So our Eriba Future re-build continues apace :)

I just wanted to share my experience of putting in a new floor. Our caravan was well-used and sometimes interestingly maintained, but after 17 years (and I suspect a few years sitting under a tree) the wear and tear was definitely starting to show. One of the improvements was to lay new vinyl flooring on top of the existing flooring. This of course adds a little weight, but I think it was worth it.

Here are the steps we took:

1. We measured the whole size of the floor, width and length, and took the maximum of each to order a single vinyl sheet. For our 430T, we ordered a 4.5 x 2m roll. The flooring came from zazous.co.uk.

2. I created a template of the entire floor using A3 sheets of paper taped together. I cut the paper around all the little fiddly areas in the edges, so that the template exactly matched the floor surface.

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3. We carefully removed the template and lay it on the single piece of vinyl. With a waterproof marker, I went around the whole template and marked the vinyl (make sure to do this the correct side up). Now the vinyl is marked a couple of millimetres too big. BIG HINT: lay out the vinyl for a day or so, so that it is flat when you mark it.

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4. Using a cutting board, cutter and rule, we cut just inside the marked line around the whole single piece of vinyl. This made the end result a couple of millimetres smaller than the template.

5. We used double sided flooring tape, and placed it in the caravan, along where the edges of the floor would be, then in ~20cm intervals throughout the length of the floor down the middle. I recommend buying the more expensive, removable tape, as it helps in case laying the floor doesn't go perfectly the first time.

6. We placed the vinyl in the van! It looked great and fitted almost perfectly. There were a couple of small spots that I cut back (a couple of millimetres too big), but all in all, it worked a treat!

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7. We lifted the vinyl up to the middle of the van (ie. half way to the centre), then removed the tape backing and very slowly and carefully placed the vinyl down onto the adhesive tape. We pushed it flat as we lay it to make sure there were no lifts in the floor, and did it one or two pieces of tape at a time. Now one side of floor was down.

8. We repeated the process to lay the second half - from the middle out to the edges.

9. To clean up the edges where the floor met the furniture, we added a small line of silicon.

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End result - revitalised flooring!

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We even used a left over cutting of the vinyl to spruce up the gas / spare tyre area.

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I'm not an expert in floor laying (or actually any DIY stuff), but the end result looks pretty great. The test will be to see how it holds up after a few trips!

You can say that again! 😃😂😃

Nice work - well worth it :)

Great work, always nice to see what people do to improve things.

Great work and great information, this is on my to do list and I would never have thought to make a template and it is obviously the way to go looking at your new floor. Thanks 😀

Hi,
We also have a Future 430T and looking forward to seeing what you do with your van....more pics please. We were lucky, our flooring is in good condition but we have covered it with a carpet which is bleachable, so can scrub it if we need to. We also did the same as you with the template (which is now in the loft, if needed again).
Good luck with your rebuild.
Regards Chris and Keith

The rebuild is almost finished (lots of late nights), but once it's done I'll post a bunch of before and after pics :)