1984 Winnebago Floor!

[NITTRO]

 !-!Hello. I am doing a Complete remodel of My Winnebago. All the insane amount of  !-wood inside has been removed. As i scrap the wood off of the sheetmetal underbelly I find that wood was pinched between the drivetrain Frame and the couch frame?? Oooops??? The sheet metal seems weak without the wood glued to it. So i have to somehow glue a non wood board to the sheet metal after i seal any holes but the unanswered question is What happens when i take the elevator bolts out and clear out the remaining wood that is inbetween the Frames??

[John]

Your post is kinda' confusing. What do you mean by elevator bolts? Where is the wood pinched by the couch? Is all the wood rotten or broken? Why are you removing all the wood on the floor? Maybe some of it can be refinished or painted if it isn't in such bad shape. I've rebuilt three motorhomes in the last twenty years and one thing I've learned is to do the job in steps instead of completely gutting the rig. Makes the job a little saner...

[Eyez Open]

Ive just had quite a experience with flooring. A yr ago i pulled the carpet up and laid down laminate flooring, things went well with one exception the floor appeared to have softened right in front of the dually's. Meaning the laminate flooring bowed a bit, felt mushy and the entire laminate floor would move as much as a 3/8-1/2" at times until last week. I rebuilt the front end suspension springs, balls joints and shocks. The Rv lifted 4" or more and one unexpected benefit....The subfloor leveled out...the laminate laying on top of it is no longer spongy, solid as a rock. I still do not understand that but im sure happy i no longer have to relay a new subfloor.

I only mention this due to the fact the suspension somehow effects the subfloor. Subfloors are rigid you bolt them in....is your suspension up and in shape??? It would be frustrating to lay a new floor down on a frame that is twisted/warped somehow due to a slopped out suspension..Again i only post this a note to what can happen, it was odd walking on the floor and feeling how stable it became.

To your walls and sheet metal, lowes sells 4x8 1/2-3/4 sheets of foam insulation that being glued to the sheet metal will greatly strengthen the walls. Your flooring should be laid out in sheets, pull up one sheet and replace it with the new sheet one sheet at a time.

[Mlw]

Wow  , I really don't want to put you down but reading what you have done I'm hoping for you that you didn't bit off much more than you can chew!!! Tearing down is easy, but building back and get the same structural integrity is a whole different game.

Going this deep will give you structural problems and not many has gone as deep as you have, or stripped the RV to a bare chassis and build something new. The strength of the coach is in the fact that everything is glued together. As you say yourself, the metal seems weak, I'm telling you the metal IS weak because it is nothing more than sheetmetal which has no structural integrity.

What did you do with the walls? because if you done the same as with the floor you will have a tremendous job to do because you need to glue all the sheetmetal back to whatever you are going to use as isolation and paneling and you will want to use hard panel isolation like the Styrofoam. That is if you don't want your sheetmetal banging away when you are driving and want the same structural integrity as your RV had when it was new.

Now as for your question for for the wood in between the frames. My best guess is that it is there for vibe reduction, same as your engine hangs in motormounts. Metal beams are straight and non forgiving so will send every vibe thru. maybe you can change it for polyurethane sheets/beams but you need to keep the weight in mind.