Glassing a replacement floor - Necessary?

[Carl G]

I've just about finished taking all of the cabinets of my 1987 Lil Bigfoot and want to replace the 3/4" plywood. Is it necessary to fiberglass around the edges. I've got a solid fiberglass bottom, so I'm thinking that it shouldn't be necessary, but thought I would check first.

Thanks everyone!
Carl

[Robert Johans]

I've just about finished taking all of the cabinets of my 1987 Lil Bigfoot and want to replace the 3/4" plywood. Is it necessary to fiberglass around the edges. I've got a solid fiberglass bottom, so I'm thinking that it shouldn't be necessary, but thought I would check first.

Thanks everyone!
Carl

With a solid fiberglass bottom, some problems can occur when water comes from some source above (water line failure, leaking window or vent, etc.), and is consequently trapped between your fiberglass and your plywood subfloor. It may not be necessary to "fiberglass" the edges, but I would recommend a good sealant on all sides of your subfloor. I prefer a two-part epoxy paint, that when dries, is waterproof.

[peterh]

In our Surfside the trailer walls have about 2" of fiberglass overlap at the edges of the the floor; it's what supports the walls of the trailer. Around to the door, where there was wood rot in the floor and the edges sagged, our trailer shell deformed, cracked, and made the door fit badly.

Our plan is to replace the floor with MDA (medium density overlay) plywood. MDA has one surface that's bonded to an epoxy-impregnated layer of paper, making a tough, water-tight, perfectly smooth surface. That's the side that will be facing "up" when we get it installed this summer.

[Robert Johans]

In our Surfside the trailer walls have about 2" of fiberglass overlap at the edges of the the floor; it's what supports the walls of the trailer. Around to the door, where there was wood rot in the floor and the edges sagged, our trailer shell deformed, cracked, and made the door fit badly.

Our plan is to replace the floor with MDA (medium density overlay) plywood. MDA has one surface that's bonded to an epoxy-impregnated layer of paper, making a tough, water-tight, perfectly smooth surface. That's the side that will be facing "up" when we get it installed this summer.

Yo Peter,
Dontcha mean "MDO"?

[peterh]

Yo Peter,
Dontcha mean "MDO"?

MDO. Can't claim the usual typo there, now can I? Not neighboring keys, not under opposing fingers, not on the same row . . . it's a VOWEl! That's it, they're both vowels! Justifies the typo, methinks





Not.

[Robert Johans]

MDO. Can't claim the usual typo there, now can I? Not neighboring keys, not under opposing fingers, not on the same row . . . it's a VOWEl! That's it, they're both vowels! Justifies the typo, methinks





Not.

Oh, those pesky vowels...

[kellyben]

I've recently acquired a Surfside with a good bit of floor rot. So far, I've pulled up all of the flooring in the rear of the trailer and I'm mulling my options as far as what to replace it with.

With the way the original floors were glassed down in these trailers, it seems as though a CDX-grade plywood would offer the greatest potential to bond to the fiberglass, but doesn't offer anything in the way of resisting rot. Alternatively, the MDO offers much more rot resistance, but (in my mind) it doesn't seem as though the epoxy would penetrate into it to create a strong bond with the fiberglass.

Peter, can you chime in on how you ended up tackling this with your Surfside?

[Ian-Vicki]

Originally Posted by peterh

MDO. Can't claim the usual typo there, now can I? Not neighboring keys, not under opposing fingers, not on the same row . . . it's a VOWEl! That's it, they're both vowels! Justifies the typo, methinks





Not.

Ahhhhh. I suspect vowel play.

[Francesca Knowles]

Your best water protection efforts should be directed towards preventing water from getting to the floor again...I doubt there's any subsurface that will stand up to longterm water intrusion.

That having been said:

My Trillium has marine plywood under the thirty-five year old fiberglassed floor and it's still as sound as a dollar. But I don't know if you can even buy similar plywood any more, standards in that department having changed so much.

Francesca

[RRJR]

Maine plywood would do the job and you might look at a composite type of board simular to the outside decking material