replacing floor

[maranatha]

Hey everyone!!

I just bought a 1983 Toyota Sunrader and I need to replace the wooden floor as it is spongy in places. My question is: What is under the floor as far as bracing? I don't want to tear it out and find out that I have made a huge mistake. I could always put 1/2" plywood over the existing floor but I would rather replace it if it is not a nightmare. Has anyone done htis before? Thanks for your help.

[Gulfstream Greg]

Don't tear it out. The floor really is not reparable on its own. The sunrader floor consists of 3/8 inch ply on top, a foam core and a aluminum skin on the bottom all glued together as a sandwich. The pieces de-laminate and the floor then flexes giving the soft feel. 1/2 inch plywood put down on the top helps. I did that with our past sunrader. I chose not to glue it down in case it had to be removed for some reason. I did screw it down about every 8 inches or so. Made a huge difference. Here is a link to the Sunrader Classic Brochure, it shows the floor and roof construction http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/uploads/1169594953/gallery_1_48_201768.pdf

[84TOYRV]

What about an 84 Dolphin? Has anybody had any experience replacing the floors in them?

[WME]

Alot of the Toys use a glued together roof, ply-foam-ply. If its good enough there why not a floor??

Any I removed the carpet,PIA, cut a single piece of 1/2" foam to an exact fit, glued it down and then did the same for 1/2" cabinet grade plywood. The ply is 8 layers.

Added some screws and the floor is ridged and warmer. Cover it with vinyl flooring.

[Diesel_Aggie]

Sunrader Floors: You will note in old posts that the problem is really a lack of supporting beams under the floor. I had some success in putting a 2"x2"x3/16" piece of angle iron slightly in front of the rear axle spanning the top of the frame rails. This really stiffened up the floor. Only problem is the frame rails start going up at this point which resulted in a slight hump in the floor. Using thinner angle iron would have helped some. The fuel tank was in the way of putting another cross bar in further up. With the tank out I strongly suspect that would work too.

The floor is glassed in around the perimeter so full replacement is basically not possible. An idea we came up with but have not tried would be to section cut out the area between the cabinets making sure the saw blade does not protrude farther than needed to cut the top layer of wood. You could now scrape out the potentially broken down foam and replace. You might be able to glue it to gain rigidity or use hard spray foam. Then put replacement wood back down on top. Like I said this is just a brainstorm and has not been tested.

[JohnW]

I cut the bad piece out and replaced it with a piece of plywood and then oriented strand board (OSB) glued with construction adhesive and screwed. The floor is tight now. Recommend OSB for torsional strength. ( Though with substantial weather it will start to flake off, the structural integrity will not be impaired. Plywood, even cdx, will delaminate and loose its structural integrity with water. Plywood has structural strength in only one direction, osb in two.)

[85mirage]

Heres a link to picts of my floor removed. Its an 86 SHasta revere with aluminum floor joists. There was a layer of screwed plywood then luan/paneling glued to ridgid foam insulation thats in between joists with sheetmetal skin underneath facing pavement. I replaced old ply floor with primed 3/4 ac ply. hope this helps.