Sagging rear bathroom

[Nickjohnson]

I have a 1973 International Ambassador. The floor of the rear bathroom is sagging. What is the expected cost for repair?

[Mx468]

I tackled this job myself and with cost of materials only it was about $500 bucks, that did include welding costs which were about $200. Hope this helps a little.

[Belegedhel]

Sounds like you have a standard case of (the dreaded) "rear end separation." The fix involves removing all of the interior in the rear of the trailer and the lower interior skins, replacing the subfloor, repairing the frame, and possibly some exterior skin and C-channel. it is a big job, and when you start tearing into it, you will probably find rotting floor at various places around the perimeter, and then you have to decide if just doing a shell-off and replacing the entire subfloor in one go isn't the logical thing to do.

As mentioned above, if you do the job yourself, it is just cost of materials, which is in the few hundreds of dollars. There is another thread active on the Forums right now, where someone has a shop quoting them $5000 to replace their entire floor. I spoke to a fellow Airstreamer a couple years ago, and he was paying ~$10000 to have done what you need done just in the rear.

So if this is a trailer you already own, then you are in for an expensive repair. If this is a trailer you are considering buying, and you don't want to do this kind of "heavy lifting" repair, then pass on it.

Rear end separation is common in trailers of this age. My opinion is that most of these vintage trailers, unless they have spent their lives under cover in an extremely dry environment, are candidates for a shell-off.

good luck!

[2002sheds]

Hi Nick,
What "Bele" said, x2. I have a 1970 Ambassador with perhaps very similar issues. Take a look at my thread "1970 Ambassador Reality Check" (I am going from memory to see what we have been through so far.

While it would be a lot faster to have someone else do the work, I am getting a real solid sense of the condition of this coach, tracking down leaks (starting in the bath) shoring up areas that were not riveted correctly back in 1970 or during a fairly significant repair done since.

Of course, it is always time and money as well. Doing things myself has been rewarding and super informative, but leaves us without the use of the coach...


Good Luck!
David

[Emittim3]

I have a 1978 Excella 31', rear bathroom with the same issue. It's a project I'm capable of undertaking myself, but - would LOVE to see someone that has gone through it (without an entire shell off, just doing the rear) so that I can see some of the "things" that I cannot see today, and have a little more "in the know" of what needs to be looked at, done, how things really should go back together, etc.

NOTE: I'm a very capable welder (with my own equipment, wire feed mig as well as arc) - so just curious if we're talking under floor frame re-working here, or just re-doing the subfloor and re-bolting(?) the shell to the frame.

Oh - the subfloor is definitely rotten in the back, and has several cut outs that are not original in the back when a previous owner had some plumbing work done on it.

Thanks in advance!!!!

[Mx468]

Hey Emittim3 when I redid my rear floor it wasn't a shell off. I had to remove the inside closets, rear bath, beds, but once removed it wasn't that hard of a job to tackle. I do recommend using or getting a oscillating multi-tool. It was a life saver and help cut the bolts in the c channel and help remove the rotten wood from the c channel. Here's a link to my renovation thread.

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f42...-156604-3.html


Starting on post 58

[Nickjohnson]

Thanks for the response. I was hoping to have this fixed from the bottom side.

[2002sheds]

Hi Nick,
Our coach has the telltale "elephant ears" -- pieces of aluminum where the rear corners of the shell were removed and the rear floor area repaired.

Unfortunately, that did not address the even more problematic issue of water heading towards the floor in the rear in the first place, leading to where the coach is now -- with the rear bathroom fixtures removed and a new subfloor installed, along with improving the watertightness and drainage of the rear area.

All of this takes longer, but will result in a more permanent repair. I'm not even sure if Airstream repair shops even do the previous method any longer. They almost certainly shouldn't, at least in my opinion. My best guess is that the original owners had the coach for around 25 years, and this floor was replaced in that time, along with other repairs, none of which have stood the test of time. Meanwhile, aside from the huge flaw in the way the rear sheds water, most of the rest of the coach is okay -- including the bucked rivets that were installed 50 years ago.

I hope this gives a little bit of perspective. Good luck!


David