The Big Pink, Foamie !

[Spotman]

Mary,
Thank you


So we took the Big Pink out for one last weekend before putting 'er away for the winter. Everything is working great.
I did wash it for the first time, after sitting outside for months. Just some soapy water and a cloth cleaned right up .

Looks like Holiday Travel Park!

[KCStudly]

Geez, here I am thinking, isn't it a little early to be putting the camper away for the season?

[tac422]

Unfortunately, our camping season is over...
We have lots of family things happening in the coming months, including our annual trip to North Dakota.

[Wolffarmer]

I am hope for one more big camping trip starting next Sat. A nurse I camp with at Burning Man may not need her tickets and if so I will get them.

She has volunteered for medical duty for a day so she no longer needs hers.

[mikeschn]

That Aluminum paint is some pretty awesome stuff eh? Thanks for suggesting it!

Mike...

Mary,
Thank you


So we took the Big Pink out for one last weekend before putting 'er away for the winter. Everything is working great.
I did wash it for the first time, after sitting outside for months. Just some soapy water and a cloth cleaned right up .

[tac422]

The Big Pink has a "new" stable mate.

newtrailer001.jpg (120.97 KiB) Viewed 2083 times

I picked it up real cheap because .....

The floor has completely rotted away in the front of the trailer.
Everything else is in great shape ( except where the PO got a little carried away taking the old floor out.)

So I'm going to try and replace the floor, and find the leak (s). The original floor is OSB, and was sealed with linoleum on top and sheet plastic on the bottom, trapping any moisture. I'm hopeful the linoleum acted as a barrier and kept the moisture from wicking into the walls.

here's the before and after pix... That's the shower drain in the after picture.

newtrailer004a.jpg (16.75 KiB) Viewed 2083 times

floor rot1a.jpg (24.1 KiB) Viewed 2083 times

I would welcome advice on how to replace the floor under the walls, and what to use to seal the roof . Once I find the leaks (s).

[GPW]

Sad... that only happened because they used the cheapest grade OSB possible , with no idea for real waterproofing ... It's as if they Build them to Fail .... and quickly too ... Just a better grade of OSB wouldn't do that ... but then, it wouldn't make any extra money for the company or RV dealer ...

[tac422]

The good news is that it didn't get into the walls. The bad news is It was worse than I initially thought. The dealer he bought it from ( a couple of years ago) had just added new OSB and linoleum over parts of the rotted original floor. There was 1" pink insulation under the original OSB and it was dripping water. (sealed in by the plastic ) The front 4-6 feet of floor is completely gone.

floor rot4a.jpg (20.6 KiB) Viewed 2051 times

I'm wondering what to replace it with ... Pressure treated Plywood ?

Maybe this stuff ...http://www.lowes.com/pd_85795-1169-S-16 ... =advantech

or sheathing using the "mix" ?

[wagondude]

Nothing like a quick, bad repair job to cover up bad initial construction. Surely done to flip a trade in. I'm guessing the leak was around the shower pan.

[GPW]

“ The dealer he bought it from ( a couple of years ago) had just added new OSB and linoleum over parts of the rotted original floor. “ Therein lies the problem .... the dealers use the same Crap materials to fix the trailers so it rots again just as fast ... Also they use that same caulk that doesn’t seem to last very long despite all the wild claims ...

I’d go back with the best grade of flooring OSB and use the mix which we KNOW works .... and then store the whole thing INSIDE ...

It was all this RV trailer business that led us to Foamies in the first place ...

Classic trailers from yesteryear are no longer so well made ... and new trailers are lucky to survive the warranty period ... I’m not making this up , if you read the RV forums you find two types of RVers... Those that constantly inspect and chase down problems before they develop( high maintenance) and those that pay a LOT of Money to RV dealers annually for much necessary Maintenance ... Myself being OLD , I’d rather something that’s actually made to live outside , like a car, truck , house , or Foamie trailer ...


Note: When I pinned down our RV dealer about the roof sealant , he said I should inspect the whole roof , once a month , and have the caulk replaced , once a year by him ( at an annual cost of $1200.00 USD... )

[GPW]

Had we actually kept our Commercial trailer , it figured out to $5000 a year to the RV dealer to keep it in shape ... It was reported many times that those Coaches were 5 figures a year to maintain ...

The FoamStream has cost us NOTHING this year ... and although it had a minor leak (my fault) the floor didn’t rot away ... all it costs to fix was a can of Great stuff...

[lrrice]

If it is like the one I rebuilt, it was built from the floor up and the inside out so you have to tear it completely down from the outside in. Not a small job and you will probably be surprised how much rot it has especially if the leak was from the roof. Replace the fiberglass insulation with white foam so it won't hold water against the wood when it leaks again. I put a welded pvc roof on mine but it still leaked finally found it was leaking through the clearance lights but not before it warped the new paneling inside.

[GPW]

You’d think a trailer company would have learned what works and what doesn’t ... But apparently , they just don’t care .... Profit is their ONLY motivation ... The Dealers don’t mind only because they charge RIDICULOUS amounts of Money to fix these abominations , and they only fix them like the factory made them , so any repairs fail in the same amount of time ... What a RACKET !!!

[tac422]

As expected , the floor was worse than initially thought.
The water fittings under the kitchen sink were not even finger tight, and inaccessible behind a sealed factory panel.The entire front 7+ feet of the trailer was completely rotted out plus the area under the kitchen sink.
I used exterior 3/4" plywood sealed with "the mix" on all sides, and then painted on the bottom with leftover Big Pink yellow porch and floor oil based paint.
It was a challenge figuring out to remove the old floor and piece the new floor together while leaving the walls in place.
I treated all the metal (frame , tank supports , etc) with Ospho and painted with rustoleom before putting the new wood in.
It doesn't look like there is enough room for the shower trap, since I didn't remove that part I don't know if the floor was cut out to accommodate it.
In my limited plumbing experience years ago I used a "Richmond" trap or a flat trap. A quick search doesn't show any info.

[GPW]

Tac , you already know what to do , so Good Luck Dude !!! That floor should last a lot longer now ... Did you treat the other floor that survived ? ... After several generous coats of the mix even the cheapest “oatmeal “ grade of particle board was waterproofed .. It was originally used to waterproof Corrugated cardboard (paper essentially ) ...

if you ever see a commercial trailer video , it looks like ants crawling over it trying to make it as fast as they can ... just bang them together quickly and send them to the dealers .... no wonder they don’t have a chance to at least tighten the plumbing , which is a cause for failure ... They can't bother coating the wood with a waterproofing of any type , there’s no time for that , and using something that would be already waterproof would be “unprofitable” ... and they brag how quick they can make one ...
Best look for any and all little places where water can get in ... and don’t use the caulk that the RV dealers recommend , it really didn’t last worth a hoot in our summer sun ... My dealer said it would have to be replaced once a year at a cost of $1200.00 ... (what a Ripoff!!) There are much better alternatives... Eternabond tape a good one , but don’t buy it at a Rv trailer dealer .... the roofing supply stores are cheaper , and have better stuff .. Best stay away from RV dealers all together , you can find most everything you need at a much better price elsewhere, especially online ...