chris!

It makes me feel better that this is normal, and like I said the floor looks fine from what I could see. It makes a little more sense to me now that I think of it, the access door panel to the fridge doesn't have any vents, like you would see on SOB trailers, so guess this is how AS opted to vent the fridge compartment.

Thanks again,
Eric