What Is This Spongy Area In The Cab Floor, Please? (Fiat Ducato)

[Speve]

No wood with mine, its a rubberised fiat cab floor covered in carpet.

There will be wooden infill between the two front seats

 

[BillyKontiki]

Nothing wrong with spongy bits they can be quite exciting

 

[RobbyMClark]

I guess someone's finding it funny to take the p*ss out of me for not knowing what's under the floor. Oh well, I'm just a girl. What would I know. Still, at least I asked and tried to learn something about my MoHo, instead of just blindly using it without any knowledge.

I've wondered what is under the "spongy" bit but never had the inclination to have a look.
Thanks for raising this as its helped with my understanding of the van.

 

[Folkranger]

There will be wooden infill between the two front seats

Have to have a look when out to York this weekend. Find where the imitation wood ends and the genuine spongy bit starts.

 

[Ilovemyhobby]

I guess someone's finding it funny to take the p*ss out of me for not knowing what's under the floor. Oh well, I'm just a girl. What would I know. Still, at least I asked and tried to learn something about my MoHo, instead of just blindly using it without any knowledge.

Just a Girl? I have 2 girls and I'm very proud of them both. There's 2 girls on YouTube, one, if she doesn't know something, she learns about it, then teaches others. I admire here very much. There are many men who kind of giggle and say I'm not mechanically minded or some such dribble. Never think you're "Just a Girl"

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[JJ]

Everyone knows that Burstners are posher than Hymers and Cathagos...

and by the way, I have servants but they, and other folk, call themselves...

"Carers".

JJ

 

[PJGWiltshire]

Used the van as overnight accommodation as we were allowed to park in car park when we attended a wedding. Good lady gets all the glad rags on( must say she does polish up well!) Then she mounts up via front door. Arrive at said location decides she wants to check her 'make up' in bathroom. Proceeds to get up and walk back in the van. Said spongy floor has never been walked on by polished up lady wearing stilettos, Spongy floor now has small holes in. Morral of the story, use van only in dress down wear

 

[HKF]

Used the van as overnight accommodation as we were allowed to park in car park when we attended a wedding. Good lady gets all the glad rags on( must say she does polish up well!) Then she mounts up via front door. Arrive at said location decides she wants to check her 'make up' in bathroom. Proceeds to get up and walk back in the van. Said spongy floor has never been walked on by polished up lady wearing stilettos, Spongy floor now has small holes in. Morral of the story, use van only in dress down wear

Yikes! Yeah, not exactly the right floor covering for stilettos You could end up spilling your wine!!

 

[HKF]

No wood with mine, its a rubberised fiat cab floor covered in carpet.

That's what mine has, too.

 

[plumbob]

HKF Never say your only a girl. I’ve got a son and daughter.my daughter would jump over my sons head doing diy or maintenance and I think it’s just down to being interested or not

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[Ian Bosman]

Fearing ultimate collapse of the localised spongy area I fitted a 1.5mm aluminium plate under one of those bespoke Ducato fitted front cab mats [ after initially liberally applying silicone in beaded strips to the back of the mat before laying, after allowing it to cure for a couple of days], the plate and mat work together well to bridge the spongy area, and add to the sound deadening, + it looks good.
Mike

Don’t be in a hurry to access the vehicle battery as it is under there!

 

[PhilMary]

Underneath the plastic cover is the access to the fuel tank sender mechanism I believe.View attachment 539564

As above re. what's underneath. I also have insulation on top of the supplied rubber mat, then can carpets on top.
So grey rubber stuff on the bottom, white insulation material then the cab carpet rolled back.

Hope that helps.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Don’t be in a hurry to access the vehicle battery as it is under there!

On some models that might be the case, on ours like has already been shown in others, it's the lift pump. The starter battery has a different panel that's located beneath the passengers feet and the lower instrument binnacle.

Mike

 

[Diabalo]

I had a Bessecarr on a X250 chassis when they first came out and that had the proper metal battery cover fitted. My Auto-trail doesn't, I wonder if they remove the metal cover now days to save weight

 

[Bucket]

My base vehicle is a mark 2 Renault Master, as per others it covers the hatch where the engine battery lives.
Haven't found the fuel tank senders there though, that's got me wondering.....

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[HKF]

So, here's what's actually under my 'spongy' floor I have no idea what is is, though

 

[Folkranger]

Here's what's under the spongy bit

HKF Never say your only a girl. I’ve got a son and daughter.my daughter would jump over my sons head doing diy or maintenance and I think it’s just down to being interested or not

I think she was being ironic.

 

[DDJC]

So, here's what's actually under my 'spongy' floor I have no idea what is is, though

The problem with this type of cab floor is that the 'sponginess' can cause the oval toggle catches to pop apart so the floor won't fasten down. The catch is a terrible design. It employs a kind of ratchet fitting whereby you have to press top and bottom together to secure it. However, the ratchet fixing only seems to work once, then can just slip off. The best thing to do is to not remove any of the cab floor panels unless you have to. Avoid lifting any more just for curiosity's sake!!

You can buy new catches (I did) but it seems to happen again. I have now gone through three catches.

For me, the cab floor is one of the more annoying features of the Ducato chassis. I would agree that carpets may be an option, but they won't stop the feeling of walking on a mattress topper.

 

[HKF]

The problem with this type of cab floor is that the 'sponginess' can cause the oval toggle catches to pop apart so the floor won't fasten down. The catch is a terrible design. It employs a kind of ratchet fitting whereby you have to press top and bottom together to secure it. However, the ratchet fixing only seems to work once, then can just slip off. The best thing to do is to not remove any of the cab floor panels unless you have to. Avoid lifting any more just for curiosity's sake!!

You can buy new catches (I did) but it seems to happen again. I have now gone through three catches.

For me, the cab floor is one of the more annoying features of the Ducato chassis. I would agree that carpets may be an option, but they won't stop the feeling of walking on a mattress topper.

Thank you I do have a carpet over it but, like you say, it's like walking on a mattress topper I promise I won't remove it again!! Thanks for the heads up

 

[Pausim]

I had a Bessecarr on a X250 chassis when they first came out and that had the proper metal battery cover fitted. My Auto-trail doesn't, I wonder if they remove the metal cover now days to save weight

My 2019 Carthago has the original Fiat metal battery cover. Perhaps the missing ones find their way to a scrap yard near the Auto-Trail factory.

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[Pausim]

I guess someone's finding it funny to take the p*ss out of me for not knowing what's under the floor. Oh well, I'm just a girl. What would I know. Still, at least I asked and tried to learn something about my MoHo, instead of just blindly using it without any knowledge.

I suspect the vast majority of owners have no idea what lies below their floor coverings. The few that do answered your post and the rest either don’t care or are quietly grateful to you for asking a sensible question.

 

[IRHP]

As others have said it’s an access hatch to the fuel tank senders and possibly an access port to the tank. When Fiat put it there I don’t suppose they thought it would be continually getting stood on. I’ve made a cover for mine which stops the spongy feeling. It’s just cut out of a bit of hard plastic.

 

[IRHP]

It's spongy due to bad design, Hmyer remove it and replace it with a timber floor.

Is the timber floor easily removable if access is needed.

 

[XxAnthxX]

So, here's what's actually under my 'spongy' floor I have no idea what is is, though

Yup under the black cover that’s screwed down there will be a big white screwed cap with pipes and wires attached……it‘s your fuel lift pump.

Just put it back together until it stops working……oh and be careful in the stilettos

 

[XxAnthxX]

I suspect the vast majority of owners have no idea what lies below their floor coverings.

I suspect a small minority of owners have large amounts of cash under their floor coverings.

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[HKF]

Yup under the black cover that’s screwed down there will be a big white screwed cap with pipes and wires attached……it‘s your fuel lift pump.

Just put it back together until it stops working……oh and be careful in the stilettos

That's great, thank you so much!! I'm enjoying learning about my MoHo. Good job I'm not a stilettos kinda gal

 

[IRHP]

As others have said it’s an access hatch to the fuel tank senders and possibly an access port to the tank. When Fiat put it there I don’t suppose they thought it would be continually getting stood on. I’ve made a cover for mine which stops the spongy feeling. It’s just cut out of a bit of hard plastic.

Btw it’s not seen under the carpet.

 

[G-RMPS]

I suspect a small minority of owners have large amounts of cash under their floor coverings.
Interestingly, I was looking under the passenger seat a couple of weeks ago. I found €100. Must have been there when we bought the van 5 years ago!