Wheel well and preventative work

[Summergirl]

Since purchasing our Premier Bullet 22rbpr, I have been reading over the forums (not just this one) regarding the flooring issues. They all seem to be the same. We purchased the trailer used before the warranty was out but only noticed the wheel wells after the fact. (Yes the warranty is transferable but totally useless). The warranty expired on Oct 19/19. As most have found the warranty is only as good as the paper that it is printed on.

I want to do some preventative work in the wheel wells as I have noticed that they are a bit spongy. Not to bad yet but want to fix it up before it gets worse.

We currently have it parked and covered with lots of ventilation.

I will be removing the screws around the skirting and sealing anything that looks like it could leak. This will include the threshold on the the door and the undercarriage.

I, then would like to put the hdpe in the wheel wells as another person did on the forum as we live in the Pacific North Wet and do travel down gravel roads now and then.

However......I have some questions before attempting this.

The floor structure:

Dacor wrap then luan then aluminum joists with styrofoam then luan then vinyl.
Does anyone know if the aluminum joists go beyond the frame rails?

Would it be safe to remove the luan and replace with plywood the underneath?

Weight is not the issue as we bought it for the size and layout.

Does anyone know if the aluminum joists go beyond the frame rails?

I am trying to get a general idea on how to a) stop any sagging of the luan b) hold up the hdpe.

[danf]

The aluminum goes all the way to the outside walls. It extends over the frame rails.


The luan is glued to the aluminum and styrofoam. Unless it has delaminated, it would be hard to remove. It's also going to be pinched between the aluminum and the frame rails.



You can unscrew a heater duct on the floor and bend back the tin to push down the vent to see the condition of the bottom layer at the heating duct area like in the photo. That would give you an idea if the bottom layer is bad throughout. You could also pull down the coroplast so you can see the bottom floor layer better.


I think I would try to assess just how bad the bottom layer is. If not bad, add material rather than remove/replace.

[danf]

So you can see in the photo that the top layer is tight to the styrofoam. Notice the bottom layer is not and that's because its delaminated. On mine I dropped the vent down to let it rest on the coroplast and I could reach underneath to feel just how bad it was.