Delta with a saggy floor

Hi there. Please could someone help.... My delta floor has gone soft just inside the door. the floor is starting to sag. Is there a way of fixing this without dismantling the entire furniture inside the tent. I bought the tent only recently and feel I was sold a pup......

Welcome Terry sorry your first post is a downer for you,when you say soft do you think its rotten or just starting to give in a spot every one steps on as they enter,my first dandy had give in the floor as you entered but was not rotten just a piece of well used floor,there have been problems mentioned with water entering because the unit was stored draw bar down so rain could find its way in around the door bottom,there are a few ways that spring to mind to negate the need for major surgery for a year or two if its the worse case scenario,one is a marine ply oversize panel fixed underneath after being forced up slightly with a jack,this would depend on what solid fixing you had around the area.
If you didn't mind the carpet coming up a sheet of marine ply over the entire centre floor,these as i say are make do and mend suggestions,but i can see where you are coming from not every one wants to tackle rebuilds especially soon after purchase.

mike

Hi there
I have just been underneath the offending Delta and can see that the floor is actually starting to seperate. Its cracking and the chipboard is showing jagged edges so I feel that the situation is more serious then first thought. I have had a good look round and can see that there is room to place a piece of marine ply up against the floor which I can probably glue and screw to the existing floor panel. Upon checking I see that the second length of floor is showing slight cracking so it would probably be a good idea to do the pair. Does anybody know of a down side to this? I could also run some brackets from the chassis across the bottom of the ply. I would appreciate comments please.

The down side as i see it is you are not curing the problem,just dealing with the symptoms,after saying that it could be many years before they reoccur,the alternative is a new floor and i dont see that as being any different in a few years to come,so you would be giving yourself time to decide if you want to completely re floor it.I guess some one will give a reason why not but if i was doing this sort of patch repair i would look into whether the soft piece of floor could be cut out nice and straight then the oversize patch applied underneath and then a replacement section fitted from the top into the hole,if all soft wood was removed the repair made watertight it may last a very long time.
There is the consideration of which adhesives to use ime not sure any would realy work underneath if under-seal is present so would give consideration to more sealing it rather than sticking using silicone or black under-seal or perhaps something else,the main object as far as i can see is remove all soft wood fix firmly with screws or countersunk bolts and make a weather tight seal,of course try to find out why it happened in the first place,it could just be a lower quality flooring wood used on later models, ime sure my 6 has the same type of floor not chipboard but sterling board and its lasted well.

mike

Terry

Sorry for your grief.
The permanent solution is very permanent but can be a bit more than you fancy doing.
I do like one of Mike's solutions.
Cut ply to fit your interior and apply above.
Gravity is a wonderful adhesive, but screwing at 6 inch centres will help structural integrity.
Choose screws that are just shorter than the combined thickness, otherwise your providing bored "wicks" to help the moisture into the new wood.
With the proviso that leaving rotten wood in situ is never the brightest of ideas then you should at least get some value from the Dandy this way.
After a season or two you can decide if you want to do the work or sell on, hopefully more honestly than the previous vendors.
As it's a Delta and 4'10" wide you will need to buy a 5' by 10' sheet of ply which is quite a bit more expensive than a 4' by 8' sheet, but that's always the way isn't it.
As you can see in this link the floor is actually OSB board:
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This probably saved £10 over using marine ply, there are some pointed comments to this effect.

Kevin.

You could also seal the Ply to help prevent any rot from seeping in from the rotten stuff.

Terry,

As Kevin & Mike have said the best route to go for now with out totally stripping out the interior is to put a layer of 1/2" ply over the top. I don't know what floor covering you have in your dandy but if it is vinyl leave it down this would act as your seal between your old and new floor.

oh I have a saggy bottom tooo and i am taken up the laminate flooring any way so see if patching will do or the hole floor job thanks for the info

Thank you everyone for your advice and help. I think that the best plan would be to lift the carpet and remove the seat from the left hand side to replace the floor from above. I will be sourcing some 12mm marine ply and giving it a go this week. Wish me luck. As can be seen from my profile I am not really experienced in this kind of activity but am a willing amateur.

Good Luck Terry,

you will surprise yourself on how much you can do with a Dandy

don't worry don't think any of us are experts but get experience from doing it our selves and learning from others on this very informative site

Surprised though that Mike hasn't made a quip yet about everyone's saggy bottoms

helen wrote:Surprised though that Mike hasn't made a quip yet about everyone's saggy bottoms

You know me too well thought it but decided no

TerryBaynham wrote:Thank you everyone for your advice and help. I think that the best plan would be to lift the carpet and remove the seat from the left hand side to replace the floor from above. I will be sourcing some 12mm marine ply and giving it a go this week. Wish me luck. As can be seen from my profile I am not really experienced in this kind of activity but am a willing amateur.

Pleased you have decided what to do,could you take some pictures as it may be something others want to do,with care it may not be the problem you expect.

mike

Terry

Sorry meant to post this at the time and forgot.
Given that this is a stop gap repair 1 or 2 seasons then why do work that will not make it any more permanent?
Leave the cupboards in place and just cut ply to suit.
You might loose a minute amount of structural integrity, but I can't see it being an issue.
Also you only need an 8'X4' sheet of ply.

Kevin.

Tow Itch wrote: Terry

Sorry meant to post this at the time and forgot.
Given that this is a stop gap repair 1 or 2 seasons then why do work that will not make it any more permanent?
Leave the cupboards in place and just cut ply to suit.
You might loose a minute amount of structural integrity, but I can't see it being an issue.
Also you only need an 8'X4' sheet of ply.

Kevin.

Hi Kevin. I have considered this option but the bottom storage cupboards doors already foul on the carpet when opened. Is it possible to lift these up the 12mm or so by moving the hinges and magnetic catches.
Terry

TerryBaynham wrote:

Tow Itch wrote: Terry

Sorry meant to post this at the time and forgot.
Given that this is a stop gap repair 1 or 2 seasons then why do work that will not make it any more permanent?
Leave the cupboards in place and just cut ply to suit.
You might loose a minute amount of structural integrity, but I can't see it being an issue.
Also you only need an 8'X4' sheet of ply.

Kevin.

Hi Kevin. I have considered this option but the bottom storage cupboards doors already foul on the carpet when opened. Is it possible to lift these up the 12mm or so by moving the hinges and magnetic catches.
Terry

Terry are you saying your doors swing out then,the only ones i have had used sliding doors and i thought the others had drop down doors,you live and learn

Hi Y'all.
I have a confession to make. I bottled out of repairing the floor myself and contacted Ian at Riva Dandy. He is such a wonderful guy and has brought the delta back to pristine condition for a very reasonable price. Does anyone fancy going camping?????? We now have a new floor, carpet, and gas valves and piping. we also have fancy silver painted wheels and serviced brakes. We also have new brackets to hold the beds down in place and a patch where the leg came through the bottom of the bed. All this for a very reasonable price and superb customer service. I for one will return to Ian for all things Dandy in the future. I cannot recommend him highly enough. I would like to thank everyone for the advice and will hopefully be a regular contributor to this forum.

TerryBaynham wrote:Hi Y'all.
I have a confession to make. I bottled out of repairing the floor myself and contacted Ian at Riva Dandy. He is such a wonderful guy and has brought the delta back to pristine condition for a very reasonable price. Does anyone fancy going camping?????? We now have a new floor, carpet, and gas valves and piping. we also have fancy silver painted wheels and serviced brakes. We also have new brackets to hold the beds down in place and a patch where the leg came through the bottom of the bed. All this for a very reasonable price and superb customer service. I for one will return to Ian for all things Dandy in the future. I cannot recommend him highly enough. I would like to thank everyone for the advice and will hopefully be a regular contributor to this forum.

Always found Ian at riva a great guy although i have only dealt with him on the phone,pleased your all sorted we still have places spare at the Christmas meet

Doesn't matter how you did it Terry, the Dandy is now fab and that's all that really matters

Where and when are you going camping ? we always fancy camping it just depends on the when and how far really.

Terry

Glad it's all sorted.

TerryBaynham wrote:Hi Y'all.
I have a confession to make. I bottled out of repairing the floor myself and contacted Ian at Riva Dandy. He is such a wonderful guy and has brought the delta back to pristine condition for a very reasonable price. Does anyone fancy going camping?????? We now have a new floor, carpet, and gas valves and piping. we also have fancy silver painted wheels and serviced brakes. We also have new brackets to hold the beds down in place and a patch where the leg came through the bottom of the bed. All this for a very reasonable price and superb customer service. I for one will return to Ian for all things Dandy in the future. I cannot recommend him highly enough. I would like to thank everyone for the advice and will hopefully be a regular contributor to this forum.

as someone who doesn't have the space to work on my dandy at home - or indeed the DIY ability of many of the members here, I too would look to going to Ian or some other workman to repair things that are way too big for me to tackle. I can clean it, but i'm afraid anything other than repairs needing tenacious tape are beyond me lol

well done

mike wrote:

TerryBaynham wrote:Hi Y'all.
I have a confession to make. I bottled out of repairing the floor myself and contacted Ian at Riva Dandy. He is such a wonderful guy and has brought the delta back to pristine condition for a very reasonable price. Does anyone fancy going camping?????? We now have a new floor, carpet, and gas valves and piping. we also have fancy silver painted wheels and serviced brakes. We also have new brackets to hold the beds down in place and a patch where the leg came through the bottom of the bed. All this for a very reasonable price and superb customer service. I for one will return to Ian for all things Dandy in the future. I cannot recommend him highly enough. I would like to thank everyone for the advice and will hopefully be a regular contributor to this forum.

Always found Ian at riva a great guy although i have only dealt with him on the phone,pleased your all sorted we still have places spare at the Christmas meet

Where and when is the Christmas meet please. sounds like fun.

Terry this is the thread with the dates in,we are not all going on the exact same dates but there will be crossover [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This is the site

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You would be more than welcome on any of the dates

mike