1969 Ambassodor

[2lrminivan]

Started to strip the airstream last week and noticed the floor at the rear did not lok to good.
Got a chance to spend about a hour on it today and found the loor where the bathrrom is is rotton.
On the side with the door about 12"x3" is rotted with a big hole, slightly smaller hole on the other side, and along the rear where the waste pipes are is rotted.
is it possible to replace the rear section with out taking/lifting the shell of ?
Also on the last pic what is the hole for anyone know?






cheers
Andy

[ALANSD]

guess you will be tearing out that plywood...I just did some of tht but not quite as severe a spot. Would be a good thing to find and seal the leak, or simpy seal it all.

[wasagachris]

Andy it is posssible to replace the entire floor without removing the shell. That is some seious damage to the floor and I bet that the frame is in just as bad a shape. IMO I would drop the belly pan and evaluate the frame and the rest of the floor before deciding what route to take. Quite a bit of floor damage can not be seen from above and the frame cannot be assesssed without removal of the belly pan. You have quite a project on your hands. Don`t ask me how I know. Good luck.

[2lrminivan]

Hi
thanks for the replys
At the moment i cant take the belly pan off as we have 4" of snow in North Devon England.
So i decided i would go inside and make a start on trying to take the floor up. fisrt job was to take the side panel off that was a easy job. once they were removed i could see the U channel where the outer skin rivets onto it. when the panel was removed i found the water leak 1 was from the waste pipe air vent in the roof leaking down the panel onto the floor (same on both sides) and the other leak was from the rear lights where the wire comes out there was a stain down to the floor.
I could also see the bolts holding the U channel onto the plywood floor. They were rusted in so had to gring them off. when that was done i the cut the ply floor into small sections to make it easyer to remove.
On the offside the floor had 15mm of fiberglass on the top!! did not see that until i started to remove the floor.
Once the floor was removed i could see what the frame was like and to my suprise it only had surface rust on it.
A quick rub down and some paint and i can make a start on putting the new floor in.
few pics of the frame and the water stain,





cheers
Andy

[Dave Park]

I see a lot of spray foam in there. Was it crumbled to dust, or was it still together enough to function as insulation?

[Action]

Questions
1) When you removed the flooring did the shell sag in the rear?
2) Did you cut the flooring? (at the end towards the front) Or did you take it back to a seam?

I have a similar situation with a similar trailer.

>>>>>>>>>Action

[68 TWind]

Looks just like the back end of my 68 Trade Wind. I removed the belly pan under the rear of the trailer and it really helped in putting in the new floor. With the belly pan out of the way you can use elevator bolts with nets and washers to secure the new floor. Let me know if you would like to see pics from mine.

[wasagachris]

Originally Posted by Action

Questions
1) When you removed the flooring did the shell sag in the rear?
2) Did you cut the flooring? (at the end towards the front) Or did you take it back to a seam?

I have a similar situation with a similar trailer.

>>>>>>>>>Action

It won't be the shell that sags it will be the frame. Support the frame with jack stands before releasing the shell and it won't drop away from the shell. Then when you are ready to install the new piece of floor you can control how far down to lower the frame to slip in the new wood for the floor. Once the wood is in jack the frame back up in to place and secure the shell/floor/frame trio and release the jacks. Make sure the frame is level and straight front to back and side to side before securing the shell/floor combo to the frame.

[2lrminivan]

Originally Posted by Action

Questions
1) When you removed the flooring did the shell sag in the rear?
2) Did you cut the flooring? (at the end towards the front) Or did you take it back to a seam?

I have a similar situation with a similar trailer.

>>>>>>>>>Action

I just cut the floor to the seam towards the front

[2lrminivan]

Not a lot done today just cleaned the u channel out was full of fiberglass aswell ,and cleaned the frame ready for the floor tomorrow if i get a chance.
got to go and buy christams presents first

cheers
Andy