Moisture under the bed floor

[Wifenix]

Hi,
Two years ago, I bought a used 2004 Northern Lite. I recently discovered moisture under the bed floor wall paper. I had to remove the plywood and studs that were damaged, and for some part I hit the fiberglass shell. I think I'm gonna have to remove the whole bed floor.

What are your dos and don'ts for that kind of restoration ? Are the studs a structural component ? Can I break the bared fiberglass shell by putting weight on it ?

Thank you in advance for your tips

[Sjm9911]

How much moisture? Having dammage from water tends to have it be a leak and not just moisture. Before fixing anything, it would be best to locate the why first. Otherwise you may not be fixing anything. Then fix and dry it out.

[NSP-Biker]

LOL markchengr I find it amusing your sig shows "Senior Member", joining in 2009, and I'm a "new member" having joined in 2005. I guess I don't post much 🙂

[markchengr]

When I drilled a hole through my 2008 NL roof, I was disappointed to find just how thin the layer of fiberglass is. It is truly just a very thin shell with styrofoam glued to it. The styrofoam probably has more stuctural strength than the egg shell thickness of fiberglass.

[NSP-Biker]

I learned a difficult lesson with moisture under the floor. A little long, bear with me...

I had noticed moisture in the basement but blew it off to spillage or seepage or whatever. Bad me.

Background - I'm hard on my equipment, 4X4, rough roads, etc. One time I got into a tight dead-end and while doing a multi-point turn a backed fully into a bush - but not a bush, a brush-covered stump. Water immediately began pouring out the plumbing hatch, the corner I hit. I had cracked the glass and the water was the draining of the grey water tank. I went home.

I had to cut the floor open to get at the tank. What I found was disheartening to say the least. My impact had sheared the drain line at the tank. Worse was that I found the tank, with a play in it's "bay" had roughly a 1/4" play all around and in my adventures two of three inlets had broken and were misaligned. The three inlets were the lav sink, kitchen sink and the vent to the roof. I had been feeding that tank about 1/2, the remainder being the seepage to the basement. It's fixed now, the tank fittings, with expanding foam used to buffer the tank from movement and the hole in the floor covered by carpet. The subfloor is still a mess.

The lesson is to investigate any suspicious water immediately.

[Wifenix]

Fisherman wrote:
Yes the wood is required for structural support. The fiberglass shell is just that, a shell, not meant to be unsupported.

Thanks

[Wifenix]

Bert the Welder wrote:
I think most of what's there is gonna be structural. I've even seen NL staff tell people they should put the bed side cabinets back as they are part of the structure.
And I wouldn't put weight, like kneeling on, the bare shell.
But that's just my thinking. Why even risk making bad go really bad.
Did you find the leak?

Not yet... I didn't want to put to much weight on the shell so I just removoed the easiest parts. It's either the left side window or years of condensation from the mattress trapped under the wallpaper of the bed floor.

My model don't have any cabinets in the bed area. I'll try to squeeze a plywood under the shell before working on it. To be sure I dont tear up the fiberglass.

[Bert_the_Welder]

I think most of what's there is gonna be structural. I've even seen NL staff tell people they should put the bed side cabinets back as they are part of the structure.
And I wouldn't put weight, like kneeling on, the bare shell.
But that's just my thinking. Why even risk making bad go really bad.
Did you find the leak?

[Fisherman]

Yes the wood is required for structural support. The fiberglass shell is just that, a shell, not meant to be unsupported.