floor to outriggers

[toastie]

When installing a new floor should I run the plywood right to the end of the outriggers, the old floor doesn't appear to go right to the end.....thanks

[HowieE]

Considering the age of the trailer is there a chance that is not the original floor. The floor should go all the way to and slide into the "C" channel that attaches to the inside and outside skin.

[InsideOut]

We ran ours to the outside leg of the c-channels (Inside of the "U" of the outside leg...make sense?) which is even beyond the outriggers in some places. It's about where the fold in the chennel starts. We measured everything (channel to channel and out to out) before we took out the old floor and cut the new sheets to same size - out-to-out on the inside of the floor channels.

It was a PITA to put the plywood in, but by loosening some of the banana wrap rivets a section at a time, there was enough "flex" to the sides to wedge the plywood in. We adjusted the skins/channels to get everything back where it belongs so it isn't a sidewinder. Then we reattached the floor channels. Now that it's all buckled back down, it's very sturdy and the floor channel feels well supported.

The way I see it, if you don't go all the way to the outside of the channels, there isn't as much for the channel screws to grab onto. The channel is only about 2" wide > the connections are in the middle > the hole for them is about 1/4" > which leaves about 3/4" "bite". And, not all the holes on ours (existing) were centered so there are some closer to 1/2" as it is. That's not much...we used 3/4" ply, so it should be fine...but, in my mind more is better in this case.

If you need a bit more wiggle room...I wouldn't make the width too much less - maybe 1/8" on each side especially if you are using 5/8" ply.

Shari

[toastie]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

We ran ours to the outside leg of the c-channels (Inside of the "U" of the outside leg...make sense?) which is even beyond the outriggers in some places. It's about where the fold in the chennel starts. We measured everything (channel to channel and out to out) before we took out the old floor and cut the new sheets to same size - out-to-out on the inside of the floor channels.

It was a PITA to put the plywood in, but by loosening some of the banana wrap rivets a section at a time, there was enough "flex" to the sides to wedge the plywood in. We adjusted the skins/channels to get everything back where it belongs so it isn't a sidewinder. Then we reattached the floor channels. Now that it's all buckled back down, it's very sturdy and the floor channel feels well supported.

The way I see it, if you don't go all the way to the outside of the channels, there isn't as much for the channel screws to grab onto. The channel is only about 2" wide > the connections are in the middle > the hole for them is about 1/4" > which leaves about 3/4" "bite". And, not all the holes on ours (existing) were centered so there are some closer to 1/2" as it is. That's not much...we used 3/4" ply, so it should be fine...but, in my mind more is better in this case.

If you need a bit more wiggle room...I wouldn't make the width too much less - maybe 1/8" on each side especially if you are using 5/8" ply.

Shari

Thanks Shari, I did check out http://www.airforums.com/forums/f91/...tml#post535023 and we are running parallel, I thought I was looking at my door but it was yours, funny. Been very busy between work
restore Mr. Whipple (our 1955 Safari, the first owner was Mr. Whipple) and getting ready for the T.C.T rally in Milford, Michigan.

[Dan@LED4RV]

Originally Posted by toastie

When installing a new floor should I run the plywood right to the end of the outriggers, the old floor doesn't appear to go right to the end.....thanks

I would say that you would want it to go as far as you can get it to go and still have the wood inside the C channel keep its shape of the C channel when you bolt it down. Every time I have ever changed an end cap I never could get the wood to go all the way to the end of the outrigger. I would have to trim the wood short of the outriggers and frame.

Here is a link to a post I did on structure strength.

If you read that post you will see my thoughts on the matter of the rib and outrigger alinement. The wood is also a very important component of this over all structure strength.

The problem I ran into was, the wood that was available was metric in thickness and would not go all the way into the C channel. Any wood I could get would not fit perfectly into the C channel. It was either too thick or too thin.

The only time I have seen the outrigger (See this picture) not go all the way to the C channel was one Argosy and they were the short outriggers (See this picture) and they were extra. Extra meaning, the outriggers that line up with the ribs were all there, these were added between those.

I would have liked to have given you a definitive YES or NO but since I could not, I hope you get some insite to help you in your decision-making.

Dan

[toastie]

Originally Posted by Dan4odm

I would say that you would want it to go as far as you can get it to go and still have the wood inside the C channel keep its shape of the C channel when you bolt it down. Every time I have ever changed an end cap I never could get the wood to go all the way to the end of the outrigger. I would have to trim the wood short of the outriggers and frame.

Here is a link to a post I did on structure strength.

If you read that post you will see my thoughts on the matter of the rib and outrigger alinement. The wood is also a very important component of this over all structure strength.

The problem I ran into was, the wood that was available was metric in thickness and would not go all the way into the C channel. Any wood I could get would not fit perfectly into the C channel. It was either too thick or too thin.

The only time I have seen the outrigger (See this picture) not go all the way to the C channel was one Argosy and they were the short outriggers (See this picture) and they were extra. Extra meaning, the outriggers that line up with the ribs were all there, these were added between those.

I would have liked to have given you a definitive YES or NO but since I could not, I hope you get some insite to help you in your decision-making.

Dan

Dan

Thanks, this does help, in reading your post (link) the frame does indeed flex and with everything attached to the frame it is "one" flexing unit.
I have decided to go with 5/8" ac plywood instead if 3/4", I'm concern with flexing and weight, the frame/structure is still a 55 year old frame and can't be as strong as day one.

Steve