Bigfoot floor replacement

[SandraD]

Any ideas on how to go about this? We've stripped the Bigfoot down to the insulation and plywood and can now see that the floor is rotten in 2 or 3 areas. The problem is that it is fiberglassed in at the edges so it can't be lifted out, and we are scared to cut into it for fear of puncturing the trailer bottom. Is there a technique for this?

[Ginni]

Oh my gosh. I just had a moment of deja vu. We did the exact same thing with our 13 foot bigfoot a year ago. I almost screamed thinking I had gone back in time and had to do it all over again. Then I noticed you posted a reply to my bunkbed modification. It's like I am reliving a nightmare.

My husband did the cutting out of the old plywood with an anglegrinder with a zip blade on it. He said if you have access to a die grinder it would work better because it has a smaller blade and can get around sharper corners. As it was, he had to use our dremel rotory saw for the sharper corners. After we got the new plywood in he fiberglassed around the edges again. It was alot of work but worth it. We now know that what is underneith us is in good shape.

I'll post some pictures when I get a chance

[SandraD]

Ginni - we have a 2 year-old and a 7 year-old too, and we live in southern BC! You are my Doppelganger!

What year is your Bigfoot? Ours is a 1990.

One more question about the floor if you don't mind - how do you keep the grinders and dremel tips from cutting right through the plywood and into the underlying fiberglass?

[Ginni]

Go ahead and ask me as many questions as you want. Our trailer is a 1987. Below is a cross section of the trailer. The old floor in ours didn't go all the way to the wall. The fiberglass you are cutting through doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the shell. As you see in the picture below, you will be cutting through the fiberglass that is attaching the plywood to the shell. It is no more then 1/4 inch thick. Just cut allong the edge of the plywood and you will be ok. That first cut is scary.





I hope the picture works and makes sense.
Again, ask away.

[Bill Abbay]

Ginni,

Gee, no layer of insulation in the floor?

[Brian B-P]

Ginni,

Gee, no layer of insulation in the floor?

At first I thought Bill was joking, taking a shot at those of use who are non-Bigfoot owners and thus deprived of proper insulation... then I realized that Ginni has a (little) Bigfoot.

So, Bill, do the recent series Bigfeet have insulated floors? More of that EPS foam, perhaps?

[SandraD]

Go ahead and ask me as many questions as you want. Our trailer is a 1987. Below is a cross section of the trailer. The old floor in ours didn't go all the way to the wall. The fiberglass you are cutting through doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the shell. As you see in the picture below, you will be cutting through the fiberglass that is attaching the plywood to the shell. It is no more then 1/4 inch thick. Just cut allong the edge of the plywood and you will be ok. That first cut is scary.


Attachment 2455


I hope the picture works and makes sense.
Again, ask away.

Ginni,

Thank you so much - that makes perfect sense. My husband was freaking about cutting into the floor and we didn't think we'd actually find somebody here who had done the repairs since the Lil' Bigfoots are such a rare breed. This is great!

[Bill Abbay]

At first I thought Bill was joking, taking a shot at those of use who are non-Bigfoot owners and thus deprived of proper insulation... then I realized that Ginni has a (little) Bigfoot.

So, Bill, do the recent series Bigfeet have insulated floors? More of that EPS foam, perhaps?

No, not joking or poking fun. The floor is about the only place I haven't drilled on ours. I thought it had an inch or so of foam, but didn't see that in Ginni's picture. Seems if it was there it would make floor removal/repair a bit easier. As for what's under my 2002, I'll just have to look.

I've repaired rotten floors on two previous stickies and would think that doing the same on a Bigfoot would be harder. Gutsy move but definitely worth doing.

[Donna D.]

Sandra, can you just replace the 2-3 sections..or, is it necessary to replace the entire floor. A number of folks have had some rot problems and have replaced just sections. Maybe they can answer up

[Ginni]

No, not joking or poking fun. The floor is about the only place I haven't drilled on ours. I thought it had an inch or so of foam, but didn't see that in Ginni's picture. Seems if it was there it would make floor removal/repair a bit easier. As for what's under my 2002, I'll just have to look.

I've repaired rotten floors on two previous stickies and would think that doing the same on a Bigfoot would be harder. Gutsy move but definitely worth doing.

Well Bill, I was trying to decide if you were joking too. But to answer your question, there is no insulation on the floor. Just plywood with the fiberglass shell underneith. Maybe the newer ones are different.

[Bill MacDermod]

I got lost when someone said the only 1/4" thick, is that the fiberglass?? certainly not the floor. The other thing is we have a friend whose floor needed replacing so we just laid the new plywood over the old. is that not an option for some reason here?

[Ginni]

I got lost when someone said the only 1/4" thick, is that the fiberglass?? certainly not the floor. The other thing is we have a friend whose floor needed replacing so we just laid the new plywood over the old. is that not an option for some reason here?

The 1/4 inch is refering to the fiberglass that goes all the around the edge of the plywood to attach it to the shell. I think we used 5/8" plywood. I'm not an expert at this but I think if you put new plywood over the old you might have some problems around the door. Part of the door frame slides in over top of the plywood.

[GrahamD]

I didn't realize there had been more activity on this. We didn't want to put another layer and leave the rotten wood to...well, keep rotting! And we couldn't really just replace sections because they would have been unsupported. Anyway, it was quite a job but it worked out and we reglued the fiberglass to the plywood while we were at it.

We're working on bellyband (btw, just for interest Bigfoot chose an unbelievably bad method of attaching the 2 halves of the trailer - there is no lip on either, they simply slide top over bottom and are punctured every 3 inches by screws that go into a piece of wood on the inside. When you remove a screw your top half sags down over your bottom- you cannot imagine the work it has been replacing the interior wood. And EVERY single screw was rusted beyond recognition because of the leaky exterior seal) and windows now. And as a bonus we now know every single layer of every portion of the Lil' Bigfoot if anyone has questions on anatomy.

Oh, and there is definitely no insulation in the floor of the Lil' Bigfoot.

[stevelilbigfoot]

Hi Graham,
Do you still have your lil bigfoot? I am looking at replacing my floor this spring and have many questions.

[stevelilbigfoot]

Or are there any recent lil bigfoot 13' owners out there who have done a floor replacement recently or are still active?