Over the last 4 weeks we did a major project to replace the floor in the Avion. The area in the corner under the propane cabinet & heater as well as just inside the door had severe rot issues. From looking at photos of other Avion truck camper restorations it looks like these are typically the worst areas for rot. I’m not sure if it’s related to condensation from the Propane canister, or a combination of that and the old Hydro Flame heater being so close to it, or perhaps it’s just an area of these campers that leaks consistently when it rains. Originally I thought that I would just piece-in a new area for that back corner, but once I had the water tank removed up front it became obvious that an entire new floor was the right thing to do. There were also some bad soft spots in the middle that we didn't like as well. Also once I pulled up the floor tiles I found that I could see light through a gap all along the edge at the base of the right wing.
I built the new floor using 2 layers of 1/2” marine plywood and a middle layer of 1/2” polyiso foam core in the middle. The original floor was 2 layers of 1/4” plywood with 1” styrofoam core, so while new floor is about 70 lb’s heavier than the old one it’s significantly more solid and given the payload capacity of the trucks that we are considering this shouldn’t be an issue. For the runners on the bottom of the floor I used cedar 2x4’s. I used exterior wood glue and stainless screws to assemble the plywood parts and also coated the entire bottom, the outer edge, and some of the top edge with epoxy. Lastly we coated all areas of the bottom that will exposed to the elements with Herculiner pickup truck bed liner. We used Herculiner as an undercoating on our Shasta trailer ten years ago and it’s held up extremely well. We also put down some vinyl sheet flooring in the front area that will be inside a storage compartment and under the water tank, as well as some in the back corner by the propane cabinet in the old heater area that will become our shoe cabinet.
I built the new floor completely before tearing out the old one to minimize how long the camper sat without a floor in it. I initially screwed some temporary boards in to hold wings together before the tear-out, but later found that a ratchet strap pulling on the inside walls of the wings was better because the walls naturally pulled out, away from the floor, and with the strap I could adjust it. I found that a jigsaw with a long metal cutting blade used from the outside of the camper was the best way to cut the nails and screws that held the floor on the sides and front. I initially tried to pull them out but it proved impossible without destroying the outer aluminum edge. The rear bathroom corner proved to be the most difficult area to get out, with the floor coming out in small pieces using a Sawsall and hand tools. Once out most of the bottom edge was in good shape but I made some new aluminum pieces to tie the aluminum walls to the floor in both back corners and also epoxied the wood in a few areas that needed repair.
With the camper standing on its 4 jack stands I used our trailer-frame dolly to wheel the new floor underneath. We then carefully lowered the jacks while adjusting the position of the floor to get everything the line up correctly. I used PL Premium construction adhesive and stainless screws to permanently attach the new floor. Also with the camper in the air and no floor in it we took advantage of this unique time to work on some the interior wood-work while it as at a more comfortable working height.
With the new floor in the difference is amazing, no more soft spots as we walk around inside and we are now confident that structurally the camper is ready to go full speed on the rest of the project!
