Well it seems the new (to us) 2012 r177 has a bad floor and is going to need to be replaced. :-(

From what I am seeing/finding online so far this seems to be an incredibly depressing procedure.

Am I right in thinking that the floor is actually under the edges of the walls, so that in order to replace the entire floor that the walls need to be removed too??

Has anyone had any experience with floor repairs/replacing?

We have a good bit of rot and black mold that runs around the perimeter of the unit, being especially bad under the bed area. I've started a tearout and have an appointment to bring it in to have the work done. Hoping that it will bring the cost down somewhat if they don't have to deal with a lot of removal.

In any event it's looking like this could be an incredibly expensive proposition.

Does anybody have any ideas or thoughts? Please help....my poor wife is heartbroken!

First, welcome.

Second, my condolences.

This would be a difficult thing. It seems from reading your post that there was a lot of water leakage that was not taken care of at the time. This is undisclosed damage and it would be good if the purchase could be canceled, especially if the seller did not disclose this damage. I don't know about SC law in this regard though. As you surmise, the cost to repair may exceed the value of the trailer. Essentially, the whole shell would need to come off and the cabinetry removed in order to fully replace the floor. OTOH, I would say that if the floor seems solid, it may not require a complete replacement. You may be able to remove the vinyl, remove the mold (really strong bleach or whatever method you can find that will work, fully dry the floor and install new vinyl. The determining factor would be whether the wood under the floor is still strong enough. However, if the "rot" is bad enough, that would rule out that process.

I wish I could offer you more hope. Unfortunately, it is easier to prevent the damage from occurring by finding and fixing leaks before the damage happens than to fix the damage once it has happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMXneKc_fDo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMXneKc_fDo

I'm clever enough I like to think that if there's a workaround to this I'll find it when it comes to rebuilding. We've an appointment Aug 11 to bring it to a local place that does repair, so we'll see what they have to say.My hope is that somehow I can take out small parts of the floor at a time, only about a foot or so distance from the walls. The middle of the floor is solid. My only question with that thought being would there be a piece of the frame for it to rest on.....do you know what i mean? We'll see. 

I wish i could say simply treating the mold could be an option....part of the back wall you can poke a screwdriver right through. Looks great on the surface though!

I'll keep posted here about progress.

Thanks again

Yes, I'd seen that video already...that's what kind of set my heart to sinking. I'm sorry, but I don't see the sense of how they constructed the walls on top of the floor as opposed to mounting them on the sides of the frame. Surely at some point in a trailers life an issue or two has to emerge with the floor and repair/replacing necessary? Oh well....it is what it is I suppose...something will shake out either way. 

It makes perfect sense to the trailer mfs, it is cheap and light, and their warranty doesn't cover water damage, which would typically be considered owner's neglect. Consider too that to succeed in a claim against the sellers you would probably have to prove they knew about the water damage (lawyers reading this please correct me if I'm wrong - that's you LA )

The issue that makes things worse with rpods is that the main frame rails are inboard. That makes the floor a cantilever structure with the wall loads resting on the ends of the cantilever. Since the floor is a glued up diaphragm panel it partially relies on the strength of the plywood to take those wall loads. 

You could consider welding up "outriggers" from the main frame rail and supporting the walls that way, but just replacing the outside edges of the floors probably won't be enough to keep the walls from settling.

If its any consolation, you are not alone, take a look at the other thread on this same topic from the past couple of weeks, the damage there is worse than what yours sounds like. 

Since the trailer is valued at around $6K or $7.5K, your best bet is to prove fraud or misrepresentation in your local small claims court.  To hire a lawyer would not be cost effective.  Legal fees, especially if you bought it from a dealer, would exceed the value of the trailer by orders of magnitude.

 

Some times it's best to cut your losses as fast as you can.  

I think all the responses to your dilemma are spot on. Move on.  

I have also been on the receiving end of buying an old RV as-is that ended up being a complete money pit. Thankfully we didn't pay much for it, but it had eerily similar issues with rotten walls and portions of the floor, leaks around vents, etc. 

If you have a friend who is a lawyer, have them send a note on their letterhead detailing the purchase, fraudulent information, and recourse of taking them to court. Give them a deadline of X-days to respond, get it notarized and send it certified mail. Request a full refund for the delivery of the trailer back to them. In our case sending a letter on legal letterhead that said we would take the case to small claims was enough to levy a refund. It took a number of weeks to resolve, but in the end we got our money back (less several hundred in inspections, gas and misc.).

Bottom line... some people just really suck! I am sorry this happened to you.