Floor Removal

Another milestone!

Marco and I removed the old plywood floor in the camper. This was tough because the camper was build on top of this plywood, so it was sandwiched between two layers of aluminum and screwed into it from both sides.  Fortunately the bottom was only fastened buy a few screws.

Also all the deck screw heads were rusted. I discovered the best way to remove the plywood floor was to chisel around each screw head, or in some cased I made shallow cuts with a battery powered skill saw to expose the head.  It was easy enough to back the screw out of the light gauge aluminum C channel with vise grips.  The only difficult part was adjusting the vise grips to be tight enough, would took a lot of force to clamp it on, and once backed out, it was a bit of a hassle to get the vise grip unclamped from the screw head.

Here is a picture of a screw prior to the vise grip removal.  With a recently removed screw showing the typical state of these machine screws.

Here is the camper with the floors removed. There are a few places where the aluminum needs to be banged back into shape (see left side and right under window).

As much as I'd like to use a fiberglass floor, it seems like it would be both difficult to work with and expensive.  An attractive plywood for the exposed areas will be cheaper.  And I can save a bit more money by using still cheaper marine plywood under the closet, water tank and bathroom.   Those I would supplement with a layer of fiberglass  cloth and epoxy for a smooth water proof finish.

For the visible flooring, I have decided to use yacht style teak and holly plywood.  Still to do is, is take apart one of the ladder frames supporting one of the wings, so a piece of new plywood will fit in one piece.  I can slide it under one side, drop it down and refasten the ladder frame on the other side with pop rivets. 

In any case, I will need to take some measurements, determine a plywood floor layout--the old plywood had a seam conveniently under the water tank, and drill out some rivets to remove one of the ladder support frames under one wing to get the plywood to fit in one piece.  I also do not want any screws showing.  So my plan is to perimeter screw the plywood where aluminum C channel covers it up and to use a high strength adhesive two sided tape to secure the other areas. 

One possible issue is the open floor area may be greater than 8'.  Since the size of the panels is 4'x8' I may need to revise my planning some.  I may want to add one more floor rib at the 8' point--8' forward of the rear door.  I'll have to check with my tape measure to see if that will be a problem.

Here is what the new floor will look like.  This is what is typically used in yachts.  It is marine plywood with a teak and holly veneer on top.  Sharp looking.  I love this look on a yacht.

 

I am leaning towards teak cabinets and furniture finished as "bright work" which means high gloss vanish.  Yacht also provide ventilation for lockers so wet things can dry out.  Something to think about.  The Herreshoft syle is for white walls with teak trim.  A combination of these two is what I will likely do.  Whatever I ultimately do, it needs to be something I can wipe down easily for cleanup.