The floor in the rear is removed and we found that the previous owner removed what would likely have been a rusted metal frame and wedged in a 2×4 with expanding foam and some low grade particle board. The mess and problems that particular DIY repair gave us were large. In a perfect world we would take the entire aluminum shell off and do a complete frame restoration. Unfortunately, the abundant rain so far and the fact that we are sleeping in it… so instead we purchased metal and replaced the missing metal framing and plywood sub-floor to the best of our ability. I am sure some future owner will curse our DIY fixing just as we did our own previous owner. I know this isn’t the correct way to fix these problems but it is what we can do right now.
This is a picture (sorry about the soft focus) of the repaired area where the gaucho used to be. We think the stap was leaking and rotting the floor.
Airstream_Wheeler 