Drilling hole in UHaul floor - sealing

[Thomas G.]

I need to put a couple of additional holes in the floor of my UHaul to run wires to allow the TV to charge the camper battery. The floor is in excellent shape and I suspect it is because it was originally carefully laminated and the plywood inside has been protected from the elements.

So my question is: How do you reseal the edges of the hole to maintain the integrity of the lamination? Do you drill the hole oversize and insert fiberglass mesh and resin to seal the edge? Or maybe create a little mold and pour pure resin around a tube through the floor? What kind of a drill would cause the least amount of damage to the edges?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[Kevin A]

Well, I guess I wasn't nearly as thoughtful as you when I drilled our holes. I needed to run some new ground wires to one side, so I went under the trailer and drilled a new half inch hole with a regular wood bit up need the power converter. It did splinter a little, but it will never be seen inside the cabinets. When the wires were run, I filled the hole with black butyl sealant in a tube, gradually filling it from under the trailer. I'm sure it's not neat to view, but it seals out the water and coats the wood in the floor. I imagine you might also be able to get a rubber grommet that would do something similar. Needless to say, I was in a hurry because we had a trip starting the next day.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Sometime back I saw a good idea about holes in trailer floors where the wood was encapsulated. Here's I remember

Drill a hole larger than you need.
Fill the hole with resin.
After resin is cured drill the correct size hole in the center of the resin.
This keeps the wood sealed.

This would also work on Scamp with the resin coated exterior floor.

[Thomas G.]

Great idea. I was over analyzing. The resin would bond well to the freshly cut edges, then?

[james kent]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

Great idea. I was over analyzing. The resin would bond well to the freshly cut edges, then?

Yes! This is a method often used, in our canoe club, by people that make or use cedarstrip canoes or kayaks to add attachments.