Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
Without going into too much painful detail, we had a mishap several week-ends ago. While working with sand bag crews on the Mississippi River, the truck and camper fell into the flood waters as a road...
Forum Discussion
Dang, D, there’s that “P” word again! Why put plywood back into an area where it failed?
Composites and synthetics are so bulletproof that I don’t understand not using them in a situation like this. Granted they are more expensive - significantly more - but you’ll only have to do this repair once.
Always a chance I’ve misunderstood your intentions. You mention a coosa, foam, plywood sandwich. Can you describe this in a bit more detail? I suppose if you carefully coated the plywood with epoxy and caulked any penetration carefully, it might outlast you, but to my mind, why worry...?
On to particulars, I’m not certain how you can make the floor one piece under your circumstances. That’s why I suggested cutting the layout in half along the long axis of the camper. If you’re concerned about joint failure, you could overlap the (at least) two layers of flooring so the seams were offset six or eight inches with each layer. When you layer each board in, whatever material you decide on, you should be epoxying it to the layer below, like a peanut butter sandwich...
That will create a stiff, permanent floor for the cabover. As for the corner obstructions, you’ll just need to be creative!
West Systems epoxy (not to be confused with West Marine, the retailer), is the state of the art product for this project. Go to their website and you will find excellent product descriptions and instructional guidance. YouTube has many worthwhile videos on using the material in various applications. You want to focus on the 105 Epoxy system. You can choose from three different hardeners to get things to set up at a speed that you’ll be comfortable with. My advice is to go slow. Hurrying invites error.
As for quantities, I can’t really give you much guidance without being on hand.
I have attached pics of the curved molding so you can accurately shape the ends of the new floor to fit as snugly as possible on the outside edge. Once you slide the floor into the outer curve with thickened epoxy to bed it, you will have a bombproof repair. Using screws instead of rivets to pull the bottom aluminum layer of the shell up into the flooring is certainly an acceptable solution. I suggest truss head stainless sheet metal screws, well caulked.
As for final finish on the floor of the bed, a coat of epoxy would be the simplest. You will have coated it anyway in the assembly process. You could then paint it if you wished. Adding more material just increases weight. As I said, I used the 1/8” x 4’x8’ white fiberglass shower and kitchen panels from Lowe’s, but I have a different setup than you will have.
I have a cutoff of the curved molding from my build. Ck out these pics. Let me know if any other views or dimensions would be helpful.
Scratch your head about all this and let me know what you’re thinking. It’s a process and you’ll come up with a solution that will do the job and will be (mostly) in your comfort zone Also, shop around for West epoxy. I think prices vary.
Onward!
Composites and synthetics are so bulletproof that I don’t understand not using them in a situation like this. Granted they are more expensive - significantly more - but you’ll only have to do this repair once.
Always a chance I’ve misunderstood your intentions. You mention a coosa, foam, plywood sandwich. Can you describe this in a bit more detail? I suppose if you carefully coated the plywood with epoxy and caulked any penetration carefully, it might outlast you, but to my mind, why worry...?
On to particulars, I’m not certain how you can make the floor one piece under your circumstances. That’s why I suggested cutting the layout in half along the long axis of the camper. If you’re concerned about joint failure, you could overlap the (at least) two layers of flooring so the seams were offset six or eight inches with each layer. When you layer each board in, whatever material you decide on, you should be epoxying it to the layer below, like a peanut butter sandwich...
That will create a stiff, permanent floor for the cabover. As for the corner obstructions, you’ll just need to be creative!
West Systems epoxy (not to be confused with West Marine, the retailer), is the state of the art product for this project. Go to their website and you will find excellent product descriptions and instructional guidance. YouTube has many worthwhile videos on using the material in various applications. You want to focus on the 105 Epoxy system. You can choose from three different hardeners to get things to set up at a speed that you’ll be comfortable with. My advice is to go slow. Hurrying invites error.
As for quantities, I can’t really give you much guidance without being on hand.
I have attached pics of the curved molding so you can accurately shape the ends of the new floor to fit as snugly as possible on the outside edge. Once you slide the floor into the outer curve with thickened epoxy to bed it, you will have a bombproof repair. Using screws instead of rivets to pull the bottom aluminum layer of the shell up into the flooring is certainly an acceptable solution. I suggest truss head stainless sheet metal screws, well caulked.
As for final finish on the floor of the bed, a coat of epoxy would be the simplest. You will have coated it anyway in the assembly process. You could then paint it if you wished. Adding more material just increases weight. As I said, I used the 1/8” x 4’x8’ white fiberglass shower and kitchen panels from Lowe’s, but I have a different setup than you will have.
I have a cutoff of the curved molding from my build. Ck out these pics. Let me know if any other views or dimensions would be helpful.
Scratch your head about all this and let me know what you’re thinking. It’s a process and you’ll come up with a solution that will do the job and will be (mostly) in your comfort zone Also, shop around for West epoxy. I think prices vary.
Onward!
