Floor replacement, Part Tres

In the first phase of the floor replacement I had only worked my way back to the rear of the wheel wells. I did this mainly to avoid removing the rear closet and more importantly the bathroom enclosure. However, in the rear passenger side area there was a large water leak coming from the refrigerator access door area that had rotted out the floor. It had to be replaced.

I removed the closet walls and shelves, which included a pantry.  As usual I labeled everything. The closet wall was dry rotted all along the bottom a few inches. The lower shelves were also toast. The pantry and closet upper shelves were very dirty but the wood was in good shape.

Just as with the front floor, I cut out sections starting in the middle and working my way back using my circular saw. I set the blade depth to less than 3/4 of an inch to avoid hitting the frame.

Upon removing the center area I found a large either wasp nest or bee hive. Luckily it was long abandoned. I found no insect bodies so not sure what specific species built it.

Here is what the area looked like. The nest extended over 2 floor compartments and was embedded in the insulation:



Here is a photo of the underside of the floor piece:



The floor in the closet area was so delaminated, it just broke apart as I started to remove it:



That was easy!

The belly had a few holes in it so I used more riveted patches.  Spent quite a bit of time getting the area prepped. Multiple coats of Corroseal on the frame and belly. Below is the area all cleaned up:



I removed the curved wall panel so I could access the screws in the C channel. For the straight wall areas I removed the wall rivets up about two feet and then I could reach in through the side to get the screws. They were very rusty, a few had to be ground out with a Dremel tool.

In the photo below the floor is in. The center section is not final at this point. I needed access to the belly for the plumbing of the grey water tank which was yet to come.  As usual the floor is marine grade 3/4 inch plywood with multiple coats of CPES epoxy. I replaced the insulation on the wall and riveted the panel back in place:



You will notice that I only replaced half of the rear floor area. I did not want to tackle the bathroom enclosure this time around. Most of the wood in that area was surprisingly solid. In addition there is actually very little wood under the shower/bathroom area. Because the passenger rear corner belly panel was loose I had access to the underside of the area so was able to treat the frame with Corroseal  and replace the insulation.

So I decided to leave that project for the following winter. I did saturate all the original wood with multiple applications of CPES epoxy. This will stop any rot that was occurring and strengthen the wood.