What is the best floor for a foamie?

[mikeschn]

Okay so with the problems some people are having with wooden floors rotting out, what is the current recommendation for a floor for a foamie?

Obviously foam covered with canvas is not strong enough. Especially if there is a spot you want to be able to stand on in a standie.

How about foam, sandwiched in between two layers of 5mm plywood, and then sealed up tight with canvas?

Your thoughts.

Mike...

[bonnie]

That could work. I am building my new foam floor with four actual layers: canvas/foam/canvas/vinyl flooring. The canvas under the vinyl is for stability.


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[KennethW]

A standie floor has to be a lot stronger then a TD floor. I think on a standie. I hard surface of some kind in the inside(can be floating) and canvas, 2" foam and canvas on the bottom would be good with down the center supports(2'x2-1/2' squares). For a TD you would not need the center supports and just puncher resistant surface(vinyl?)

[linuxmanxxx]

I did 3/4" sandwich complete contact glued and before putting roof on had 2 adults walking in it quite often. Was Luan on both sides with simple stick frame water based contact cement. Sticks were all titebond glued. The complete glue of both sides gives massive strength in spite only being a little over an inch thick completed.

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[Bob Hammond]

I've ruminating about the question for a few days. I think that there are some general considerations before moving on to specific recommendations.

Rot occurs in the presence of water and oxygen. Sunken ships in the Great Lakes or the Baltic Sea linger intact for centuries due to the cold and lack of oxygen, but as soon as they are exposed to air (21% oxygen) they decay rapidly. For the purposes of this discussion, the problem, I think, is caused by sustained dampness due to construction techniques that cause water (&water vapor) to collect and also due to poor air circulation, despite any 'waterproofing' finish. There is also the choice of materials - 1) naturally rot-resistant or 'treated' materials that inhibit bacterial/fungal decay, and 2) the swelling and shrinkage of wooden materials due to water absorption that leads eventually to mechanical disruption, despite glues, adhesives, caulks, and metal fasteners.

(i gotta go for now, but think on this - the idea is not to expect to achieve total 'waterproofing' if one lives in temperate or damp climates - the idea is to protect the wood against collection of water and promote drying out of the wood.)

[GPW]

What Bob said !!! ^


Floors... Glad you asked ... ... We’re “on about” Board floors lately , only because the one we have is 20+ years old and still appears ( without a close and thorough inspection of each fiber) to be much as it always was ... no rot or discoloring that we can see... The rotted plywood floor in the #1, now Nookery' is mine ( I take the blame ) ... The wet spot on the FoamStream is Mine .. and I won’t even tell you about what happened to my plywood trailer ... too depressing ... several hard lessons learned about floors ... But then we live in a SWAMP eh ... Rains almost Every day ...

[R. W. Alexander]

Okay so with the problems some people are having with wooden floors rotting out, what is the current recommendation for a floor for a foamie?

Obviously foam covered with canvas is not strong enough. Especially if there is a spot you want to be able to stand on in a standie.

How about foam, sandwiched in between two layers of 5mm plywood, and then sealed up tight with canvas?

Your thoughts.

Mike...

Epoxy and fiberglass mat are the way to build the floor if you want strength,structural flexibility for road travel, lightweight, and waterproof. Wood boats done with this construction have to stand up to the continual pounding of waves and water. For around $150.00 in epoxy and fiberglass mat you can have a strong, waterproof base for a travel tear. The walls and ceiling are perfect for the canvas and foam construction. Those areas do not have the same structural loads. But the base needs a bit more protection and strength. I did a generic drawing of a foamy floor, that may help with a possible floor design. I realize that my idea of the best floor, is subjective.

[greygoos]

Besides 2 foam builds I have read about on here that have had floor trouble is there a problem with foamie floors in general?

[Bob Hammond]

Okay so with the problems some people are having with wooden floors rotting out, what is the current recommendation for a floor for a foamie?

Obviously foam covered with canvas is not strong enough. Especially if there is a spot you want to be able to stand on in a standie.

How about foam, sandwiched in between two layers of 5mm plywood, and then sealed up tight with canvas?

Your thoughts.

Mike...

Epoxy and fiberglass mat are the way to build the floor if you want strength,structural flexibility for road travel, lightweight, and waterproof. Wood boats done with this construction have to stand up to the continual pounding of waves and water. For around $150.00 in epoxy and fiberglass mat you can have a strong, waterproof base for a travel tear. The walls and ceiling are perfect for the canvas and foam construction. Those areas do not have the same structural loads. But the base needs a bit more protection and strength. I did a generic drawing of a foamy floor, that may help with a possible floor design. I realize that my idea of the best floor, is subjective.

The best solution is epoxy/fiberglass, but not everybody can, or wishes, to do that.

One other thing about the environmental conditions occurred to me. When the trailer is not in use, I think it would be wise to park it on a hard surface that sheds water and dries quickly. Where there is dirt, water soaks in and evaporates slowly, resulting in high humidity at less than ~24" above the ground. This might explain some of the floor failures, assuming that there was no leak/wicking through the cabin seams.

[KCStudly]

Besides 2 foam builds I have read about on here that have had floor trouble is there a problem with foamie floors in general?

IMO there is nothing inherently different about a foamie floor or foamie construction that makes it more or less susceptible to rot. All campers have the same issues with material selection (cost vs. quality), design and construction techniques (i.e. whether the joints and geometry resist water intrusion or not).

Try to seal the moisture out, but if it gets in it has an equally hard time getting back out again. Fiberglass boats are not immune to this as many embedded wooden transoms and hull stringers have rotted out... usually from water getting in through improperly sealed fasteners that were added after the glass was laid up. This is a very common problem in FG boats. My '67 Sea Ray SRV170 needs a new transom as I write this.

I agree with linuxxmanxxx, a built up floor can be very strong. I have walked and knelled on my 5mm upper floor skin a bunch during construction (even though I had a protective piece of scrap ply down for a good part of that it was unavoidable at other times) and it is sturdy. Sure, there is a little give, kind of like walking on that laminated lock together "wood" flooring that has the slip plane foam film under it, but it could easily work for a standy; especially if covered with a wear resistant vinyl in traffic areas. I haven't jumped up and down on it, and don't have any kids to perform torture testing, but for an occasional use application where light weight is a significant concern I would consider it as a standy option. And that is w/o any canvas or glass cloth.

I can't vouch for long term survivability yet, but will keep you posted once it gets out in the weather.

[mikeschn]

okay, lets talk about improperly sealed fasteners...

Let's say we've build the perfect floor, foam, with 5mm luan on both sides, covered with canvas, and it's perfectly water tight.

Then we drill a bunch of holes to attach the floor to the frame. Now we've got a bunch of holes that just want to wick in the water.

What do we do?

Mike...

[KCStudly]

The best method, ... and I am assuming that there is wood blocking or framework strategically located where the fasteners are planned to be... is to drill the hole over size, completely fill with thickened epoxy, and then re-drill to the correct clearance size hole for the bolt, thus leaving a completely filled cylindrical epoxy "tube" in the hole.

Another option is to completely "pot" the bolt in place with epoxy or other sealer, but this can be much harder to be sure that all voids have been eliminated.

[Don L.]

If I read all the thread right so far I agree with everything said but have not heard the drip edge mentioned, in this thread at least. I have seen it mentioned in many other threads.

I am seeing some morning dew or condensation on my foamie so I want to keep it from wicking under the wall and along the floor as much as possible. That is just to help reduce the daily moisture exposure to the underside. Even though my floor is treated wood and sealed with polyurethane, if water were to get in I wouldn't see it until it is too late. It could seep in to the hidden areas behind the cabinets or under the bed or such.

So , in other words, no matter how rot -proof your floor is, moisture could cause problems getting trapped between the floor and anything on the floor and that can be almost as serious.

I had planned to put a drip edge on the front and back of my camper, an inch or so from the bottom of the wall to keep water off the lower edges. My camper has walls that curve in on the front and back.

[CanuckShooter]

Has anyone ever tried square pvc tubing instead of wood in the floor? It wouldn't be to hard to fill it with spray foam and it wouldn't rot. They even make solid bars, that could be used for mounting points rather than wood inserts.

https://www.amazon.com/Polyvinyl-Chlori ... VWCGBZS3KC

[Don L.]

Ditto what Bob said about parking your camper

One other thing about the environmental conditions occurred to me. When the trailer is not in use, I think it would be wise to park it on a hard surface that sheds water and dries quickly. Where there is dirt, water soaks in and evaporates slowly, resulting in high humidity at less than ~24" above the ground. This might explain some of the floor failures, assuming that there was no leak/wicking through the cabin seams.

Mine is parked over gravel, not ideal in my opinion. Maybe if I had a roof over the camper but still, moisture comes out of the ground 24/7, we just usually don't see it.

GPW is always suggesting coating the bottom with roofing tar which sounds like a good idea. I coated mine (treated plywood) with some leftover aluminum and tar roofing paint and it really soaked it up.