Rear Water Entry and Floor Rot Repair in '68 Overlander

[Bunkroom]

I am working on my '68 Overlander. Most of the interior is out and I finished cutting out all of the bad floor. I am going to replace sections of floor using lap splices cut with a router, polyurethane glue and stainless screws on areas over structure. Where possible, I will put a splice piece under the joint and fasten and glue.

The biggest problem is the "trunk lid support" which is apiece of aluminum that holds up the trunk lid at the back of the trailer. (The hinge is in the very back and the lid opens over the bumper in this model.) This piece extends over the rear steel "cross member" (which is really an asymmetrical steel "U" channel). If there was sealant here, it is long gone. This design really sucks! I can't imagine a trailer built like this that does not have a rotten floor. (see attached detail)

I am looking for help deciding how to put this back together in a way that will keep the water out.

Options as I see them:

1) Apply sealant between all joints below the rear door frame. I can get into most of these joints at this time as I wil have all bolts through the "c-channel" removed.

2) create some kind of "L" flashing to go under the "skin" strip that is below the rear service center door frame and out over the lid support. The problem with this is that it needs to follow the curve of the trailer and will show on the outside so the typical "snip and bend" approach would not look very good.

3) .... suggestions?

[Bunkroom]

Here is another detail drawing.

[jcain63]

I ave the same problem. I'm getting ready to out the new subfloor in my 72 TW and I was thinking of replacing the bottom of the bumper box with stretched steel and sealing it off completely from the belly pan, also toyed with the idea of drain holes in the belly pan also. Thoughts?


Flo is getting a make-over!

[Bunkroom]

I have decided to make a flashing that goes inside under the plywood and over the trunk support and the channel on top of that AND then down the rear of the tank pan. Any water that comes in on the lid support will ht this flashing and go down into the trunk rather than being soaked into the plywood. I found a simple, pre-made piece of aluminum that is intended to be used on a house roof above a door to divert rain water where someone may not have gutters. Slight modification with tin snips and it will be in place. I will post some images. In the meantime, here is a detail drawing showing the "New flashing". None of these are to any scale.

[TennTex]

Wondering how your rear repair is going; did you go with the flashing as shown in the diagram? Many posts on this "sealing-up" subject; my run at a solution is described here, for what it's worth: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f4/s...-a-119687.html I am satisfied so far with the result - the back-side is completely sealed off from moisture, critters, etc.

Have fun,
Alan

[Jim Foster]

It looks like the rear of your trailer is the same as my 65 Caravel. I had to replace the rear 10" or so of the floor due to water intrusion from the rear. I was able to do all of the replacement from underneath without removing any of the interior.
I believe the floor rot was accelerated by the portion of the hinged "trunk" lid that extends forward a couple of inches past the cross member. So, before I re-installed the trunk lid, I trimmed the forward sheet area of the hinge so that it no longer extends forward of the frame cross member.
During and after assembly I used loads of sealant. But if that fails for any reason, water coming in the rear will no longer be channeled toward the wood floor.
It took some thought to figure out how to do the job from the bottom, but it saved loads of time and work removing the fiberglass bathroom to get to the rear of the floor.

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