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It looks like I will have to replace the floor of my Rapido Orline.

Would anyone know how the floor is attached to the sides before I start and give up partway through ?

Hi Trevor, saw this and thought you may get an answer here http://forum4.aimoo.com/rapidofoldingcaravan/errno-1/warmtips.html

hope it works and someone can advise

Just think how brill it will be once finished

Removed the lower awning rail yesterday and most of the side battens fell out (well not quite).

Definitely have to rebuild at least the rear half of the floor, what is the best way to support the body instead of the chassis whilst working on it ?

Have emptied out all the storage compartments and removed the kitchen unit, will remove the storage compartments (bed bases) last to try to keep some strength / support in there.

I have booked a week off work and roped in some help too, almost looking forward to working on it !

Its a Rapido Orline 33E 1985 (judging by the wheels) as we paid £800 for it and one is for sale at £3,950 (OK its a 1992 model) we think it will be worth doing.

good luck, couldnt have picked a better week weatherwise, sounds well worth the effort.

jesse x

Unfortunately its not this week !

Fingers crossed for 17 to 21 Sept.

Weather perfect last week.

Managed to strip out the interior, removed 2 linear feet of full width floor and half of the rear corner, plus 1 square metre of floor was treated with delamination kit. Replaced the lower side beam, new under floor wood, new cross members, new insulation, new top floor sheeting, new lino, replaced interior side panel, painted inside walls (lower half only) and furniture.

Interior furniture to go back in and awning rails to go back on.

Very productive and not really as bad as first thought.

I used 3.6mm marine ply, 25mm x 36mm planed timber from Homebase, 25mm polystyrene and 6mm marine ply, lots of waterproof glue, brackets, screws etc.

Looked to be the same as the original manufacurers used (except they used big staples instead of brackets and screws).

No idea how long it will last but we want four / five years and will be happy.

I'll have a dig around for the pictures but basically the construction of the floor is 6mm ply on top 25mm battening across the floor with stapled "noggins" between. The resulting box chambers have blue foam block insulation fitted, then there is the 3.6mm ply underneath.

The sandwich is all glued together with the spray on contact adhesive.

I followed the original design but used polystyrene insulation (but this is flammable), lots of screws and angle brackets instead of staples and the ply was stuck down with aliphatic wood glue. New vynil flooring was glued down with spray contact adhesive.