And now the chassis...

Flying high & safely out of the way. Luckily the shell can stay on the hoist so no need to lower her onto trestles & possibly damage the edges of the outer sheets.

Out goes the chassis...   ...hopefully when it returns it'll look brand new.

As is pretty evident the floor was in a pretty bad state, or rotted away completely.














The front & rear sections where the ply foor had all but dissolved were pretty simple to clear. Despite the rot in the wood most of the frame was in surprisingly sound condition. The step will need reinforcing.

 

Much of the central section of the plywood floor was pretty sound, though the fixings were very rusty.  Unless this was a later repair (and there are no signs it was) it appears the sheets of ply were joined together with corrugated fasteners.

Once all the floor was removed, it was pretty clear that trailer had not just been home to wanderlusty humans... various nut-eating critters had hitched a ride too.

It was also clear that the subfloor insulation was laid over the steel frame and the floor fastened through it. The insulation had obviously acted like a sponge, retaining water and rusting the steel - we plan to use a flat rubber strip & Sikkaflex.

I cut templates (in hardboard) for both ends (bow & stern... after all she is named after a ship!) so the 'C' channel can go back in exactly the same place - with a few kinks removed.

All-in-all we were pleasantly surprised at the condition of the steel frame. A few outriggers and one cross-member will need replacing but otherwise its a case of repairing & strengthening.

The floorspace under the shell has now become useful storage for the sections and fittings removed.