Warranty, Service and Recall Bulletins: Soft floor

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Soft floor

Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Warranty, Service and Recall Bulletins
Forum Discription: Have a warranty or service experience to share?
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7519
Printed Date: 28 Apr 2024 at 11:08pm
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Topic: Soft floor

Posted By: cburlette
Subject: Soft floor
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2016 at 4:28pm

i have a 2010 Rpod 175 and the floor just outside of the bathroom is soft. Does anyone know if this is a warranty fix, is it repairable and if so how much might it cost?

Thanks

Craig Burlette

Replies:

Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 7:09am

Doubt very much about a warranty when it is 6 years old. Certainly repairable but will be a job as you will have to tear out your linoleum and subfloor and replace. You plan on doing this yourself or have someone else tear into it? Also, better find out what caused this in the first place so it doesn't happen again. Plumbing leak or coming from the outside, running down a wall and ending up where your soft spot is.

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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."

Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 8:54am

I commented on your other thread.. If you check, and find no leak, then it's just a soft floor. The FR fix is to add a stiffner and cross brace under the soft area. The Airstream owner fix is to install a floating laminate floor in the trailer. The stiffness of the laminate takes care of the soft feeling area beneath. Because of the construction of the pod floor vs an Airstream floor, actual water damage to the pod floor is rare, but can happen. Mostly soft spots in the pod have shown up in spots of concentrated foot traffic, like right inside the door, or right outside the bathroom. The foam in the floor's core is breaking down.

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Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 11:49am

Thanks Mark, wasn't aware of foam in the floor's core. Much easier to add a cross brace than to rip and tear and start over.

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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."

Posted By: Unclewillis
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 4:05pm

I posted about this too. My floor is soft right in from of the kitchen. (we have the 176T) I crawled under to see the floor and low and behold the black tank is in the way. We are out of warranty and its not a serious issue so far but I am concerned.
After watching the Forest river video of the pod assembly, I can't see how the floor would be repaired without cutting a section of floor

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Daddy, Mommy and Daughter.
BlackJack & Keno (boston Terriers)
Rpod 176T 2015
Nick:
ouR-pod

Posted By: cburlette
Date Posted: 22 Mar 2016 at 12:13am

Thanks for the info everyone' if I get a chance to look into this this summer I will post pictures of what I find.

Craig

Posted By: StrongPod
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2016 at 6:31pm

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2010 RPod171 w/ V8 F150

Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2016 at 9:46pm

Good info to keep in mind.

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Leo & Melissa Bachand
2017 Ford F150
2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk
Previously owned
2015 Rpod 179
2010 Rpod 171

Posted By: StrongPod
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2016 at 10:00pm

I have a 2010 171 Rpod&recently had a leak that came thru my AC n the hall outside the bath. Now there is a soft spot in yhe floor in this area. A trailler business loked underneath the Rpod&thought everything was solid enough. How is the Rpod floor constructed&should I be concerned about this? Or how could it be repaired?

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2010 RPod171 w/ V8 F150

Posted By: Tomtreas
Date Posted: 16 Aug 2020 at 8:06pm

Thanks Furpod for this post so long ago as it has helped me to understand this from a couple of fronts.

My floor is soft from just inside my door back to about 5/8 of the way to the other side. I do notice if I look underneath that this part is completely unbraced and also recently I took it to a local RV dealer for other work and while there check the floor. They said something about extra bracing from underneath.

When I purchased the camper back in Feb which I believe had been parked for the winter, we noticed a single water run on the surface of the paneling just under the right side of the slider under the fridge. I ruled it as an isolated incident after finding a maple sead in the rubber runner on top of the slider. We haven't had any wet or evidence of any water leakage since I have owned it and I took that as a lesson to always check before moving the slider in for stuff on top of it. =)

I'm pretty certain that this softness is just to floor traffic and possibly a little less stiff to start with than should be for a 250+ lb person to be walking on it all the time. =) I'm going to have my local dealer do the stiffener and bracing. While I don't think my foot would go through it anytime soon, it just makes me nervous to feel the floor going down a bit below me when I walk in that area. so...

Thanks again!

Not sure if I have anything in my signature here yet but if not, I have a 2016 RP178. We love it!

Tom & Lisa in Missouri

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Tom B in MO USA
2016 RP178
2008 Xterra

Posted By: Tomtreas
Date Posted: 16 Aug 2020 at 8:09pm

Craig,

Wondering how this turned out for you.

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Tom B in MO USA
2016 RP178
2008 Xterra

Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2020 at 8:51am

Originally posted by Tomtreas

Craig,

Wondering how this turned out for you.

It's been 4 1/2 years since his last log on.. Possible he is no longer monitoring the forum..

As an aside, in the intervening years since this post, I do know of several owners who have installed interlocking floors in their pods, and they have helped immensely with a soft feeling floor. And require no fabrication and/or welding.

Posted By: Tomtreas
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2020 at 8:58am

I'd like to know more about that. General cost, installation difficulty, weight that would be added, etc etc. =)

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Tom B in MO USA
2016 RP178
2008 Xterra

Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2020 at 10:18am

Originally posted by furpod

Originally posted by Tomtreas

Craig,

Wondering how this turned out for you.

You mean like a click-lock floating floor?

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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2020 at 8:22pm

Yes, like Pergo etc.. I have never weighed the stuff. Quick internet search says 1- 1.5 pounds per sqft.. Thickness and backing would be the difference.. I suspect somewhere around 40-45 sqft would do a 178.. It's snaplock, pretty simple to install. I have not put it in a camper, but I have done some in homes. We put carpet in the Airstream, our Pod didn't suffer from soft floor, and we had a very rare factory carpet insert, and the Lance floor is to beautiful to cover.. LOL

Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2020 at 10:29am

We recently put a vinyl plank click-lock floor in a spare bedroom we're using as a sewing studio. It went down fast, is very attractive, and is waterproof to boot. I'd never thought about putting it in the R-pod, but now that I think about it, it might be a good choice.

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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2020 at 1:26pm

The only down side to vinyl plank would be that it would not provide much stiffening to the floor. I put it down in the kitchen and in two bathrooms and a closet in our house. It went in pretty quickly.

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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2020 at 2:29pm

Yes, vinyl isn't the answer..