13 Boler floor

[Scotty tee]

I am in the early stages of rebuilding my trailer and am looking for advice on the floor. I just finished patching and painting the frame and am about to put he body back on. The body has plywood attached at the ends which seems to actually be in decent condition would it be worth it to fibreglass the underside to add some more protection or is there some sort of brush on product that would be better?

[K Ann]

Hi Scott,



We're in the midst of re-glassing the bottom tab to the newly replaced floors of our Scamp having just finished recreating the upper floor tab. It's a sticky, messy job since it requires defying gravity with resin and the fabric. But I've figured out how to make small batches of resin and work quickly. I don't know if there's a better alternative. What I can say is that glassing the floor tab from the bottom is doable. Let us know how you get on. If you want any more detail of how I'm doing it, just ask.

[Scotty tee]

Did you use regular plywood or some sort of pressure treated/ marine grade?

[K Ann]

We used pressure-treated 1/2 plywood. Before installing we painted it with outdoor deck stain that we had on hand. I would have preferred something that would have soaked into the wood better but it is what it is.

[thrifty bill]

Completely sealing the bottom creates a Casita problem: water that leaks on the inside is trapped and rots out the floor. Better to leave it exposed where you can easily inspect it. There are alternatives to plywood such as Coosa board. Relatively expensive per sheet but i you ou won’t use that much.

[K Ann]

Oh, I wish I talked with you before making the choice of plywood. Coosa does sound familiar since I took my basic fiberglassing advice from a Youtuber who does boat repair. Now that I've glassed-in the top tab of the floor, I did notice pooling when we left the roof vent open during a rain. My own home-made tabs reach pretty far onto the floor so there was no water sitting on wood, at least in this instance. I was able to sop up the water and no harm was done. My thoughts on sealing completely was to prevent mosquitos' and flies' entry. I wonder if small drain holes might be placed strategically. Just a thought. Thanks again for the input, Bill.