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Post by brianb50ny on Sept 5, 2020 11:06:34 GMT -5
Any one else climb under your Venture Sonic? I found pretty big gaps between enclosed underbelly and the chassis. My main concern would be mice and bugs getting in. Has anyone sealed up the underbelly? I was looking at closed cell black foam to spray all the gaps and possibly a underbelly tape to hold and close it up. Just thought I would get anyone else's input. Thanks, Brian 2020 Venture Sonic 210VTB Attachments:
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Post by chanacres on Jun 12, 2021 16:59:01 GMT -5
Hi Brian, I know exactly what you mean by the way they do everything underneath. I had an older camper once that got so much mud gravel and salt underneath I had to.rip everything off. I decided I would be better off without it. At least you can check for problems leaving things exposed. I think a whole new engineering study should be considered for TT. I have only had 3 and same issues with all of them. Visiting with other campers, they seem to have same stories to tell. Good luck
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marjim
Weekender RV’er
Retired EE, Vietnam Vet, God, Faith, Family & Flag. St. Louis area
Posts: 99
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Post by marjim on Jun 17, 2021 16:32:28 GMT -5
  My 2016 has a plastic type tarp underneath it. It came that way from the factory. All the pipe and wire entry/exits are foamed closed. The edges are glued and some areas are stapled. I wonder if in the heat of production maybe your unit got rolled by that station or they just stopped doing it...(I guess it could be dealer prep?) |
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Post by adventureawaits on Aug 2, 2021 16:24:12 GMT -5
Any one else climb under your Venture Sonic? I found pretty big gaps between enclosed underbelly and the chassis. My main concern would be mice and bugs getting in. Has anyone sealed up the underbelly? I was looking at closed cell black foam to spray all the gaps and possibly a underbelly tape to hold and close it up. Just thought I would get anyone else's input. Thanks, Brian 2020 Venture Sonic 210VTB I’m new to RVing but shouldn’t that be something your dealer should cover under warranty? |
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dlakeman
Weekender RV’er
Please delete my account. I have sold my Stratus.
Posts: 75
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Post by dlakeman on Aug 21, 2021 12:25:02 GMT -5
I have a Stratus. I looked into the underbelly through the hole in the side of the frame where the slide tube goes. I could see loose wiring galore. When the weather gets cooler I'm going to remove all the underbelly plastic sheeting, inspect the area, secure all wiring and plumbing where needed, reinstall the plastic sheeting, and probably seal the plastic sheeting down the sides where it meets the frame. The sheeting is important because it helps heat the underbelly and the dump valves. There may be water pipes under there as well. I won't know until I look.
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Post by thewolfgang on Sept 3, 2021 9:28:27 GMT -5
I think it's by design... Difficult to do maintenance if it's sealed. Can't say I agree with that approach, but that's what they did on my Sportrek as well.
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Post by jsalbre on Apr 19, 2022 2:39:44 GMT -5
I have a Stratus. I looked into the underbelly through the hole in the side of the frame where the slide tube goes. I could see loose wiring galore. When the weather gets cooler I'm going to remove all the underbelly plastic sheeting, inspect the area, secure all wiring and plumbing where needed, reinstall the plastic sheeting, and probably seal the plastic sheeting down the sides where it meets the frame. The sheeting is important because it helps heat the underbelly and the dump valves. There may be water pipes under there as well. I won't know until I look. Did you ever open yours up? If you did, how was the process, and did you get any pictures? I’m preparing to do some solar and power upgrades and will need to gain access to the underbelly to run wiring. |
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dlakeman
Weekender RV’er
Please delete my account. I have sold my Stratus.
Posts: 75
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Post by dlakeman on Apr 19, 2022 9:29:41 GMT -5
I never opened mine up. The underbelly seal (black plastic) is tucked into the frame rail I-beam. It's also screwed/caulked into the bottom of the front rock shield. The seal is one piece of black plastic that runs front to back on my Stratus. It looks like it's impossible to remove without cutting it. I had another mechanic friend of mine look at it, and he said to leave the seal alone. Only way to remove the seal is cut it, in his opinion. Last month my black tank drain valve cable got stuck. I took my Stratus to an RV mechanic/dealer. He had to cut the seal (black plastic) to get at the valve/cable attach point. He patched in a new small piece of seal (black plastic) by screwing the new piece and caulking it to the original seal. Recently I looked underneath a Keystone Cougar trailer. The seal is screwed to the bottom of the frame so it's easily removed. It looks like Venture dropped the seal onto the frame rail then installed the floor decking. Ridiculous!
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Post by jsalbre on Jun 3, 2022 8:18:26 GMT -5
So quick update here. I found that if I removed the self tappers across the underside I could slip my fingers into the frame rail and pull the coroplast out on one side. It takes some effort as you have to bow it a bit both to get it out and in, but I got 90% of one side pulled down and it was plenty to do the cabling I needed to do. I could have probably pulled it down entirely from the back to just behind the front cap (where it’s screwed in from the top) if I had removed the screws along the bottom of the back end and slit it to get past the sewer drains. I somehow only took one picture while it was down, and it’s not great, but you can see how much access I was able to get. The thick cables hanging down are the new ones I’m running. ![]()  |
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Post by Eugene on Jun 6, 2022 13:33:48 GMT -5
My 2 cents: recently I removed the inaccurate ball of foam around the sewer outlet and redid it along with every other hole in underbelly, including the perimeter, with 2 cans of black automotive/marine foam from homedepot, once cured the foam was covered with rubber-like rocker guard spray, usually used for wheel wells.
In my opinion an underbelly has to be sealed tight, otherwise it becomes a mice party house.
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