Floor question

[AirMillie]

I am in the proess of ripping out and replacing my floor. Before I begin, I was wondering whether or not the outer shell sits on top off the current floor or if it frame to frame metal. In other words do I need to remove the outer shell to sucessfully install and plush new floor. Thanks for your help.

-Mike

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by AirMillie

I am in the proess of ripping out and replacing my floor. Before I begin, I was wondering whether or not the outer shell sits on top off the current floor or if it frame to frame metal. In other words do I need to remove the outer shell to sucessfully install and plush new floor. Thanks for your help.

-Mike

The shell sits on top of the floor.

The floor sits on top of the frame.

The shell holds the frame up. When you reinstall the shell, use many bolts, the more the better, especially at the front and rear of the shell.

Andy

[dwightdi]

If you intend to replace the whole floor it is easier to take everything out of the trailer and take the shell off the frame. The frame is built first and the floor is built onto the frame. Then the shell is lowered onto the floor and bolted together. Then the inners are put in. In some cases with just local rot, you can slip some replacement plywood inbetween the frame and the shell if there is not a bolt in that location. The frame should be strong enough to hold up the shell but due to frame rot and some original underdesigning and over use of the older Airstreams, the shell is sometimes used to hold up the rear end of a weakened frame. Newer Airstreams use considerably stronger frames and frame bending is not an issue and now they can even design slideouts into the product.