This information is copied and pasted from my very first post on this bb forum. I thought it this information to be important enough to be posted alone and not as an attachment to my fist post. I hope I made the right decision to repost in case some of you did not see it with the first one. I have to give credit to my good friend Dave from Pullman, WA. for bringing this to my attention to repost as he thought it quite important as well. Dave and his Wife Mary by the way are going with us to Alaska when we connect up July 1st, in Wa. We are inspecting and preparing as best as we know how for this lengthy but exciting trip. More post may be coming and I hope will add constructive information on this bb forum.
Garlee
This is my second post on our new Scamp I have improved I believe and want to bring this possibility of a problem to your attention. Under the floor of your camper is the working of all the piping for the waste tanks etc. Well on our brand new 13' Scamp camper there is two large gaps left after the installation of both the Gray and Black waste piping going to their prospective tanks, This gap is about 1/2" around the entire permiter of the piping and the full thickness of the wooden flooring.
I saw the possiblity of water getting up in here from the road traveling we will do in the rain etc., the possiblity of a nice hiding entrance spot for insects to get in your camper,spiders etc,), also a eating area for mice to just sit on the pipes and eat their way into your camper, who knows what else could happen?
I went to home depot and bought the gap filling foam and inserted the foam in both these huge openings that should of been closed after installation of the pipes to me??
I also bought 2 cans of spray truck bed liner, black, to undercoat the entire flooring of the camper. The wooden floor did not turn me on as it did not look completely coated with anyithing to prevent moisture from breaking down the particle board it is made of. Now I feel more comfortable with the entire floor and camper frame coated with this bed liner from O'rileys at $9 per can. It took 2 cans to do a 13' camper. NOTE: Be sure to wear a mask to breath while spraying under the camper, this stuff is toxic smelling and I am sure not good for the lungs. Just a suggestion here. Be safe.
Here are photos of both additions made to the bottom of our Scamp:
Left photo shows 1/2" gap around entire perimeter of waste plumbing, allowing moisture, rain water, insects, mice in due time and who knows what else to get into the camper. The moisture alone will rot out your flooring in due time, and this is a new camper. I wanted to do all I could to prevent this from happeing. The photo on the right is the repaired area with the spray foam that filled the opening completely. As you can see on the right photo I also undercoated the complete camper with (Truck Bed Liner) but you can use any kind of undercoating, it will take 2 cans for two coats on a 13' Scamp. I feel much better that our new investment will be better protected, I also feel the MFG. should of done something like this to protect their camper and have a selling feature to buyers. It is not just the pretty or cute things we need to have in our Scamps, we need security our investment is protected as much as could be. This did have quite an effect on me to further investigate everything that was probably overlooked at the trailer's birth. I just do not want it our new Scamp to dryrot prematurely because of something this simple not being done by MFG.
Photo on left also is the tub drain with a large gap left to attract dryrot and critters. The photo on the right is the spray foam filled area and undercoating of camper to further protect the wood flooring I am not really fond of. NOTE: the spray form is not really easy to use upside down, wear gloves, safety glasses in case you get sloppy and you will trying to spray this product. Wear gloves to protect your hands, put in one good 3/8" bead of foam up inside the opening as best as you can. This foam will expand, in about 10 minutes to full depth and fill the entire opening up. If you try to fill the hole at first with this foam completely, you will make a mess, you will overfill the opening and have to trim the excess foam after it hardens. This information is from personal experience on this project. Just trying to save you some grief if you have this same condition and choose to do as I did.
Thanks for looking at this.
Garylee
I'm supposed to pickup mine this May... After seeing what you encountered, I will definitely be doing the same thing basically. The only difference is that I would spray WD40 around the plumbing that goes through the wood before applying the FOAM. This is so if I have to remove or work on any of the plumbing around the foam that the foam (hopefully) would separate from the plumbing easy enough to work on…
How did you spray this stuff on? Did you crawl under and do it on your back, ala Michelangelo? Eye protection? Do the spray cans work in that position?
Inquiring minds you know.
dr tom
Hello Tom,
I crawled around under the camper and shot with 2 cans of bed liner from both sides of the camper to the outside edge to the middle overlapping in the center to assure full coverage of camper floor. It is still intact today as the day it was installed, the framing is covered as well as the floor. I advise perhaps putting on two coats but let drying time between to get better coverage and deeper penetration that moisture and dirt need to penetrate to get to your flooring. The foam was the messiest to do. Perhaps a collar from HD would fit the pipes and you can calk them in place in place of the foam. Use your own ideas but cover the stuff you use with spray bed liner as well after. Good Luck, you will not be making a mistake and feel that you have properly protected your investment no matter what you are told is used to coat your flooring from underneath.
I advise you tape plastic or something similar around the bottom 12" height of the outside of your camper to protect it from any overspray from the bed liner spray. This is just a precaution to keep your finish on your camper good. Yes, indeed wear eye protection, safety glasses or similar and perhaps a painters mask. Do this outside where there is air but not on a windy day. This stuff is strong smelling and don't mess with the fumes to be safe.
good luck, post photos to encourage others to do what we both did and perhaps you will find a better cover to put around the pipes than using the foam like I did. Share your secretes to help others.
Garylee
Garylee