[VAC] Anyone replaced a floor completely by removing the shell?

["William Henshall" <willy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

Well after a weekend of look and see, we have come to the conclusion that we
might be better off completely replacing the floor of our 1958 18ft
Traveller. There are 2 large areas of rot, the rear where the bathroom was,
and the front offside area. The rest of the floor is kinda ok but not in
perfect condition, although it is not rotted.

We had been looking into patching these areas and tying the new pieces into
the gap under the body shell and then back in to the good pieces of floor
with some strong brackets, but we have a feeling it will be quicker to start
over. It is seems very tricky trying to fit stuff in like this and you don't
really get a proper job done at the end of it...and then we might find more
rot...

I understand to do this properly we have to remove the shell however.

Anyone have any first hand experience of doing this? It looks like we need
to drill out the carriage bolts and then remove the screws all the way round
first, then lift it off. How heavy is the shell? Can 2 men lift it ok?

Is this the best way to proceed?

What about any problems with the underbelly skin removal? It looks fairly
straight forward...do we need to remove it all so we can access under the
frame?

I was then thinking of removing the old floor by drilling through the
carriage bolts (they are completely rusted) and using it as a template to
cut new ABX 5/8th ply. This would be bolted back on to the frame and then
the shell bolted and screwed back on. Phew.

Many thanks in advance if anyone can shed any light on this!

Will Henshall