2014 Coachmen Clipper 106ST soft floor

Hello,
Yes.... I currently have our 2014/15 125st at the factory for them to put new floor in. It was just a week out of warranty but had record of dealership looking at problem prior Warranty expiration. I had to pay for transportation which was a bit pricey but the camper is in perfect shape except for the floor. Coachmen has been great so far with the process and should have it sometime this spring. Floor was soft by the door to the point I had was concerned of putting my foot through it. I will keep you posted

 

Timely thread, we also have a 2014 Coachman clipper and last year (summer 2017) noticed the floor was getting soft in 3 spots, 1 by the door and 2 others by both beds. Now 2018 it's so bad ....
I'll be contacting General RV here in Wixom Michigan later today.

 

Im really curious as to what happened as I have similar issues going on and I live in Lansing, MI. My camper came from the General RV by Wixom too. Thanks.

 

Well .... long story short .. General RV looked at my pop-up, contacted the manuf , not covered by them, for general RV to fix is huge $$$'s, labor mostly. Like $3k to fix it locally and $6-7k to totally replace the floor!
Wow, wow, wow.
THe pop-up is not worth that real fix, so I will attempt to do this myself and document it all.

 

I have a buddy with a 2014 Viking (same as the Clipper) who had the same rotten floor issue. I know he did the fix himself so I'll try and track down some photos to show the repair process.

 

Here's the info from my buddy:

Only the front part of my tent trailer floor needed replacement. I took pictures as I was taking everything apart so I would know how to put it all back and kept all the screws organized. Removing the cabinets was the hard part. Lots of staples to pull out. Once that was done I had to cut out all the rotten wood all the way up to the centreline of the nearest frame member (so that I would have something for the new plywood to sit on). An oscillating multi-tool came in handy for cutting out the wood (OSB). Prying out the old wood from underneath the walls was a pain. I'm not sure if there is any easier way without having to disassemble the whole trailer but I just kept prying it out a piece at a time. You have to get it all out so you can get the new wood in there to be sitting on the frame. I tried to keep the underlying tarp material in tact while cutting and just patched any holes with tarp tape later on. I also went nuts with Proflex RV caulking everywhere, especially around the walls.

I treated the plywood with water sealant before installing it. To attach new plywood, I used a metal drill bit to predrill the holes in wood and frame and then attached the plywood to the frame with stainless steel metal screws. You need to have every edge of your plywood sitting on a frame (obviously).

Once I had fixed the floor and installed linoleum I put everything back together. I used a brad nailer with some staples to redo areas that had previously been stapled by the manufacturer. I also had to replace a section of the front wall that I had to rip out for access. I used some really thin plywood for that.

My mistake was not covering it over the winter. Also, the way the trim was installed front of the trailer made it possible for water to get in past the tarp material. I made sure to seal that up. Should be good now. Total repair cost was only around $200 since I only had to buy a few materials and did it myself.

 

Sorry you are having a really hard time. I hope it eventually all turns around for you. Keep us updated as you work on it. Thanks.

 

Thx for posting the pictures ...
when your friend fixed it was he able to find the water path that made the floor rot?

 

Well he was foolish and didn't cover the pup at all over the Winter and we get a lot of rain on the west coast in the Winter. Given the worst of the rot was at the front of the trailer, he thinks water got in at the bottom at the front of the trailer, where it meets the frame. There's a trim piece that runs along the front of the trailer that wasn't sealed.

 

I have a 2017 i hope this is no something i will have to deal with. Though it is garage kept during the off season.

 

Well I guess I should make my own floor rebuild thread, as I’ve totally taken everything out of the box now , and soon will embark on floor replacement .

Any rationale reason why Forrest River , manuf for coachman, uses OSB not marine treated plywood for the floor?
(Beyond the $50-60 cost difference ... I can’t comprehend why they use untreated osb)

 

I think it is a cost cutting measure, which is frustrating! I've found the build quality on our clipper isn't as good as some of the other brands like Fleetwood and Rockwood.

I hope the floor replacement goes smoothly.

 

Its sad manufacturers use subflooring that fails if you miss a leak. The boat industry started putting in composite floors decades ago. The same should go in RVs.

My 1974 Apache had marine plywood flooring and also had it in the bunk ends. I feel certain it got wet many times over the first 30 years prior to me owning it. The wood in it was rock solid.

 

We borrowed a friends 1980’s Coleman popup for our Sumer 2014 trip, before I bought mine, and same, rock solid floor.

 

I am the friend he is referring to. Mine does not have the front storage compartment like some models and the front outside black trim piece which sits at floor level was stapled all the way along it’s length. The staples perforated through the underlay tarp material and went right into the flooring. Any water coming down the front of the trailer would pool inside the trim (no caulking here either) and could go through the holes and saturate the OSB floor. That’s my theory anyways. Whose idea at the factory it was to staple the trim I’m not sure but it seems like a poor design choice! I removed the staples and caulked along the trim. Have kept the trailer covered as well. So far no further water damage has occurred.

 

We are knee deep in replacing our floor in our 1999 Coleman Utah and are completely winging it I knew it would be expensive to take it too the dealership repair but had no idea it would cost that much were in Downriver Michigan and would love having someone else to bounce ideas and successes and the ever popular don’t make the same mistake we did “heads up”. We’re also rebuilding the bottom of the galley and cassette potty cabinet due to water and opossum damages.

 

Yes, yes you should