Can we replace floor piece by piece?

[tdturn2]

We have flooring sections all over our 31' 1976 Sovereign rotted out. We've already got the marine grade plywood to replace the whole floor. Here's the question:

Can we replace the flooring sheet-by-sheet, rather than ripping it out all at once and bracing with 2x4s, etc.?

If we were to replace it sheet by sheet, would we still have to brace the floor a section at a time?

Is there an advantage to ripping out the whole floor at once?

This is our first rv, our first AS, and our first renovation of any kind. We are definitely inexperienced and are grateful for any good advice you give. We are pouring over the forums until our eyes are crossing and brains ready to burst. We decided just to ask straight-up, so sorry if we are repeating a question that's been answered elsewhere.

Terry

[tdturn2]

Just wanted to make sure our Q wasn't getting lost in the mix. We're new here. We had some great answers to our other question last night, but this decision is looming today, and we don't want to do something really stupid.

Does anyone have a helpful opinion? Thank you so much in advance.

- Terry and Natasha

[bullydogsmom]

Yes, you can replace the floor sections at a time, We needed to replace the front section and the rear section, middle was fine. FIRST, you HAVE to remove the lower interior skin. Not hard get a 1/8 inch drill bit and get to work removing rivets,

NEXT you will see that the floor SLIDES into what they call the C-Channel, you will find a lot of 1/4x 20 boplts. we repalce these with galvinized ones. They are probably going to be rusty and you may need to cut them off to get them out of the c-channel, the plywood will probably disinigrate when you try and pull it out of the c-channel.

We had to replace some floor stringers and outriggers, So my husband added another stringer running from the front wall to the freshwater tank so we could replace our front floor in 2 pieces instead of the one.

You can go to the tradewind section of this forum and click onto tradewind 1970-1979 and then click onto Annette's Folley and there are pictures there on how we did this. Sometime a pictures is worth a 1000 words.

Annette

P.S. others will come along today with lots of wonderful advice, most have done what you are about to tackle.

[tdturn2]

We really are inexperienced with this type of thing. Can anyone else give us reassurance that it is okay to do the floor piece by piece?

We are not in the position to do a whole lift-off like so many here do. Our original intention was to be full-timing on the 1st of August. We now realize that is a joke, so we are just going to get as close as possible.

We're concerned that one thing will lead to another, and we'll end up in way over our heads.

Thank you so much to anyone who sees this and responds. :-)

Natasha

[pbearsailor]

Yes, it's ok. I'm in the middle of doing it that way with mine right now. I just don't have anywhere to put the shell if I took it off, my frame is in pretty good condition, so I'm definitely doing it with the shell still on. Many here have done it. Search and read the threads, like Annette's. Shari's thread http://www.airforums.com/forums/f91/...irl-31084.html is a really good one.

Problem is that it's a lot of work and it takes some money. Most of the work isn't hard to learn how to do, though, and there's a lot of support around here.

It's an opportunity to make some things in your trailer exactly the way you want them. No denying it's a bunch of work, though, and it's extremely hard to do it with time deadlines. It's been worth so much to me to read others' threads and learn from them and to understand the scope of the work involved.

cheers,
steve

[gwchitty]

Sure, I did mine one sheet at a time. Go and have a look at how RJ Dial descibes this process at www.vintageairstream.com and he walks you through it. I started at the back and moved forward but left the section at the door for last. If you don't remove the belly pan, don't be afraid to cut access holes in your bellypan for bolts. Seal and rivet the holes closed afterwards. You really should set up permanent supports under the frame and level it out. Take your time, and have fun!

[Richard59]

Yes you can replace the floor one section at a time. One easy way to do it is to use thinner sheets (they bend easier and can be fit into the C channel easier). Use two sheets to come to the same thickness as the original. Coat the top of the first sheet with good quality wood glue once it is in place. Then fit the second sheet on top of it. Use some short screws to "clamp" the sheets while the glue sets. Leave the screws in or take them out later and fill the holes whichever you wish. This will be at least as strong and stiff as the original single sheet.

[Silvr_Bullet]

This is from the forum, unknown to me poster, hope this will be of help, one caveat is that this may or may not be applicable to all models, maybe others can speak to that. Good Luck

[John Ware]

If you stack one sheet of plywood on top of another try to separate your joints.

[Dingo Girl]

I replaced the whole subfloor in my 67.
I'd do it all at once. Then it's done. Put the end floor pcs in first, then do the middle sections.
Make patterns before you pull the old floor out.
I didn't brace my shell while changing out the floor. I did clamp the shell to the frame.
Put a piece of old floor between frame and C-channel then clamp.
I'm very happy with how it all came out.
Good luck with your restoration

Picture shows clamp.