Underbelly removal

sugarjohnson · 04-30-2018, 07:46 PM

Well I'm in smack in the middle of a project I have put off for some time. I'm dropping the underbelly to go through and redo some of my heat runs, insulate the water lines and clean up electrical. As we all know factory is not really known for doing a good job with this. This stems from a frozen water line while I had the RV out early for spring break.

So far I have the first section removed exposing the fresh water tank and the black tanks. Wiring is better then expected but I took the time to add some angle iron to the fresh water tank supports so that I can travel more confidently with a tank of water on shorter trips. The tanks supports were also actually better then I expected.

Most of my time has been spent removing the LP hard line down one side and hand prying out the damn pneumatic nails FR now uses instead of screws. Cheaper and faster to install yes....easy to remove NO. I actually modified two harbor freight pry bars which are working just time consuming.

I'm planning on using either new rigid vent for the heat runs or the insulted flexible tubing and actually mounting it as opposed to just laying everything on the underbelly. I'm also going to cut the underbelly into three sections, add cross supports to screw to and obviously remount everything with self tapping screws so you can actually get into the belly in the future.

Any other suggestions or opinions?

mjacxx · 05-01-2018, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sugarjohnson

Most of my time has been spent removing the LP hard line down one side and hand prying out the damn pneumatic nails FR now uses instead of screws.

I am close to doing some of the same things but I don't think I will be moving the lp line, unless there is some reason to move it. Hopefully I won't find nails.
I do have screws around the perimeter of my 201RBS.

Air235 · 05-01-2018, 07:47 AM

Pictures please...

SeaDog · 05-01-2018, 07:52 AM

Here is a link to my removal and replacing of the duct work. http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...vy-154792.html

I found the nails were used to hold the wood the coroplast is attached to. I did use some KD piping but mostly 3 ply aluminum duct and cloth strapping to hold it up. PM me if you have question about some of the other work I did under the rig.

Air235 · 05-01-2018, 01:39 PM

Thanks for the post with the pictures. I have a question concerning your "underbelly", was your trailer "heated" and was there any insulation under there or did you remove it for your mod? Are you going to put insulation in it before you close it up?

JMark · 05-01-2018, 04:33 PM

I was planning to open my underbelly (flagstaff 27fkws) to verify that everything is OK. I was doing other things outside of the trailer and heard a noise coming from the underbelly. Dropped the rear end of the corplast and removed this squirrel nest. Mother and babies are still in there. Will have to remove the rest of the underbelly tomorrow.....really did not want to do this yet!

JMark · 05-01-2018, 04:38 PM

Sorry. Will have to figure how to add picture

JMark · 05-01-2018, 04:42 PM

Here is the picture...I hope

SeaDog · 05-01-2018, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Air235

Thanks for the post with the pictures. I have a question concerning your "underbelly", was your trailer "heated" and was there any insulation under there or did you remove it for your mod? Are you going to put insulation in it before you close it up?

No insulation I did not put any in there for a couple of reasons. One the ducts provide radiant heat to the tanks and underbelly area (floor) plus the tanks have heaters if needed. Two if you get a water leak god forbid the insulation soaks it up and if the coroplast doesn't tear you still have a worse mess with insulation holding water. And lastly I had a mouse problem just one who did allot of damage I don't want them making nests and peeing all over insulation and I want to be able to pull some coroplast and be able to see what is going on. Sort of a long answer.

Locky · 05-01-2018, 05:00 PM

Great informative reply SeaDog.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeaDog

No insulation I did not put any in there for a couple of reasons. One the ducts provide radiant heat to the tanks and underbelly area (floor) plus the tanks have heaters if needed. Two if you get a water leak god forbid the insulation soaks it up and if the coroplast doesn't tear you still have a worse mess with insulation holding water. And lastly I had a mouse problem just one who did allot of damage I don't want them making nests and peeing all over insulation and I want to be able to pull some coroplast and be able to see what is going on. Sort of a long answer.

Jack Larson · 05-01-2018, 08:55 PM

The work you did seems to be very well done, and your explanations are easy to understand. Pictures are great as well. Thanks for taking the time to share with the rest of us.

sugarjohnson · 05-01-2018, 09:26 PM

Didn't even post back on my own thread...LOL I still have a bunch of nails to remove to get mine off. I didn't actually relocate my LP line. FR attached it to the underside of the frame sandwiching the underbelly. The way my underbelly is installed it was almost as if they never planned for anyone to go into it. Positive is that I have been somewhat surprised as to the quality of the tank mounts etc. I'm sure that will change when I drop the last 25 feet!

sugarjohnson · 05-01-2018, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeaDog

Here is a link to my removal and replacing of the duct work. http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...vy-154792.html

I found the nails were used to hold the wood the coroplast is attached to. I did use some KD piping but mostly 3 ply aluminum duct and cloth strapping to hold it up. PM me if you have question about some of the other work I did under the rig.

Did you actually install a plenum and how does it work distributing air to long runs?

SeaDog · 05-01-2018, 10:19 PM

the plenum was there, I capped off the run to the bathroom and combined it with the bedroom run thru a "T" fitting that I installed dampers in. My longest run to the kitchen blows the hardest of all the runs works much better then how FR had it.

mjacxx · 05-02-2018, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sugarjohnson

Didn't even post back on my own thread...LOL I still have a bunch of nails to remove to get mine off. I didn't actually relocate my LP line. FR attached it to the underside of the frame sandwiching the underbelly. The way my underbelly is installed it was almost as if they never planned for anyone to go into it.

Thank you.

SailorSam20500 · 05-02-2018, 06:26 AM

My underbelly was mounted with the same pneumatic nails that Sugarjohnson has. Mine started to come off while on a trip to Florida - front portion peeled back to the axles. I removed all if it at a campground and haven't gotten it reinstalled. I was able to remove the nails using a claw hammer - got under the washers and pulled.

Like Seadog, I have replaced most of the duct work. I put one of the close wall adapters often used for dryers on the back port and then ran rigid all the way to the front. I was just able to get two 4" rigid ducts in the frame holes on the door side and no problems running rigid on the street side. Rigid ducting is a mix of 2 and 4 foot sections with a couple of short connectors thrown in. I also have a number of 4" elbows in the mix. Getting the shower and far front ducts running from the heater itself to the straight sections was an interesting set of connections - but it does work and looks a lot better than the way the flex was run. I had to use the real flexible duct to get past my aft grey tank. Not enough room for anything else - I wish they had mounted this tank at least an inch farther toward the street side of the trailer.. I used one section of semi-rigid to do the bedroom duct. From the vent on the shower down to underneath is also still the flex aluminum stuff but connects ASAP to rigid. I did tape and screw all connections, there are over 80 screws holding everything together. With everything taped with aluminum duct tape, it is surprisingly solid.

Also put split loom (or some call it wire loom) over a lot of the wiring. Partially because the wires are against the ducting on the street side - so a bit of protection for the wires. You need 3/4" or 1" sized loom for this.

I don't have a fast connection at the moment, but will post pictures of what I did.

FWIW, had there been enough room between the aft grey tank and the frame, I had considered merging the front two duct runs into a section of 6" duct, unfortunately I couldn't do that.

CHICKDOE · 05-02-2018, 08:12 AM

I had a problem with potions of the coroplast underbelly sagging and creating gaps between it and the frame. you can see where the factory blew in some expanding foam in the gaps, probably to seal for heat retention. but after a while there were gaps (ie ports of entry for critters). I bought a bunch of binder clips from the stationary store and used them to hold the coroplast tight against frame rail. tons easier than trying to drill more screw holes into the frame and patch with expanding foam. they may rust after a while but they are so cheap they can be replaced as needed.

JMark · 05-02-2018, 01:38 PM

Further to my squirrel issue. Found that he ate into my tank! I also found that one of the tank supports was bent...Just more than I wished for.....

sugarjohnson · 05-02-2018, 02:01 PM

Damn that squirrel was hungry![emoji883]️[emoji883]️[emoji883]️[emoji883]️[emoji883]️

**ependydad** · 05-02-2018, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sugarjohnson

...and hand prying out the damn pneumatic nails FR now uses instead of screws. Cheaper and faster to install yes....easy to remove NO. I actually modified two harbor freight pry bars which are working just time consuming.

I think I have these. Can you post a picture of them and what you did to the pry bars to make them removable?

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