Renovation advice

[idtracey]

I acquired my '81 Dolphin from a friend's grandmother earlier this year. She hadn't used it after her husband died 4 years ago. Up until 4 years ago it had been very well kept and the chassis is still in excellent mechanical condition. The problem is the coach. On top of it being old and mostly original, she didn't understand proper storage so there are a few issues I need to resolve. The water system wasn't properly drained and the water heater ended up bursting during a hard freeze – which left water sitting on the floor in the front of the cabin for however long it took to dry out on it's own. The home also wasn't properly covered and leaked around the roof vents and door causing some additional water damage to the ceiling, wall and floor. Because of the water damage, the floor has two large soft spots that need to be addressed. The coach is also nearing 30 years old and is beginning to show signs of rear end sag with a total drop of nearly 1 inch from the spot where the frame extension meets the original Toyota chassis to the back wall.

Most of the repairs and renovations I have figured out and can do in stages so that I don't have to take my toyhome out of service for an extended period. Even the floor sag will be only about a days worth of work to straighten the frame extension and weld in some reinforcements. It's the floor that has me stumped. I'd really like to avoid using an overlay to reinforce the floor since that option adds weight and brings the floor that much closer to the ceiling. But I'm not exactly sure how to go about replacing the floor. One thought I had was that I could pre-build some sandwich panels and replace the floor in sections working from the front to the back. That way I wouldn't have the entire floor removed at one time and would only have to disconnect a portion of the chassis mounts with each section replaced. It would also let me save the rear section (which requires removal of the bathroom) for this fall after I've done all my camping for the season. Will this work? Has anybody else replace their floor or know of one that was replaced? How was it done?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[shandamac]

Hi there IDT,

I've been away from the forum for a week or so, and doing some catching up. I've not done any floor work on my little rader, but did want to get your post back in the loop. We have some major helpful people on this list.

Have a great week.

shanda

[Iris (The Netherlands)]

I have read somewhere that for caravans whose floors have sagging spots due to frequent use, they can inject the floor with some chemical to strengthen it. Maybe you can google on that possibility. I'll try to find where I read that.

[T.A.J.]

Hello.

I've got a '84 Dolphin and tried for weeks to get someone to install air bags to my tired springs and take out the sag in the rear. No one could find air bags that would work on anything older than '86. I was refered to a buisness that builds off road vehicles in Four Corners MT. and this guy installed Timbrens where the air bags would have gone. They are a solid rubber support(no air). No more sag, sway, and the RV corners awesomely!!!! I hope this info is of some help.

T.A.J.