Another wat er damaged floor - 2006 Aerolite Cub BH23

Wow, that is some decent work, Sir! And to think, some guys get all frazzled when a cabinet door hinge loosens, lol.
Good on 'ya for keeping another travel trailer on the road. Now that you have the floor good and stable you can look forward to many days of camping in the future. In a few years this will be an interesting story to share around the campfire when someone mentions a damaged floor in their trailer.

Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures and explain the process.

First let me say thank you to Limoges for the excellent posts and photos.

SWMBO and I went and looked at an Aerolite Cub a few weeks ago and liked it but the floor was shot. I read these posts before deciding to buy it anyway. I thought I could easily fix it.

Got it home and realized it was so far gone only a complete new floor would save it. So I had to lift the camper off the floor. What I did was first gut the interior, everything except the wall cabinet over the sink. Then I pulled the wheel wells so I could run a 4x4 straight across to lift the back. In the front I was hoping to just remove the access doors and run a 4x4 through there. Problem was there is no framing in the walls except a metal frame around the water heater opening. I created lifting brackets out of plywood with bolts running through the aluminum frame at the bottom of the wall and ran the 4x4 through a hole cut in the plywood. The last thing I did before lifting was fit 2x8s across the interior down low to stiffen up the walls so they didn't flare out while the camper was in the air.

Here you can see how much the sidewalls sagged below the trailer frame. A little over an inch.


Here are the lifting brackets I came up with. The 3/8" bolts go through the aluminum frame at the bottom of the wall. The gold headed screws go into the 2x8s I ran across to stiffen the walls for lifting.


Between the wheels another 4x4 with a 2x4 used to distribute the weight across the upper part of the wheel opening.


Camper up on sawhorses and trailer/floor pulled out from under it.


Most of the flooring stripped off the trailer. Notice the complete lack of joists. There were actually 2 joists right in front and behind the wheels but they are so thin they do nothing.


To rebuild the floor I needed to keep the floor thickness at about 2" because that is all the sidewall you have that extends below the wall frame. Any thicker and then I would have had to create some new angle trim at the bottom to wrap around the bottom of the floor. I went from bottom to top:
Heavy plastic sheathing
1/8 plywood
2x4 'joists' laid flat
3/8 BC plywood
Linoleum

I filled in between the joists with the extruded green styrofoam. And the floor is more than sturdy enough. I finished the floor, backed the trailer under and lowered the body back down. All of the cabinets are back in, electric reconnected and plumbing leak tested. A few pieces of trim and a new gas line for the fridge and I'll be done.

Good to be almost finished but I would absolutely advise against trying this. If I had known I would have had to lift the body off I would have never bought this thing. Maybe if you get one for free it would be worth it. This was a huge amount of work!

Update: Sold this in late summer 2016 for $3,000

Just picked up our new TT, fingers crossed for no leaks.

Habs wrote:
I have read your post.. and I have an identical issue..The entire floor is warped,and forming mold... So ,, IN the end what did you do ?.
AND
Where was the leak for your trailor.. Was it from under the trailor.. or was it a toilet flood, or shower flood..

I bought the trailor used. and the owner told me there was a soft floor at the step just coming into trailor............... Well.. NOt so true.. THE entire floor is rotted.

Look forward to your return.

AeroCub 2002- UltraLight

Sure sounds like you got the same issues as I did (hopefully in past tense), here.

The leak happened because I believe they had a tire blowout that damaged the wheel well. From that point on, water was coming into the flooring because the wheel well no longer sealed it properly.

What did I end up doing? I thought I covered it well in this thread. As far as going after the previous guy: no, I didn't.

There is still some work to do now that Winter is over: I'm going to be upgrading the electronics, and possibly adding some shelves: the mods pages in this site are simply amazing! Tons of great ideas.

Oh, I forgot: I'm going to be replacing most of the outdoor rubber components as they are showing signs of U.V. and weather degradation (cracking). That will ensure that the trailer stays dry in those spots. I'm also going to take the A/C apart, and look at all the seams where the roofing meets with protrusions, and ensure they are all in good condition (or remedy, like I did the bathroom vent).

LVJJJ wrote:
LC, I feel your pain, but your's is much worse than mine.

The last 3 used TT's I've bought have all had water damage, each time I thought they didn't and believed the seller's claims. At 69 and after 25 years of RV'ing one would think I would have learned (dumb and dumber).

The 85 Wilderness (Oct. 2011) looked pristine inside and out, but 3 of the corners were sawdust and the bathroom floor gone. Bathroom floor on the 98 Wilderness (oct. 2014) had been replaced before I bought it. But the underside wasn't sealed at all. '04 Tahoe (Mar. 2015) had had entire floor replaced but still had front water damage.
Entire floor was rebuilt with 2x3 stringers from front to back and covered with 3/4 OSB (overkill but solid). But water poured out from underneath when I cut into fabric covering, insulation was soaked.

So, I've got a lot of wet RV repair experience.

To seal stains and odors, I used BIN, a shellac based primer that ServePro type businesses use to block smoke odors cause by fire damage.

Also used Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES) to seal and restore partially rotted studs and joists they use in boats so they don't have to rip out keels etc. Other CPES products will actually rebuild
the wood back to original.

Now working on odor. Trying Kanberra Tree Oil, vanilla candles and Febreez.

Thanks for the thread, was very informative for me, sorry you had to go thru this.

Yeah: you seem to have gotten the crappy end of the deal. At least when I sell mine, I'll know for sure it's in great shape.

LC, I feel your pain, but your's is much worse than mine.

The last 3 used TT's I've bought have all had water damage, each time I thought they didn't and believed the seller's claims. At 69 and after 25 years of RV'ing one would think I would have learned (dumb and dumber).

The 85 Wilderness (Oct. 2011) looked pristine inside and out, but 3 of the corners were sawdust and the bathroom floor gone. Bathroom floor on the 98 Wilderness (oct. 2014) had been replaced before I bought it. But the underside wasn't sealed at all. '04 Tahoe (Mar. 2015) had had entire floor replaced but still had front water damage.
Entire floor was rebuilt with 2x3 stringers from front to back and covered with 3/4 OSB (overkill but solid). But water poured out from underneath when I cut into fabric covering, insulation was soaked.

So, I've got a lot of wet RV repair experience.

To seal stains and odors, I used BIN, a shellac based primer that ServePro type businesses use to block smoke odors cause by fire damage.

Also used Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES) to seal and restore partially rotted studs and joists they use in boats so they don't have to rip out keels etc. Other CPES products will actually rebuild
the wood back to original.

Now working on odor. Trying Kanberra Tree Oil, vanilla candles and Febreez.

Thanks for the thread, was very informative for me, sorry you had to go thru this.

I have read your post.. and I have an identical issue..The entire floor is warped,and forming mold... So ,, IN the end what did you do ?.
AND
Where was the leak for your trailor.. Was it from under the trailor.. or was it a toilet flood, or shower flood..

I bought the trailor used. and the owner told me there was a soft floor at the step just coming into trailor............... Well.. NOt so true.. THE entire floor is rotted.

Look forward to your return.

AeroCub 2002- UltraLight

SailorSteve wrote:
My heart goes out to you. Good job. I had virtually the same trailer (2003 Aerolite Cub 236) and the exact same thing happened. The leak was primarily from the front bunk hinge. It rotted all the way back to the bathroom.

Knowing that the floor had luan ply on both sides of the foam that needed replacing or re-engineering with metal floor joists, I decided to cut my losses. Sold it for $2,500 because I knew I'd never get it fixed right.

I'm truly surprised that there hasn't been a class action lawsuit on this flooring design, which is still used today. It works great when new (lite, strong, well insulated). But if you get a minor leak, you are screwed. There's thousands of RV's out there with "spongy floors" because of this poorly executed design and choice of materials. It's made worse by the undercarriage barrier which keeps the moisture in and creates a better environment for rot and mold.

Enjoy your camping trips.

I was asking myself the same question. I wonder if Keystone is going to make some changes? To be honest, there is not one part of this trailer that I was impressed with the workmanship.

Now I have to worry about the hinges: great... Do you recall what was the cause of the leak?

My heart goes out to you. Good job. I had virtually the same trailer (2003 Aerolite Cub 236) and the exact same thing happened. The leak was primarily from the front bunk hinge. It rotted all the way back to the bathroom.

Knowing that the floor had luan ply on both sides of the foam that needed replacing or re-engineering with metal floor joists, I decided to cut my losses. Sold it for $2,500 because I knew I'd never get it fixed right.

I'm truly surprised that there hasn't been a class action lawsuit on this flooring design, which is still used today. It works great when new (lite, strong, well insulated). But if you get a minor leak, you are screwed. There's thousands of RV's out there with "spongy floors" because of this poorly executed design and choice of materials. It's made worse by the undercarriage barrier which keeps the moisture in and creates a better environment for rot and mold.

Enjoy your camping trips.

Hi Limoges_Camper,
Great work. I was taxed just reading of all your labor.

The NEC limits the number of 15 or 20 amp branch circuits in an 30 amp rv distribution panel to a maximum of 5. The practice of tying the converter to another branch circuit at the panel is a common practice among manufacturers to conform to this requirement. I also isolated my converter for similar control reasons.

Limoges_Camper wrote:

I looked in the panel, and found the hot line feeding the converter, and noticed it was connected to the same breaker that the non-GFI 120V circuit was connected to. I also noticed that there was an empty breaker spot on the panel. How cheap, Dutchmen...

The plan: to tap into the control voltage circuitry of the inverter, and use it to energize a relay that will disable the converter circuit (which I will move to a separate breaker on the panel).

So, we finally went camping! yay... I twisted my ankle and had the worst tooth ache ever, so I pretty much stayed in the trailer all 3 nights. :)

The plus side: all mechanical system seem to be working fine. We had a 2 service site, so we were able to have all the water pressure we wanted. Just had to make sure not to fill the grey water tank too quickly. Note to self: buy a grey/black water caddy, as well as a fresh water one.

I can't wait for the LED lights to come in! yay!

On a side note, the vent from the black water tank was loose: made the trailer stink up real bad. I had to fix that. I'll do a permanent fix next spring...

The furnace was able to keep us warm when it was close to freezing (low 30s in F, 1-2 degrees in C).