Ace Milano Floor repair

[thecat7457]

Sadly I fall into the group of owners with rotten floors due to ruberised painting of ply instead of the use of marine ply. The good news is, after a lot of wrangling and a financial contribution, Swift replaced the floor. Not the end of the story I'm afraid because after one year a small patch of rot was discovered in the new floor under the fridge. Marquis offered to repair this to save it going back to the factory and, guess what, I've ended up with a 48cm square of ply that is coming apart! Swift and Marquis then played pinball with my issue and walked away.

When I last thought about repairing this myself I came across a post where someone chipped away the damaged ply, dried it out and then used boat resin to build up the area. They then rubbed it down, sealed it and, to use their words, didn't look pretty but was out of sight (they posted an image of the repair). I have searched but cannot trace this post.

Can anyone point me in the right direction, I am trying to identify the materials and methods that I could use to carry out this repair.

 

[Riverbankannie]

So sorry for your problems.
Was the thread this one?

☹️ Rotting floor 🙁

Firstly please no digs about Swift of British built vans please . Not in the best of moods after today. Basically I gave the motorhome the first wash of the year today and also a good walk round and check over . Spotted a nasty gap in the sealant between the body trim and the side wall under...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[thecat7457]

So sorry for your problems.
Was the thread this one?

☹️ Rotting floor 🙁

Firstly please no digs about Swift of British built vans please . Not in the best of moods after today. Basically I gave the motorhome the first wash of the year today and also a good walk round and check over . Spotted a nasty gap in the sealant between the body trim and the side wall under...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Not the one I was thinking of but certainly thorough and I could use this to steer me in the right direction. Thanks for your reply.

 

[TDub49]

Sadly I fall into the group of owners with rotten floors due to ruberised painting of ply instead of the use of marine ply. The good news is, after a lot of wrangling and a financial contribution, Swift replaced the floor. Not the end of the story I'm afraid because after one year a small patch of rot was discovered in the new floor under the fridge. Marquis offered to repair this to save it going back to the factory and, guess what, I've ended up with a 48cm square of ply that is coming apart! Swift and Marquis then played pinball with my issue and walked away.

When I last thought about repairing this myself I came across a post where someone chipped away the damaged ply, dried it out and then used boat resin to build up the area. They then rubbed it down, sealed it and, to use their words, didn't look pretty but was out of sight (they posted an image of the repair). I have searched but cannot trace this post.

Can anyone point me in the right direction, I am trying to identify the materials and methods that I could use to carry out this repair.

Moons ago I posted the sorry tale of the patch of wet ply on my Ace Siena - front left corner of the floor under the folding step. I can't find the original post now but basically what I did was:

• scrape out all the soft ply and a little more besides (in this case it was water getting in from above so I did not actually go right through the floor);
• allow to dry thoroughly;
• apply liberal quantities of the liquid epoxy based stuff that you can get in B&Q (other DIY outlets exist) that is advertised for dealing with water damaged wood (two or three coats top and underneath);
• insert fillet of marine ply (yum) cut to fill most of the gap created by the scraping out of the damp wood (after first coating the marine ply with the liquid epoxy stuff - you can't be too careful);
• glue and seal this in and level the floor using a two part epoxy based filler;
• sand and apply more liquid epoxy to make sure that any micro gaps are filled with something waterproof;
• spend a couple of weeks trying to source the weirdo bolts that hold the steps in place, using the time wisely to insert a metal plate underneath the floor to add strength. (On the Siena the floor sits on a rail on the chassis that makes this possible);
• reassemble and say "that'll do for a temp fix, will get back and do it properly end of season" (yeah, right - it's still holding up so I'm letting the sleeping dog lie so to speak).

The boat builder that declined to get involved in the repair would have cut the whole damp affected part of the floor away and chamfered (?) in a repair, glassing it in with glass fibre tape and all that malarkey but we couldn't find a way of disassembling the internal bulkheads to make this viable. Might be possible on yours.

Hope this helps and good luck with your repair.

 

[thecat7457]

Really appreciate the detailed suggestions and looking forward to attempting a repair.

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[thecat7457]

Moons ago I posted the sorry tale of the patch of wet ply on my Ace Siena - front left corner of the floor under the folding step. I can't find the original post now but basically what I did was:

• scrape out all the soft ply and a little more besides (in this case it was water getting in from above so I did not actually go right through the floor);
• allow to dry thoroughly;
• apply liberal quantities of the liquid epoxy based stuff that you can get in B&Q (other DIY outlets exist) that is advertised for dealing with water damaged wood (two or three coats top and underneath);
• insert fillet of marine ply (yum) cut to fill most of the gap created by the scraping out of the damp wood (after first coating the marine ply with the liquid epoxy stuff - you can't be too careful);
• glue and seal this in and level the floor using a two part epoxy based filler;
• sand and apply more liquid epoxy to make sure that any micro gaps are filled with something waterproof;
• spend a couple of weeks trying to source the weirdo bolts that hold the steps in place, using the time wisely to insert a metal plate underneath the floor to add strength. (On the Siena the floor sits on a rail on the chassis that makes this possible);
• reassemble and say "that'll do for a temp fix, will get back and do it properly end of season" (yeah, right - it's still holding up so I'm letting the sleeping dog lie so to speak).

The boat builder that declined to get involved in the repair would have cut the whole damp affected part of the floor away and chamfered (?) in a repair, glassing it in with glass fibre tape and all that malarkey but we couldn't find a way of disassembling the internal bulkheads to make this viable. Might be possible on yours.

Hope this helps and good luck with your repair.

Just got round to starting the repair and was surprised to see how thin the rotten plywood is. Having searched for a marine ply board the thinnest I can source is 6mm but this would appear to be too deep. Bit of an ask but can you remember the depth of board you used. I was expecting a much deeper space once I had dug out the rotten ply enabling me to insert a board and then make up the difference as you suggested. Currently all that is left in the space is one very thin layer of ply attached to the underside of the insulation. Could they really have used a thin marine ply (say 2mm) to keep the price down, even if such a thing exists.
I'm going to see if I can measure the good part of the floor to ascertain the depth but any additional thoughts gratefully received.

 

[TDub49]

Just got round to starting the repair and was surprised to see how thin the rotten plywood is. Having searched for a marine ply board the thinnest I can source is 6mm but this would appear to be too deep. Bit of an ask but can you remember the depth of board you used. I was expecting a much deeper space once I had dug out the rotten ply enabling me to insert a board and then make up the difference as you suggested. Currently all that is left in the space is one very thin layer of ply attached to the underside of the insulation. Could they really have used a thin marine ply (say 2mm) to keep the price down, even if such a thing exists.
I'm going to see if I can measure the good part of the floor to ascertain the depth but any additional thoughts gratefully received.

My floor is a solid ply sheet (we think marine ply but who knows - Swift had a lot of trouble with floors rotting so maybe they didn't use the pucka stuff). Sound like your floor may be a sandwich construction with the insulation between two sheets of ply - not uncommon form of construction in boats although normally something like balsa in an epoxy sandwich. This place does sheets down to 4mm https://marineplystore.co.uk/full-marine-ply-sheets--collection-only-19-c.asp - I think you can also get aircraft grade ply in pretty thin sheets too.

A picture or two might help - my repair was carried out mostly from above because thats where the rot was (although I did double treat the underside before sticking a steel plate in as extra support), which direction are you working in?

 

[thecat7457]

Thanks for the speedy reply.
I am working from the underneath which is where the ply has delaminated. I will get you some pics from underneath which may help you to get a clearer picture.

 

[Mzracer]

The really good epoxy for this kind of work is West System 105/206, if this was used on all of these areas of vunerable ply the wood would last a 100 years it is that good.

This epoxy is easy to buy, try Ebay or Yacht chandlers.

Automotive Archives

www.epoxyworks.com

 

[TheBig1]

Making an assumption here, knowing the weak spots, but take it that the bad ply is behind the rear wheels? Repair the area with new ply and fit a sheet of thin aluminium to protect the whole area from further rot. I actually looked at a van a few years ago where the seller said the fridge was hard to open. It was caused by it sinking into the floor because of a water leak going un noticed

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[Mzracer]

Making an assumption here, knowing the weak spots, but take it that the bad ply is behind the rear wheels? Repair the area with new ply and fit a sheet of thin aluminium to protect the whole area from further rot. I actually looked at a van a few years ago where the seller said the fridge was hard to open. It was caused by it sinking into the floor because of a water leak going un noticed

Or do it right as linked above.

 

[Orca Brody]

Hi. I helped an old neighbour with something similar. I'm sure it was a 3-3.6mm plywood on the underside of the floor. I found it difficult to do any sort of 'seamless' job that you wouldn't notice. Good luck with it.

 

[thecat7457]

Hi. I helped an old neighbour with something similar. I'm sure it was a 3-3.6mm plywood on the underside of the floor. I found it difficult to do any sort of 'seamless' job that you wouldn't notice. Good luck with it.

I can certainly source thinner plywood but that was the cause of the original failure hence my desire to use marine plywood. I may have to accept that it will sit proud and treat and seal the area thoroughly to keep the damp at bay. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[thecat7457]

Thanks for the speedy reply.
I am working from the underneath which is where the ply has delaminated. I will get you some pics from underneath which may help you to get a clearer picture.

My floor is a solid ply sheet (we think marine ply but who knows - Swift had a lot of trouble with floors rotting so maybe they didn't use the pucka stuff). Sound like your floor may be a sandwich construction with the insulation between two sheets of ply - not uncommon form of construction in boats although normally something like balsa in an epoxy sandwich. This place does sheets down to 4mm https://marineplystore.co.uk/full-marine-ply-sheets--collection-only-19-c.asp - I think you can also get aircraft grade ply in pretty thin sheets too.

A picture or two might help - my repair was carried out mostly from above because thats where the rot was (although I did double treat the underside before sticking a steel plate in as extra support), which direction are you working in?

Pics to bring you up to date.

There is a ventilation hole for the fridge and by the look of it the structure is a 6mm plywood sandwich. Marquis, bless them, had just installed a patch of plywood (not marine), screwed it into the insulation layer and painted it with black rubberised paint thereby returning it to the construction of the original faulty Swift floor (and then trying to deny that they did the work blaming it on Swift!). Needless to say, the plywood completely delaminated.

Have ordered 6mm marine ply which will sit slightly proud and, with a bit of rubbing down, will fit onto the ledge inside the skirt.

 

[thecat7457]

Next challenge! There are two lips from the skirt that I need to slide the ply into but there appears to be two screws used to fix the original ply that I cannot get to. Anyone removed the rear skirt, or better still just the rear light cluster and panel, that can give me advice on how to remove it. Trying to avoid disturbing the side skirt.

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[TheBig1]

Just worked on an older model and the light clusters are bolted through the skirt and a steel bracket behind. Accessed under the van. Avoid removing the skirt if you can as it can be a sod to get back on as the screws rust and the wood goes soft so nothing to grip back into.

 

[thecat7457]

Just worked on an older model and the light clusters are bolted through the skirt and a steel bracket behind. Accessed under the van. Avoid removing the skirt if you can as it can be a sod to get back on as the screws rust and the wood goes soft so nothing to grip back into.

Thanks fo the feedback. I have found the two external screws on the sides and two that join the the rear and side skirts underneath but any clues on where the rear skirt is bolted to the steel bracket, can't see anything underneath. Someone mentioned they are behind the reflectors, is that correct. If so, how do you remove the relectors without breaking them.

 

[TheBig1]

Yes behind lights and on some the reflectors. To remove the screwless reflectors, warm them up and the glue releases easier