USA A'van Soft Floors - more thoughts!

We are extremely lucky in Australia in that A'van have always used top quality floor materials, plus the under body sealant acts as a good water barrier. The message below came from the USA A'liner Owners Club. We have put this up to possibly stop owners jumping to the wrong conclusions when in fact there is absolutely nothing wrong with their floor. Don't forget also that Australian chassis are different to the USA ones. We strongly suggest that you get your van serviced by a dealer at least once a year or twice if you are towing over 5,000 kms a year as the floor is then automatically checked. If this is not possible due to distance etc. it is essential that you apply under seal at least once a year yourself as per the A'van manual.

Bob Eustace

There have been one or two posts regarding soft floors on A'liner LXE trailers due to possible water damage. This may not be water damage at all, but simply an issue with the steel frame under the trailer. All the comments seem to refer to the floor being soft in the front of the trailer. I wanted to share my experience with our LX and see if what folks are talking about is similar. We have an LX with an open walkway to the front of the trailer. When I walk up to the front wall, I feel the floor in the centre of the trailer flex under my weight. The back of the trailer where the sofa is does not due this. Our trailer is a 2002 model and the floor has not been exposed to water, so we are not talking about a rotting floor. What causes the flex? If you look under the standard A'liner (yup, crawl down into the dirt), you will see that there is a series of "L" shaped steel supports that have been welded between the box tube frame. The floor sits on all this. However, the "L" supports do not exist from the front of the trailer to about 1 foot before the door. They are also missing at the back end of the trailer. Divide the floor into thirds. The "L" supports are only in the centre 1/3 of the trailer - not the front 1/3 or the back 1/3. The box tube framing runs the full length of the floor. On our trailer the sofa is mounted across the middle of the rear 1/3 area that does not have support underneath. The wooden frame of the sofa runs the width of the trailer and is screwed to the floor. I think this is acting as a cross support. When a 160 lb person walks on the floor in front area that does not have the "L" supports the floor flexes. However, if they go back to the where the sofa is, even though they are still standing on a area with no supports underneath - the floor will not flex. I don't think the floors are going soft due to water. I think what LXE & LX owners are seeing is that there is a difference in support structure of the floor. The sofa frame in the back is acting as a cross member support since it is screwed to the floor. This does not exist way up front, so the centre can flex. You won't break through, and it won't crack - it's made to flex to some degree (engineers call it dynamic versus static loads for flooring and joists or live versus dead loads). Since you spend relatively very little time way up in the front of the LX & LXE hunched over, the floor won't have a lot of stress. But the centre and rear areas will. This could be why front Dinette or front storage dinette folks never complain about soft floors - because the framing for front sofa and storage models are also screwed into the floor and act as a support. That is what I would recommend checking. Are people talking about bounce or flex, or about soft spongy wood that has swelled and become thicker (like particle board when wet)? If it is just floor flex, then you should be able to talk to a shop about welding an "L" shaped support across the width of the trailer between the box tube frame. This should stop the flex, and be very easy to do. Be aware that it would add some weight to the trailer. Enjoy, Chris