2010 SV264 Nightmare! Please Help!

[Johnbek]

Hey everyone. I am brand new to the forum and I am unsure of where else to turn at this point! I am hoping you guys can offer some good advice.

I just pulled my trailer out of storage to do some maintenance and upgrades this year for the season coming up ahead.

At the end of last season, I had noticed some delam on the back corner, and did not get around to fixing it before storing. So this was the first item on the list as soon as I got it inside my shop. I began by removing the corner trim and opening up the wall to expose the layers underneath and let everything dry out. No problems there, so far everything is going as expected. I opted to remove the bottom trim as well because I wanted to get the bottom of the corner open on the side wall to make sure everything could dry out as much as possible.

This is where everything gets a bit hairy....

While removing the bottom trim, I noticed that the exterior floor was wet, and spongy (this is the part exposed to outside, covered by the black wrap - not sure what it’s called.) I removed the steps and peeled the black wrap off of what appears to be particle board? (That was clearly a great idea for an exterior building material for a vehicle??!) and exposed the wood underneath. It’s wet, and thin, and rotted. I also found the same issue on the same side of the trailer at the front. I’ve opened up the wrap material and put fans out to dry it out. It appears as though the moisture is localized to those two corners, however it is wet all the way to where the steel trailer frame is attached, and I cannot reach further than that (I should mention though the closer you get to the middle, the dryer it feels and the wood doesn’t look rotten, just wet and flaky like you’d expect with particle board)

What the heck do I do? There is no evidence of spongy floor inside the trailer on the floor we walk on. I assume that from the top down, the structure is plywood subfloor, framing and insulation, then the particle board with wrap on the outside.
Should I dry it out and cement the wrap back on? Or should I cut this wood out and replace it? And what would be a good replacement. I am pretty certain this isn’t structural as I believe the trailer to have aluminum framing, but I want this thing fixed up and ready to go. I am concerned about the wood between the trailer frame and the floor framing.. I don’t really have any way to detach the trailer from it’s frame and replace the piece under that metal, but I’m hoping with the heat and forced air that it will dry out under there.

Can someone please point me in the right direction to get this repair done nicely and prevent it from happening again?

[nomad297]

Welcome to the forum!

Although I can’t help you, I can say you came to the right place to ask these questions. There are so many people here that will be able to help you and definitely give you the right answers.

Bruce

[upflying]

A few years ago, I took on a project pop-up truck camper made by StarCraft..circa 1987.
It too was dry rotted at all four corners. I removed all the aluminum siding and used the damaged siding as templates to build new siding. The tough part was supporting the roof with no walls so I did one wall at a time.
I bought new aluminum siding and hung it on the new walls built with fresh luan and 1X2 framing.
It was a learning experience and something I would never do again. Really the only way to repair dry rot is disassemble the trailer to the point where you can get at the damaged areas and replace it. Much like rust on a car or truck.
Prevention is frequent roof inspection and doing the Dicor sealing of roof cracks once every 6 months.
I store my new Surveyor in covered RV parking just to slow the inevitable.
If your damage isn't unsafe, I'd enjoy the camper as-is, repairing the damage far exceeds it's value.
Photo is after my restoration.

[Johnbek]

Thanks for the response upflying.
I came back to it today to see how the drying process went and it actually seems solid now with the exception of the back corner, as i don’t think there is actually wood there (seems wiring runs there so there’s a cavity)

It’s all bone dry now and doesn’t seem rotted so I might have gotten lucky. I’ll likely just reattach the black membrane to the bottom and leave it.

The delam repair went well I think. It’s all clamped in place now so we will see how she looks tomorrow!

[CYAH OUT THERE!]

Since you got it open maybe you could use some marine wood sealer to fortify and protect the areas.

[gkehman]

I did not see any mention of a repair of the leak! Water is getting in there somehow and causing the delamination and the floors to get wet. How high was the delamination? Is there a leak from a window or possibly a seam along the roof?