Hello,
I purchased a 1970's
Beachcomber trailer knowing that there would be a fair amount of work gutting it, and rebuilding it back to something to be proud of.
What I could not see when I was inspecting the trailer was that under the plywood floor, that where the 1x3 subfloor would be on top of the
fiberglass bottom was instead poorly fiberglassed over.
Channel area chiseled out.
The diagram shows the original
fiberglass floor (black), and then the "newer"
fiberglass matt (red) that fills in the subfloor channels. The majority of the subfloor channels do not have the reinforcing 1x3 that the plywood floor would be mounted to, the channels might fit a 1x2. The fiberglass job is inconsistent; in some areas it was very thick and bonded to the original fiberglass, in others areas I was able to rip it off with my gloves. Because not enough resin was used, there is a fiberglass matrix for dirt, moisture, and potentially mold (biggest concern). There is also a channel within each side of the subfloor that is filled with dirt.
I have tried chiseling off the newer fiberglass, before utilizing a angle grinder with a 40 grit flap disc, and a 24 grit masonry grinder. The chisel (and hammer) was extremely slow, and very hard on the body. The angle grinder produced a lot of dust (I had already sealed off the fiberglass shell, and had a shop vac positioned as best I could); the masonry disc was very aggressive (flap disc less so) and it was hard to tell where difference was between the new and old fiberglass.
The fiberglass bottom has quite a few holes (intentional and not) that I know about, I also found some more when chiseling out a small area and worry about what I will find if I continue removing the newer fiberglass.
Has anyone fully replaced the fiberglass bottom?
I see a few different options:
1. Leave the floor as is; FG the holes, add more frame support (at the front). Mold issues due to the area below the plywood?
1a. coat the new plywood floor in resin to prevent water issues,
paint the FG bottom in a mold inhibiting
paint. I doubt this would work very well due to trying to prep the poorly laid "newer" FG for
paint.
2. Replace the floor; separate the shells, flip the bottom onto some proper sawhorses, replace the floor in 3 sections (front, middle, rear) with a smooth layer of FG. Build new subfloor grid on top of new FG bottom and lose a tiny amount of inside height, use styrofoam to fill in grid squares (insulation), with plywood floor on top.
2a. build new wood floor/sub floor upside down, coat in duct tape or wax paper, FG. Flip bottom shell, attach supports, remove old floor, FG new floor in. This is huge amount of work, perhaps beyond my skill level, and paying someone else to do it is $$.
Any other options that I have missed or solutions?
Thanks!
Linear Mode
