Soft floors

[Stephenledoux345]

First time owner/user. I bought a 2018 37'8" tt last year.
My floors have soft spots thru out the trailer
What would cause this.?( i also have a water issue,when i hook up to city my
Fresh water tank fills and comes out of the over flow.is there
A value or something i can do to be able to use my water without it leaking

 

[Stephenledoux345]

We bought a 37'8" tt last year and there are soft spots thruout. WhT would cause this?
Also when i hook up to city water everything works but it leaks out off the 2 red plastic pipes coming out of the outside floor. (Fresh tank?).is there a value
To turn to stop the leak? Please help. If we werent on a property with a bathroom we'd be in big trouble

 

[MRF4550]

Yes, soft floors seem to be an issue. My Open Range 3X was being rented by an elderly man for 4 years. We have it back now and there are soft spots on the kitchen floor. If you look at the assembly video on YouTube you can see that tey use a styrofoam insert on top of the plywood and underneath the flooring. The styrofoam will break down over time and guess what? You get soft spots on the floor.

I did have a water problem under one of the storage areas underneath the living room and next to the water connection box and the I am in the process of addressing that problem. Hopefully it is minor work. I know of no way to actually tell if the kitchen floor is soft due to rot or broken down styrofoam

 

[JKJavelin]

MRF, the OP hasn't been back to this forum in almost a year.
Some floors do have the styrofoam sandwich, some, like mine, are plywood. (Well, the main floor is plywood, the upstairs floor is styrofoam sandwich) One thing for sure is that if water gets to it, it will produce soft floors. We had ours (main floor) replaced 4 months ago. Huge job. The shop found out the degree of damage after peeling up the vinyl. They had to remove both slideouts, the island, one cabinet and bottom step first.
They found the plywood falling apart, musty fiberglass insulation and corroded aluminum framing (that supports the plywood). I had it done by a shop in Shipshewana Indiana.
JK

 

[LadyFalcon]

I'm curious to know what it cost to have your floor replaced. We are experiencing soft spots also, with no evidence due to water.

 

[JKJavelin]

I'm curious to know what it cost to have your floor replaced. We are experiencing soft spots also, with no evidence due to water.

We also had no evidence of water....until they tore it apart. If you look outside underneath, between the wall and the frame, there is a tarp like material under the floor. I think it's called Darco. That's all the protection you've got from water. They found that the water got in through there. Part of their repair was to add aluminum sheet metal there. I also had them use marine grade plywood for the floor. The plywood is screwed to aluminum framing like they use in the walls. That framing was heavily corroded (yes!!) in spots near the tires and they "sistered" new aluminum square tubing (welded) to bolster it. They really did a lot of work.
We briefly thought about just trading it in and realized that either a dealer wouldn't take it or would give us almost nothing for it. So we bit the bullet and had it repaired for a little over....$10,000.
All of the techs at this shop used to work at the factories there in Indiana and the guy in charge is very knowledgeable.
Yeah, I had sticker shock, but he sent me a bunch of pics of the project and it was a ton of work.

 

[JKJavelin]

After pic.
They were at least able to reuse the vinyl.

 

[Lantley]

Wow JK that is quite impressive. Looks like they did and very extensive but fantastic job.
That bill is a tough pill to swallow. I had a similar bill with my Open Range that I never quite recovered from mentally. My Open Range was an overall decent unit but that 5 figure bill left a bad taste in my mouth that I will never fully recover from.
Don't get me wrong I have moved on and in the grand scheme of life. The bill is small potatoes and old news. However in my RV world the bill will never be forgotten! LOL .
I have come to believe if you plan to keep your RV or boat for 10 years or more somewhere along the line you will encounter a sizable, painful bill to have some major portion rebuilt if you desire to keep it in top condition.

One thing I admire about you through reading your post is that you have discovered the secret to getting the most out of your RV.
That secret is to use it as much as possible.
The only way to get value out of your RV is to use it.
The more you use it the more value you get!
With that in mind you can recoup your repair $$$ by using your RV and enjoying the experiences whenever possible.

 

[jarhead-ORO]

After pic.
They were at least able to reuse the vinyl.

In case I come up with the same problem, which shop did you use? Thanks ahead of time.Dave

 

[JKJavelin]

After pic.
They were at least able to reuse the vinyl.

In case I come up with the same problem, which shop did you use? Thanks ahead of time.Dave

Actually Dave, you inspired me to try them after you had some work done there. It's The Shipshewana RV Park and Service Center, where we had the CHR a couple of times. Right next to the flea market.
Before this job, I had them replace all of the outside wiper and bulb seals after our Alaska trip. The shop near my house had one excuse after another why he couldn't do it, so we did the Alaska trip with torn up seals.

 

[JKJavelin]

And yes Lantley, this sucker gets a lot of use and a lot of miles. Last time I checked it's got 91,000 towing miles, and been slept in over 900 nights. There is usually something that needs to be fixed and right now it's a pinhole leak in the fresh water tank, right by a support strap (sigh).

 

[jarhead-ORO]

They definitely do good work. I forget what I had done. I think it was one of the seals and something else that was $700 to $800. When I got there they told me $77.00. I asked them if they hadn't left a zero off. Their reply was " We saw your Purple Heart License plate so we comped your labor." Needless to say I left them a nice tip. Even though it's a 3- 4 day trip I take it to them or the factory as I have had good results at both. Just depends on who can get me in. Like you we have between 80,000 and 90,000 miles on ours. We have 2 trips planned on ours this year. One through Alberta and British Columbia to include 5 days on Vancouver Island, Then home and 10 days later on our way to Albuquerque for the Balloon Festaival. Like you said if something needs fixed we just get it done as we consider it an investment towards our enjoyment. 40 years as a mechanic I have learned that if it is mechanical something is going to break. :mrgreenave