2016 Minnie Winnie 31k Soft Spot on Floor

[willy_h]

Hi all

I have a a soft spot on the floor about 12" in front of the sink and leading up to the oven. I bought the unit used and for the life of me I can't remember the soft spots were there when I did the walk through. But on the same hand I always remember them being there

I checked the plumbing diagrams but there seems to be no plumbing or drainage under that part of the floor. I'm concerned it may be water but for the life of me I can't imagine where it's coming from.

Any thoughts, input, or ideas are welcomed!

Thanks

[texnet]

Check the roof and all seams that have been chalked. Water takes the path of least resistance. The leak could be just about anywhere. We once had a very small, almost pin hole, in a travel trailer on the roof and water had damaged the roof and part of a wall. Another motor home we purchased had a leak in the slide seals. I had to replace about 1 square foot of floor and sub floor.

[ModestMonk]

:welcome:

Water from the sink would be the best guess. Sometimes a screw or nail on a wall just pierces the water line and a slow drip happens. You may have to pull the floor and see what you have and where it's coming from. Good Luck!

[willy_h]

I was hoping to read "don't worry about it's probably nothing" but deep down inside I knew that wasn't the case. I see floorboards in my future. Thanks for the replies.

[willy_h]

I cut the linoleum under one of the soft spots and much to my surprise I found it to be dry. The tiles weren't glued onto the floor so I was able to lift up the portion I cut and feel for moisture. There was none, but what i did see was that the soft spot is where two pieces of plywood were joined (see attached pic). It seems that there is no support beneath these two pieces. The plus side is that since the wife wanted to change the flooring now I know it wont be a day of scraping tile. Should this be a major point of concern for me?

[Superslif]

Most likely the underside supports are too far apart in that area. I had a buddy who had to add another angle iron between frame supports to keep his floor from flexing. He said instead of the normal 18" spacing between floor supports, the area of softness there was a 30" space. So it was a no brainer, that area was not supported enough from the trailer build.

It's good that you were able to see that the flooring is dry, but now it's really a support issue. I'll go out there and say all RV trailers are going to have some area that might have a little "give". The trailer we have now has a far more solid floor than our last RV. Both are the same brand (Aerolite) and model (hybrid) , but different frame structure.

[willy_h]

The angle irons is a good idea. That's definitely a longer term project. That's all for their comments. I'm digging this community!

[ModestMonk]

Originally Posted by willy_h

I cut the linoleum under one of the soft spots and much to my surprise I found it to be dry. The tiles weren't glued onto the floor so I was able to lift up the portion I cut and feel for moisture. There was none, but what i did see was that the soft spot is where two pieces of plywood were joined (see attached pic). It seems that there is no support beneath these two pieces. The plus side is that since the wife wanted to change the flooring now I know it wont be a day of scraping tile. Should this be a major point of concern for me?

Attachment 155460

If it was me I would address the deflection. If you've noticed it already it will become more noticeable over time. Can you get to the underside of the flooring joint? Just glueing another plywood panel from underneath would go a long way to supporting that area. A cross member would be ideal. They make a seam sealer to glue your floor back together.

Btw was this floor installed by the dealer/repair shop or was it done by the factory as original?

Another thread currently discussing the same topic: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f272/mush...ml#post3440492

[Superslif]

My 2005 tt I could see under the trailer on the underside. I had a issue with a soft floor caused by the way the steps were bolted thru the floor, thus pulling the wood floor to be tugged downward . I had to re-engineer the supports for the steps to connect to the frame of the trailer for a more solid step support. It was easy to get to on the underside of the trailer because there was no fabric or plastic covering between the frame rails.

Most trailers now ( like my newer 2013) have a plastic corrugated material screwed to the under side of the frame. If you unscrewed this plastic material, you have to worry about one of the water tanks being right under your "soft" spot. Or I would maybe unscrew 2 screws and take a peek with a flashlight if in deed you can even see the area below the "soft spot".

[willy_h]

ModesMonk: The floor is the original install. I'll see if I can crawl underneath and try to reach that area. If I could do a cross member it'll be idea, if not just gluing an additional panel will be fine.

[Mich F]

Originally Posted by willy_h

Hi all

I have a a soft spot on the floor about 12" in front of the sink and leading up to the oven. I bought the unit used and for the life of me I can't remember the soft spots were there when I did the walk through. But on the same hand I always remember them being there

I checked the plumbing diagrams but there seems to be no plumbing or drainage under that part of the floor. I'm concerned it may be water but for the life of me I can't imagine where it's coming from.

Any thoughts, input, or ideas are welcomed!

Thanks

I have/had the same issue with a 2014 31K I bought new in Mar.2013. In my case Winnebago/Itasca paid for a local welding, metal fabrication shop to install metal cross members above the frame rails to support the floor. I believe they put in 4 pieces.

[willy_h]

How long did you own the vehicle before you noticed the soft spots. Also, how hard did they fight you on paying for repairs? I'm going to take a look under the carriage and see how tough it is to get to those areas.

Thanks for you post.

[Mich F]

Originally Posted by willy_h

How long did you own the vehicle before you noticed the soft spots. Also, how hard did they fight you on paying for repairs? I'm going to take a look under the carriage and see how tough it is to get to those areas.

Thanks for you post.

I noticed the sag/soft spots not long after buying the unit. They at first wanted me to go through the dealer I bought it from, who had moved from about 30-40 miles away, to over 100 miles away. That dealer kept giving me the run around with stupid reasons for not doing the job (which probably would have meant subbing it out anyway).

I told Winnebago about my not wanting to go through that dealer and they let me bring it to a local shop of my choosing, to have it fixed. I paid for the repair, which was somewhere between 3 and 4 hundred dollars, if I remember correctly, and they reimbursed me for the work.

There were no problems, getting them to authorize and pay for the repairs. You might have a problem since you're not the original owner.

[willy_h]

Mich F. I reached out to them via email and they responded by asking for my S/N. I've yet to hear back from them on whether it's covered or not. If it only cost you 300-400 it gives me a little piece of mind. I was thinking it would run in the thousands.

[Mich F]

My invoice for the work is around here house somewhere, but I just looked in my Quicken and the work was actually done a little over a year after I bought the MH. It was $302.10 to fab and install 4 supports.

[willy_h]

Originally Posted by Mich F

My invoice for the work is around here house somewhere, but I just looked in my Quicken and the work was actually done a little over a year after I bought the MH. It was $302.10 to fab and install 4 supports.

Closer to 300 than 400. Man, it keeps getting and better. Thanks for the info.

[bill06447]

My rig has the same issue in the same spot. The subfloor seam appears to be between supports. Some day I'll address it....

[ed rzepka]

Originally Posted by willy_h

I cut the linoleum under one of the soft spots and much to my surprise I found it to be dry. The tiles weren't glued onto the floor so I was able to lift up the portion I cut and feel for moisture. There was none, but what i did see was that the soft spot is where two pieces of plywood were joined (see attached pic). It seems that there is no support beneath these two pieces. The plus side is that since the wife wanted to change the flooring now I know it wont be a day of scraping tile. Should this be a major point of concern for me?

Attachment 155460

When you change out floors, could you start a new thread with you project and possibly pictures?

Part of our floor was replaced by WB. I believe the subflooring is to soft and doesn't appear to support the linoleum floor. This has lead to indentations caused by chairs and even from small pebbles stuck in our shoes. While the WB factory in Oregon did a good job, I see issues down the road.

Thanks
Ed

[willy_h]

I'll do that. It may not be for a while though. I probably wont replace the entire subfloor as much as just reinforcing those soft spots between wood panels with brackets.

Thanks for the post!

Originally Posted by ed rzepka

When you change out floors, could you start a new thread with you project and possibly pictures?

Part of our floor was replaced by WB. I believe the subflooring is to soft and doesn't appear to support the linoleum floor. This has lead to indentations caused by chairs and even from small pebbles stuck in our shoes. While the WB factory in Oregon did a good job, I see issues down the road.

Thanks
Ed

[brueckerjack]

Originally Posted by willy_h

Hi all

I have a a soft spot on the floor about 12" in front of the sink and leading up to the oven. I bought the unit used and for the life of me I can't remember the soft spots were there when I did the walk through. But on the same hand I always remember them being there

I checked the plumbing diagrams but there seems to be no plumbing or drainage under that part of the floor. I'm concerned it may be water but for the life of me I can't imagine where it's coming from.

Any thoughts, input, or ideas are welcomed!

Thanks

Hello- I have a 2013 Minnie Winnie 2101 FBS. Had similar situation, ROTTED floor street side near small slide out about 2 ft by three foot area, did not even know it was rotted until one day I felt the sponginess, thought the source was the slide out. Decided to investigate the area myself since I am quite handy, carefully cut linoleum around perimeter of trailer so I could roll it back to expose floor, I removed some of the cabinetry, the bed frame etc to have a large work area in the small trailer. WOW! A Lot of floor rot! The source was NOT the slide, it was the wheel well, rot came from an unsealed wheel well due to poor manufacturing. I wound up replacing a plywood floor area about 2 feet by four feet, reinsulated, supported floor with NEW 2x4 wood, used TREATED wood in areas where it did NOT contact the aluminum main floor frame, sealed new plywood flooring on both sides with polyurethane, resecured vinyl flooring, then sealed wheelwells like crazy using silicone, expanding foam from inside and out, removed both tires to seal wells from outside as well. Did I mention I tried calling WInnebago in Middlebury, Indiana and could not get them to answer my calls???? I left messages several times, no response. VERY VERY terrible customer service!! SHAME on them! This was factory neglect!