rear floor rot

[robertel]

the entire rear floor to body section of my floor has rotted. As my bedroom is completely built in and can only be removed by tearing it completely apart I am investigating the process of replacing rotted portion of the floor before actually doing it.

After removing my built ins can the floor be replaced without disconnecting the body from the floor? How?

Is the floor connected to the body outside the actual frame or under it?

Any other input appreciated.

[wasagachris]

Robertel in order to replace the floor all the furniture must be removed and the lower interior walls must be removed in order to access the bolts holding the floor to the frame below. The interior panels (walls) and exterior shell (skins) are fastened to a C shaped channel by rivets. This channel is then bolted to the frame through the floor.
There are also several floor screws that also hold the floor to the frame. There is a rear holddown plate which is L shaped and it sits on the rear crossmember of the frame under the floor. It is bolted down through the C channel and the floor to the frame. The vertical side of the plate is then riveted to the shell from outside.
You will have to remove the lower trim rail from outside by drilling out the rivets. This trim is removed in order to access the rivets holding the banana wrap (curved sections under the trailer at each corner) and the side wraps (curved sections of aluminum that go along the sides of the trailer). these parts will also have to be removed by drilling out the rivets to gain access to underneath the floor so you can remove and replace the floor bolts.
Once all the floor bolts and screws are removed you can jack up the shell a little to separate the floor/frame from the shell. The rear section of floor then can be removed and a new piece slid in place. then reversr the process of removal and your done. This si of course just a brief description of the work required. I suggest you go to the forum for floor/frame repair and do agoogle search for floor repair. There are several threads showing exactly what others have done and details of how to do it.

[mwells4654]

You might want to use the search section of this forum. There is a lot of information and pictures of both the frame on and frame off approach depending on how much floor needs to be replaced. The google search seems to give more selections than the other search box. I replaced the rear bathroom floor in my TT and could not have done it without the forum. Was a lot of work but very interesting and I learned so much about the trailer. Good luck.

[Splitrock]

Hi robertel,

How bad is it? A lot of floor wood can be replaced without removing the body. Actually all of it can. Mine had two soft spots in the rear sleeping area that lined up with each side of the rear window. My coach is straight and solid and I just repaired the two spots with fiberglass and two part epoxy filler. My approach to my trailer is I'm not doing a restoration. I'll leave that for the next owner. I'm doing deferred maintenance and making repairs to make my trailer safe and useable.

The main thing is to find and fix all the leaks. It looks to me like that rear bumper storage/floor marriage is a planned failure point. The original plywood floor in my trailer lasted 35 years with bad maintenance and neglect. I'd think my repairs will add 20 more years with proper care.

I see some owners investing over 30 thousand dollars in these old trailers. That's not my plan. Not at all.

My short goal in making repairs is to leave everything in better condition than I found it. My long goal is to have a comfortable, dry, safe, nice appearing, luxury travel trailer, where everything works as it should, for me to enjoy with my family.

Gary

[Splitrock]

Picture:

[Oly10]

I also have rear floor rot and need to replace the back 4 ft. So far I have been able (with the help of the forums) to figure out most of it, but I need to know how the ring the toilet mounts to is fastened to the black tank? Thanks in advance Oly10

[LI Pets]

it is threaded into it.

then when level with the floor the flange is screwed to the plywood

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Splitrock

Picture:

That really doesnt look to bad...here's what we went thru...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f36/...oor-54952.html

[Splitrock]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

That really doesnt look to bad...here's what we went thru...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f36/...oor-54952.html

It looks like most of your floor problem was in front. So was mine. I had 11 leaks from the front of the entry door to the first front rib. I fixed the leaks, welded a repair to the frame, and replaced a section of the front floor. All the rest of the floor I've checked is good. I made temporary repairs to the two spots in the rear. The rear wasn't bad enough to remove the whole end to replace.

Gary