Rebuilding

Day One - The beginning of the floor replacement is here. Started stripping off various trim pieces and panels to see exactly what I am in for. See the Floor Replacement page

Floor replacement - Day one

Here you see the floor damaged by water leaks and now I have to replace it.  I have determined that the best idea is to somehow jack the body off the floor and then pull the floor and frame out to replace it.  Then I plan to join the two pieces again and re-caulk. Here we go!

I started by removing the trim pieces along the back of the camper

Here's the main area I found the leak.  The bottom strip was leaking at the back passenger side which led to all the screws being a pathway for more moisture flowing along the back curve like a sheet.  Once the floor material swelled the screws loosened more to allow more moisture in.  They were basically screwed into a sponge at some point.



You can see the duct tape residue from where I patched temporarily before doing this fix.



The beginning of the reveal of what exactly is under this panel.



The first look inside the back "hump"

Back panel disconnected but not removed yet.  I cut the wires to each light.  The wires were butt connected and I will probably replace with disconnectable crimped fittings.

Looks like a decent wall thickness for lifting the box off the frame.  I might bolt through the hole for the red running light wires (black).

 Here's the detail of the seal at the top edge seal.  This is a cloth/vinyl (?) material that is over the fiberglass back panel and under the metal strip at the top of the panel.  It is riveted under the hinge on the roof side.



Here's the floor//back wall interface.  You can see the floor is water damaged and flexible.



It looks like the bottom was covered by a fiber reinforced plastic.  That material is balck on one side and white on the other and stapled over the vinyl flooring material.  Ithink this is the same material they use in decorative ponds.

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The floor is moist enough to flex an inch or so away from the wall framing.

The sloped sides of the roof are hinged and the screws are accessible after removing the back panel.  I might remove those sloped roof sections to make the box lighter to remove.

 I had to remove the rear lights to get the panel off.  I will probably re-wire so these could be reconnected if necessary.



 Here's the passenger side with all of the bottom strips removed.