Rear Floor Replacement & Bathroom Remodel Part 1
Scope Creep- or Since I’m Here I Might As Well…
We bought Tess in May 2020- just a couple of months into the pandemic but ahead of the curve on the crazy price spike that RV’s went through in the following months. As naive newbies we thought she was in fantastic condition- and overall she really was. Polished a few years prior she was getting a little dull but not bad. The interior was all original except for curtains and cushions, which we loved- we were lucky enough to find a mahogany interior, but to have it be in nearly perfect condition was a rare find. The stove and fridge were original and working and the previous owner had the propane/electric absorption fridge rebuilt just a year before. The water pump worked, but he said he’d never used the hot water heater, shower or toilet so he didn’t know the status of them- in retrospect that seems unlikely, but who knows? We weren’t wild about the carpet squares he had laid down, but honestly I preferred them to plank flooring- something I’ll go into more detail on later.
What was not disclosed, and our naïveté really showed here, was that the subfloor under the rear bath was pretty much rotten. Someone had put a metal plate over it so I missed it during inspection, but a quick search on Airforums would had let me know that access door was a known weak spot for water intrusion. But we had negotiated a fair price and I like to think that he was also unaware of the floor rot- he seemed like a genuinely nice and honest person, so I stick with that.
So our first project was to start on the bathroom. We didn’t have concrete plans, but we knew that the bathroom sink need to come out- it was bulky and took up a lot of space over the bathtub. We didn’t know if we were saving the tub, but we didn’t think we need two sinks in such a small camper- we were good washing hands and brushing teeth in the kitchen sink, certainly until we figured out the long term plan. So we pulled it out, except it is riveted in from behind- meaning they put the bathroom in first, and then attached the interior wall to it, and then attached the interior wall to the frame. There was literally no way to remove the rivets by drilling, so we ended up going in with an oscillating saw. The video isn’t great, I never really planned on a webpage/Youtube site for it, but might be helpful to someone.
——Continues Below Video
After getting the sink out we removed the fiberglass surrounding the toilet, and as all of it got opened up we began to see the extent of the damage of the subfloor..and it was not good. After much reading on the Airforums we knew we had to examine the rest of the floor and decide whether we were going to have to do a shell off to replace the entire thing… not something we wanted to do!
Luckily, after a deeper look at the entire subfloor, we determined that the rot was contained to the the rear 18 inches under the toilet area and spreading out towards the curves, getting narrower as it approached them. So it appeared the leak was from the known weak point of the rear access panel and hadn’t damaged anything else.
Because the damage was contained, we opted to just replace the rear section-after we bought this thing to travel in, not to do a year long- which would inevitably become two years- restoration. So we began removing the bathroom. The tub was pretty easy, we just took the time to find out it’s attachment points. The toilet was basically just sitting on top of the black tank, so it came off without issue. The black tank itself had a crack on the top and the rest of it was suspect as well, so it came out along with the corroded metal pan it sat in and the belly pan underneath. the out came the original 6 gallon water heater. It had signs of severe corrosion and it went onto the scrap heap.
At this point we had to make some decisions. In 1965 there were no gray water tanks- gray water was just dumped straight out on the ground, so there was no place to put one without substantially reworking the layout and the frame area. So that was a problem. Next was the bathtub- we’d seen all of these pictures of the “updated” bathrooms with beautiful tile or small bathtubs- but we were concerned about space (or lack thereof), weight, and just how durable tile would be once traveling. The pictures all looked great, but we weren’t sure that was the best option for us….
We’d read a lot of good things about composting toilets, and while they might seem a little gross, we figured they couldn’t be much worse than dealing with a black tank. After a lot of research we settled on the Separett Composting Toilet which seemed less bulky and more practical than the Nature’s Head. The trick to either one of these is diverting liquids from solids (the combination is where the odor comes from) which has a bit of a learning curve for both sexes, so practice a bit!
We found the largest tank that would fit into our frame under the bathroom, an Icon HT500SD. It was 26 gallons with sensors and a 3″ drain preinstalled and, most importantly, it almost perfectly fit between our frame rails. Still not a huge tank, but slightly bigger than the original. For our ease we decided to route not only the sink and shower water to it, but also the liquid from the toilet into it as well. Some may disagree, but we find that to be a satisfactory solution. NOTE: The picture to the left is not installed, just set into its location from above for fitting!
After looking at all of our tub options we decided that the best solution was to simply reuse the tub we already had- it was designed to fit into the curves of the Airstream, so we would make maximum use of the space. We didn’t like the aged cream color though, and it had a crack in the bottom. So I fiberglassed over the crack from underneath to give it some structural support, then used Bondo over the crack itself. I’ve done body work on cars before, so I have all the tools required, but it is not that difficult to work with if you take the time to sand it well. I then masked off the bathroom and using and air compressor and spray gun, spray painted all of the walls, and the finished tub, with automotive grade spray paint. I realize the tools and skills for doing that are a bit more than most people might have, so if I were doing it without them I’d probably opt for marine epoxy paint, which is waterproof and easier to handle.
If this seems a bit out of order it really isn’t- all of these decisions HAVE to be made before you begin replacing the floor. You have to know what kind of tub you are using so you can figure out the drain path of both it and anything else (the sink, and in our case, urine) that is going into the gray tank so you can figure out where to put the drain hole into the top of the tank. You’ll also need to figure out how the tank is going to be vented so you can put another hole in the top of the tank for a vent- remember, liquids going in are going to displace the air inside the tank and that air has to go somewhere, otherwise your setup won’t work correctly! So we were working on fixing the tub and prepping it for painting at the same time we were setting in the gray tank under the frame, just to make sure everything was going to work out correctly. Take your time and figure all this out in advance.
Once we had all…or at least most… of this figured out, we were ready to start replacing the subfloor. Airstreams are built as a “semi-monocoque” which means the floor and walls are tied together structurally to give them strength. Patching a floor is not the preferred way of fixing a problem, but I think we mitigated the issue pretty well- but if I had to do multiple sections it would be better to lift the shell and replace the entire floor. What we did instead was make a precise cut down the center of the crossmember, taking care to not cut into the metal. This gave the new plywood something solid to rest on. We then used several large pieces of cardboard to start working on templates- we started by using smaller pieces to create the curved edges on each side; once we thought we had them correct we transferred those curves to a larger piece of cardboard to make sure it all worked. It took a couple of adjustments but once I felt it was correct we used a piece of scrap 1/2″ plywood to make a test piece- I’m glad I did because that made me realize that with the curves and intact walls it was not going to go in as one piece (if you have a gutted trailer you probably can do it as a single piece).
All the cardboard and test pieces on scrap plywood saved me from making expensive mistakes with the marine grade plywood we used for the floor. At 3/4″ it is a 1/16 thicker than the standard floor but since it is under the tub and toilet that is not of a concern to us. The edges that slide into the C channel of the frame had to be routed down to fit. Because we were doing this in sections we cut the sections to rest on top of the frame and crossmembers- there was one small section on drivers side curve that was not going to be supported by metal so I glued and screwed a piece of plywood under the existing plywood that would extend out under the new plywood to give it support.
All of the seams between the pieces of plywood are glued together with construction glue (Liquid Nails) and then I used corrugated nails, which give a lot of structural integrity to parallel boards. After 3 years I have seen no evidence of movement in these joints. All of the C channel gets new bolts to attach it the the new plywood.