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The floor in my 40 year old Holivan needs replacing as it is very spongy and having investigated, it is quite rotten in a couple of places.

What is the best thing to replace the floor with and how should I do it??!!
I want to make sure she is still around in another 40 years (if possible!) so want to make sure the floor is solid and safe.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I will follow this thread with interest.

As far as I know, the floor (and usually the covering to that floor) is laid onto the chassis and then the rest of the caravan is built on top of that.

So, to replace the floor would entail removing the complete van and start back at chassis level.

I suppose there are ways that you could do that but it would take a very large workshop and some rather sophisticated tools.

Good luck!

to do the best job, you would need to take the walls off, but you can replace parts of the floor without this, its very time consuming but i had to do it due to very bad rot in mine.

mike

1 " thick marine ply plenty of varnish underneath

could you remove all the furniture then lay it over the old floor then go under the van and brace the old floor

I am fortunate that I do have the space to actually remove the walls of the van but my biggest concern doing this would be getting it back together again and ensuring it was water tight!!

It isn't the whole floor that is rotten (I don't think!!) - it is mainly infront of the door and the kitchen area which runs along the back wall of the caravan (approx 20"x36") The rest of the floor feels solid but obviously I will check properly!!

Would doing as lilbob suggests be enough or do I need some more substantial repairs?
A friend suggested welding metal sheeting under the van and adding some bracing to support the floor and putting new marine ply down inside?

Keep the thoughts and fix-it suggestions coming!!

When you look at the framework that is involved in the older caravan, repairs to the floor are probably the hardest to achieve.

I suppose one possible way, if it was not in an area where wiring and plumbing went through the floor, would be to unbolt the chassis from the van, jack up the van and slide exterior ply under the rotten areas.

Personally I think that this is your only option. Hopefully others will come up with some other ideas.