2010 Flying Cloud – Is Widespread Floor Moisture Possible After 15 Years Outside?

[EV4Life]

Hey everyone — longtime lurker here, finally in the market for my first Airstream. I’ve been inspecting a bunch of RVs lately, and unfortunately, most have failed the moisture meter test.

I know aluminum walls throw off the readings, so I don’t even try to scan those anymore — but I do rely on my moisture meter for checking the floors.

I recently looked at a 2010 Flying Cloud 30RB that's priced really low. The big catch: it’s been stored outdoors, uncovered, for the past 15 years with almost no maintenance. It needs a serious cleaning (some green growth is even visible near the front stone guards), and when I walked through it, I found a very soft spot in the bedroom — like, fully rotted.

When I scanned the floor with my pinless moisture meter, it read 100% moisture across nearly every spot. I double-checked my meter against a modern Azdel trailer just last week, and it worked fine — only picked up a few isolated spots there. So I don’t think the tool is faulty.

My question is: Is it really possible that 15 years of outdoor exposure and minimal upkeep could result in moisture across the entire floor system? Is this common for Airstreams of this era that haven’t been stored properly?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s encountered similar issues or done subfloor repairs on a model like this. I want to save this trailer if it’s worth it, but I’m not sure how deep this rabbit hole goes.

Thanks in advance!

[dart110]

I am currently doing some floor repair on my unit and found that most of my leaks are associated with the screws used to set the wraparound trim (at floor level). The screws used to attach the molding are steel (NOT Stainless) and over time will rust. Any loose spots in the molding insert accelerates the rusting process and water seeps along the rusted threads into the interior. Any soft surfaces in contact with the floor or walls (carpet, padding and fabric) will wick this moisture

[EV4Life]

Thanks, that is extremely helpful. I ended up passing on that one since it had a large soft spot in the bedroom and the entire floor measured 100% with my moisture meter. Still looking for my first Airstream but knowing that it might be limited to the bottom half and floors is easier to deal with than from the roof down.

[LNBright]

Back when I was shopping for a camper, I'd gotten into the habit of simply asking folks, if they had any soft spots in the floor, especially near the rear bumper. A surprisingly large number of folks would say they don't know, go look, then report back that they did find a soft-spot, and appreciated knowing about it. I passed on a lot of campers that way.

[EV4Life]

Yeah, I've started to do that to cut down on wasted travel time. The biggest help has been a moisture meter, it's finding wet walls (non-airstream) and bad floors. It's so far saved me from paying retail for a few RVs. I was about to purchase a brand new RV (non-airstream) and it had multiple 100% readings, they tried to sell me another one and one wall was 30% across.

[Daytonacoupe]

They leak, and there will always be condensation that wicks into the insulation and the floor. When we bought our '86 it looked great but the OSB under newly installed laminate flooring was a disaster. You are wise to use the moisture metre. Unless you buy a trailer that's been stored indoors, or is brand new, expect there to be a degree moisture damage. In fairness to the manufacturer, nothing is made to last forever. Cars/trucks rot too.

[AlbertF]

Humidity is a major factor in both rot and rust. As long as you can protect things from the sun, dry climates seem to help a lot.