Timber cill - how to replace ?

[Sensei]

Hi all ,
Looking for advice on how to replace a timber cill that is running around the perimeter of the motor home (underside ,external). The timber appears to be a veneer that was bonded onto pink foam. The veneer has rotted. Can I strip the rotting veneer and glue a new veneer directly onto the pink foam? What is the best way to fix this ?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Squiffy]

Good afternoon Sensei,
Sorry not to post earlier but have been in a horrendous signal area.
However as for your underfloor construction, if it's what I think it is it would be part of the structural side of your floor. When you say veneer is it only 2 or 3mil thick or is it more like 10-12mm thick if the latter then it's defo structural. If the the (Veneer) is only 2-3mm then it is indeed just a veneer but could still be fairly structural by being a sandwich board which would include the top flooring/ insulation board/ bottom veneer.
Either way to repair it as commercial builders would do is to remove the furniture inside and replace the complete floor back to sound footing.
However in my opinion if you where to remove the rotten veneer back to what I suppose in your case is insulation board then glueing veneer back up and sealing around the edges completely would probably suffice with a good coat of timber treatment over the new veneers.
This is always supposing that the internal floor board is structurally sound ofcourse.
Any insulation board that was in poor condition could be cut out and replaced.
If I've read the problem correctly then this would be my solution as the commercial solution would probably be beyond the value of the van . Phil

 

[Sensei]

Thanks Phil for the very detailed answer. Much appreciated!

I stripped off the rotting veneer and it does not appear to be structural. I was going to replace it with a marine ply veneer , however think PVC would be more durable. I don’t know why the factory didn’t use PVC in the first place.

 

[Squiffy]

Just as an aside to this Swift and a few other constructors used to produce flooring sandwich which had a plastic coating over the bottom board stating that this led to longevity of the board, infact it caused major problems in so much as water ingress under this coating quickly rotted the board because the trapped moisture/water was never able to air away. Old pre 90 and older vans that just had a plain wood board out lasted the modern vans by many many years, because the wood could wick away the moisture very quickly. Swift only used this board for a very short period due to all the warranty work that had to be carried out. Phil

 

[Squiffy]

Thanks Phil for the very detailed answer. Much appreciated!

I stripped off the rotting veneer and it does not appear to be structural. I was going to replace it with a marine ply veneer , however think PVC would be more durable. I don’t know why the factory didn’t use PVC in the first place.

I'd suggest initially cost and then the floor which is the death of alot of coach built vans would last too long and nobody would want to purchase the latest offering.. Phil

 

[Markd]

Just as an aside to this Swift and a few other constructors used to produce flooring sandwich which had a plastic coating over the bottom board stating that this led to longevity of the board, infact it caused major problems in so much as water ingress under this coating quickly rotted the board because the trapped moisture/water was never able to air away. Old pre 90 and older vans that just had a plain wood board out lasted the modern vans by many many years, because the wood could wick away the moisture very quickly. Swift only used this board for a very short period due to all the warranty work that had to be carried out. Phil

And it was the first area that a dealer looked at on my 2005 Bessacarr when I was selling it!!

 

[Squiffy]

2005 was the key period of use for these floors Mark, I know this because in 2007 I had a massive argument with swift over a van I had bought new in 2005 a Swift Sundance 630 where the outer floors where beginning to rot, they said it was impossible or that it was due to mishandling the vehicle if it was, they refused to do anything about it until eventually I had to get a professional second opinion, even then they sent thier own engineer down to inspect it and even he had to admit that the claim was valid. Two days later they sent a low loader down to take it back to the factory and replaced nearly the whole floor. Later I found out that this was a regular occurrence and so they discontinued the use of this specialist board. Phil.