Forum Discussion

fozrun's avatar
fozrun
Explorer II
Oct 24, 2018

Front floor water damage need to remove heater-seats

So I hadn't used my Starcraft 21SB for 11/2 years. This summer I discovered extensive water damage to the front floor. In order to get an accurate quote for repairs, or decide to try and do it myself, I need to remove the front furniture, water heater and fold back the lino.

I've started unscrewing the box around the water heater but can't see how the back of the bench seat is attached. How do I remove it?

Can anyone point me towards videos of removing all this stuff? I've seen some floor repair videos but nothing on how they got the bench, front wall under the bunk, water heater, etc removed.

Any help appreciated!

Bob
  • Lwiddis's avatar
    Lwiddis
    Explorer II
    Oct 25, 2018
    No mold? If not, you are lucky. What year? 2007-08s are going for $6000. Floor, door and undiscovered water damage. May not be worth the effort.
  • fozrun's avatar
    fozrun
    Explorer II
    Oct 25, 2018
    Well I managed to get the front bench seat out, remove the water heater and take off the flooring all the way to the door. The floor is saturated and delaminated at the front. It looks like the water was entering along the bottom front seam due to some undetected damage that opened it up. Looks like someone backed into the front of the trailer and made a small ding. Enough to cause a gap.

    Now to see how to repair the floor.
  • Billbeat's avatar
    Billbeat
    Explorer
    Oct 25, 2018
    I had a similar problem a few years back. I posted some of the work i had to do .Click Here Hope it helps..feel free to message me any questions.
  • fozrun's avatar
    fozrun
    Explorer II
    Oct 26, 2018
    Billbeat wrote:
    I had a similar problem a few years back. I posted some of the work i had to do .Click Here Hope it helps..feel free to message me any questions.


    Thanks for the reply! It looks like you are using 2x2's as floor supports? It also looks like mine is constructed differently with the luan foam sandwich floor. However I can replace it with whatever is relatively sturdy.

    I have to figure out how to post images. Looks like I need to host them somewhere.



  • PAThwacker's avatar
    PAThwacker
    Explorer
    Dec 14, 2018
    I’d scrap it. The job you are doing involves removing entire floor, adding aluminum supports to frame, sandwiching new foam between two layers of luan. Supporting side walls, recreating front wall and putting entire project back together. Good luck!
  • camperdave's avatar
    camperdave
    Explorer
    Dec 14, 2018
    looks like you have aluminum framing, and the walls seem to be in ok shape. That's all good news! I'd definitely replace the foam sandwich you pull out with plywood just for ease of construction. Only downside is weight, but doubt it will be that much more really. And plywood will be a lot easier to work with.

    I had good luck with The Rot Doctor when I did my rebuild. I used it not only to treat damaged wood that I could not remove and replace, but also painted it on new plywood that I installed to make it waterproof for future leaks.

    on edit: I see this was a few months ago. Hope the repair went well for you!
  • fozrun's avatar
    fozrun
    Explorer II
    Dec 14, 2018
    camperdave wrote:
    looks like you have aluminum framing, and the walls seem to be in ok shape. That's all good news! I'd definitely replace the foam sandwich you pull out with plywood just for ease of construction. Only downside is weight, but doubt it will be that much more really. And plywood will be a lot easier to work with.

    I had good luck with The Rot Doctor when I did my rebuild. I used it not only to treat damaged wood that I could not remove and replace, but also painted it on new plywood that I installed to make it waterproof for future leaks.

    on edit: I see this was a few months ago. Hope the repair went well for you!


    Here's a link to another post on my repair, showing some pictures. I'm half way through, winter has set in so I'll do the rest in the spring. I think it will turn out really well and be stronger than the original. I used 1" aluminum channel riveted to the outside frame.


    Other forum post about repair

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