Rusted through

[Douneedhelp]

Hi everyone

I’m new to the skoolie life. I just bought my first skoolie due to this horrible housing market. I have a 2004 Blue Bird all American Transit. I am taking the seats out and noticed there are soft spots all over the place. So far I attempted to remove one of the seats and realized when I wiggle the seat around it popped up from the floor relatively easy. From what I know there are some places underneath I can see the wood. And I know I will be needing to replace some crossmembers. What I don’t know is when I pull out the seats and wood sub-floor will the entire floor pan be rotted and if it is what can I do about that issue. Has anyone ever come across an issue of having to replace the majority of the their floor pan? And if so. What were the steps you took to replace it.

Please feel free to let me know what can be done. I am open to All suggestions in case you have any knowledge. I appreciate all advice.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ewo1]

Hi everyone

Has anyone ever come across an issue of having to replace the majority of the their floor pan? And if so. What were the steps you took to replace it.

LOL...welcome to the club!

I, like many others here, had to do alot of repair work on the floor.

check out my build thread, there are many other build threads to with the same repairs!

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/bus-9906-a-26674.html

 

[magnakansas]

Well

Don’t jump ahead of things just yet. Work on gettin the wood up and gone. Then we will go from there.

William

 

[musigenesis]

Has anyone ever come across an issue of having to replace the majority of their floor pan?

Yeah, I have lol. You can also go through my build thread (link at the bottom of all my posts) for more details. It's a lot of time and work dealing with something like this - you might be better off dumping your bus and starting over with something not rusted.

Pics would be very helpful to see how bad your situation actually is.

 

[Douneedhelp]

Thank you
I am definitely inspired by your devotion. I will post more once I’m done with pulling it all up.

 

[Douneedhelp]

You are correct. I am going to get on the grind of tearing it all out.

 

[Douneedhelp]

Yeah, I have lol. You can also go through my build thread (link at the bottom of all my posts) for more details. It's a lot of time and work dealing with something like this - you might be better off dumping your bus and starting over with something not rusted.

Pics would be very helpful to see how bad your situation actually is.

I can only imagine what is to come of all of this floor repair. I was afraid I would have to let it go. I am pretty strong willed when it comes to projects like these but I’d rather not get too deep into something that would cost more to fix than to just start all over again. I will post pics as soon as the wood is out.

 

[Douneedhelp]

LOL...welcome to the club!

I, like many others here, had to do alot of repair work on the floor.

check out my build thread, there are many other build threads to with the same repairs!

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/bus-9906-a-26674.html

Thank you
I am definitely inspired by your devotion. I will post more once I’m done with pulling it all up.

 

[Douneedhelp]

Don’t jump ahead of things just yet. Work on gettin the wood up and gone. Then we will go from there.

William

You are correct. I am going to get on the grind of tearing it all out.

 

[nikitis]

I can only imagine what is to come of all of this floor repair. I was afraid I would have to let it go. I am pretty strong willed when it comes to projects like these but I’d rather not get too deep into something that would cost more to fix than to just start all over again. I will post pics as soon as the wood is out.

Honestly it's not too bad and unless the bus was in a lake for awhile, it's not likely the whole floor will be rusty. I can promise you there isn't a single bus here that doesn't have rust somewhere on the floor pans. You just need a simple grinder, grind away at it and buy some sheet metal and weld a new piece in place. Welding really isn't that hard, just get an 110 welder with flux core, No need for gas with flux core, and just practice some lines. It doesn't even have to be perfect as you'll be covering it up, just strong enough to walk on it when done.


If you aren't comfortable with welding, ask a friend to come do it for you, but cutting out sheet metal and fitting a puzzle piece is not too bad and is just one extra step to the whole entire process.


Don't let it get to you. It's a step everyone goes through, some lucky people have rust still but strong enough that it will hold and those people just use some vaporub and a black sealant afterwards to help prevent further rusting and it's good enough for 20 years usually.


The test of where you have to cut is not determined by where light surface rust is but if you can lightly take a screwdriver and poke through, those are the areas you want to replace, grind out the rest of the surface rust and paint over it.


I'd expect 2-3 areas to have some rust, if it turns out your whole floor is rusted, then just cut it all out and get some thin sheet metal and do the whole thing, but it's not likely to be the case.