1986 TMC 102A3 - Subfloor Question

[Astro]

Any reason why a mostly solid floor couldn't be overlaid with something else?

Generally, NO., but the part of the floor that is not in the "mostly" solid part will be covered and still leak and rot undetected beneath the now new floor. It will become either your problem if you keep the bus long enough or someone elses problem after you sell it and either way, it will be coming out or bus will be scrapped.  The real question is why, if your going to spend the time and money to convert a bus, not do it right to begin with?

[Jeremy]

In my case I had to replace (or at least add to) the stock floor because my bus has a dropped-aisle. One annoying thing though is that that I've never come across the material that the stock floor is made from - which has foam bonded to the underside of the plywood for sound and heat insulation, and which also, when squashed-down where the floor rests on a support beam, acts as a useful gasket between the wood and the metal.

Jeremy

PS - If I understood the earlier question correctly, the hard-wearing ribbed floor covering material often used in buses can be bought on rolls for use in horse boxes amongst other things. I don't know about in the US but supplying specialist materials for building horse boxes seems to be big business here in the UK!

[Oonrahnjay]

Jim,

Busnuts often choose to strip the entire floor out, when they find it badly rotten down the back. ...

     Or, if you're really lucky, around the front, down most of the areas on the side and some places in the middle.  Don't ask me how I know ...   

[Oonrahnjay]

.. the hard-wearing ribbed floor covering material often used in buses can be bought on rolls for use in horse boxes ...

     From the "two countries (or three) separated by a common language" department, I've never heard a "horse trailer" in N. America called a "horse box"* and I've never heard a trailer for carrying horses called anything else in the UK.  So that's the translation that may be useful.

(*I've spent less time in Canada that I have the US or UK, so maybe it's a term used there -- they seem to be a little less separated up there, eh?)

[Jeremy]

Good point I guess. Likewise "Horse Trailer" isn't a term I'm familiar with - to me that would imply a trailer pulled by a horse.

The term 'horse box' in the UK applies to both horse-carrying trailers and horse-carrying trucks, the second of which can sometimes be extremely fancy and include a high-end motorhome in the front part of the vehicle too.

Jeremy

[lostagain]

No we have horse trailers up here. "Horse box" is unheard of in Canada. The only horse box I've seen is when shipping a horse to Europe by air. Each horse goes into a custom box that is then loaded into a special aircraft, with attendants to insure the animals are ok during the flight. Lufthansa does that.

JC

[Oonrahnjay]

Good point I guess. Likewise "Horse Trailer" isn't a term I'm familiar with - to me that would imply a trailer pulled by a horse.

The term 'horse box' in the UK applies to both horse-carrying trailers and horse-carrying trucks, the second of which can sometimes be extremely fancy and include a high-end motorhome in the front part of the vehicle too.

Jeremy

    Yep, similar wording but just different enough meaning to cause problems in understanding.  I'm not sure that a conveyance made to carry horses and pulled by a tow vehicle (or built into a larger vehicle) in N. America has flooring like a commercially-operated bus but it does seem to be a good place to start, if someone is looking for such flooring.  My impression is that most bus converters in the US want flooring that's more "home-like" and less industrial than commercial-bus flooring but everyone has different ideas.  There is no question that that rib flooring is tough and long-lasting but most people I know wouldn't want it in their bus conversion.

[chessie4905]

I picture putting horse in box, filling it with styrofoam peanuts so the horse doesn't get banged around and shipping box.lol

[lostagain]

Those Brits are different... Or is it us?

JC

[Jim Blackwood]

You could make up your own foam bottomed plywood I suppose. The foam itself is available enough, though you might have to go to a specialty foam supplier to get exactly what you want. The advantage is that the right supplier can bond the foam to the plywood for you. Basically they spray one or both surfaces with contact cement and slap it together, so you can do it yourself but because they commonly bond foams together (as in different densities) it's easier for them to do it. So maybe something like a pressure treated tongue and groove with an inch of 2lb urethane foam bonded to it would be suitable, provided you could get tongue and groove in pressure treated. Maybe ask for a waterproof glue.

Now, I understand that rot never sleeps (sorta like rust that way) and once started will generally continue if any moisture is available. But, if it's only at the edges, AND all those soft edges are going to be covered up by cabinets and such anyway, I don't see much harm in covering it over. Consider if you will, the entire rig is a depreciating asset and will ultimately devolve into a pile of mush. All we are doing is delaying the inevitable, so the real question is, how much effort and where is it really needed? If it'll last 30 years then I think I'll very likely be done with it. That's not to say there isn't merit in building to last, only that the cost and effort could be better spent other places perhaps. Or perhaps not. It's a decision for the owner to make.

Jim