This is what the interior of our 19' Scamp looked when we got it late last season.
Notice anything perculiar? How about that teal colored rug under the dining table?
The camper had some water damage in the floor. This is not uncommon with fiberglass campers, especially older ones (this is a 1991 model). The previous owner removed the stock carpet in this area and put down this rug. We wanted the water problem fixed.
First, the table and cushions were removed,
then the rug was taken up.
You can see where the stock carpet was already removed. Notice the discolorations of the wood flooring. The slightly darker brown just means a little wet and more recently. The dark gray against the rear wall is serious. This wood is rotted. It probably took many years to get this bad.
With the benches removed you can see the damaged floor more clearly. Notice that the darkest area is a bit off center to the left. Since the damage is worse, it may have started there. Also note that the damage extended under the benches along the back wall on both sides.
With the water tank removed (left side) more rot is evident. Here is a wider view of the whole rear area with everything removed (including carpet).
Next all the rotted flooring was removed. In the darkest areas a screwdriver pushed straight through with little effort. Other areas needed light hammering and chiseling. The digging went on until only solid wood remained.
A substantial amount of damage had accumulated. It could have been worse. The damage was confined to the perimeter. Most of the main flooring between the frame rails was sound.
With all rotted wood removed the reconstruction follows. The floor openings were squared up with the frame rails.
New flooring was trimmed to fit each opening. Here you can see the right side piece.
Note: the curved edge was indented with a router. That allowed it to fit between upper & lower fiberglass ledges left from the original flooring. The bottom ledge was trimmed to leave about 1 inch sticking out from the shell. The upper ledge was about 1/4 inch.
The back side was coated with resin. After drying overnight the flooring sections were installed.
To support the butt joints, splints were added underneath (glued and screwed). Around the curved edges each piece was fiberglassed to the ledges.
Have you ever heard the saying measure twice, cut once? Excellent advice! Somehow the middle piece was cut too small leaving gaps on both sides. It was wide enough to rest on both frame rails but the gap needed to be filled (argh). That's how I discovered Gorilla Glue.
Apparently it's catylized by water. It's volume can expand several times (3-4) before it hardens. For gap filling, it was just what I needed. (If wondering why the bottle is squished, the directions advise squeezing out air before storage.)
So, the floor was water damaged. Where did the water come from?
The molded fiberglass camper has two halves (top & bottom) joined by a horizontal seem. With the wall covering and insulation peeled back the seem is visible from inside. The dirty trail down the wall (towards left between spare tire and tail light) shows that water entered through the seam. The right side is lighter (dry); the left half (which leaked) is darker (still wet).
To prevent future leaking the seam gaps were plugged. From the inside a series of holes were drilled into the cavity. Some Gorilla Glue was squeezed into each hole. The filled holes were covered with metal duct tape (strong stuff) while the glue expanded and set up. When the tape was removed (next day) the inner surface was quite flush.
The plugs were entombed with resin and fiberglass cloth on the inside. On the outside the metal belly band was redressed with silicone caulk.
For more information about care and feeding of a Scamp, Casita or other molded fiberglass camper, be sure to visit the Yahoo! Scampers group and the FiberglassRV forum.
Happy trails,
-KamperBob