Spacer ideas for L-track?

[Sigg]

I’m planning on laying down roughly 1/2” of foam under 1/2” marine plywood, but the L-track I’ll be using is only .55” in height. I’m not using the flanged kind, and will just route out channels for the track. I’d like for the track to come flush to the surface or just above, and am curious what others have used between the track and the van floor to raise it up the level of something like a plywood floor. I’m needing something I can run along the whole length of the track to raise it up about 1/2” and was wondering what others have done, or what people would suggest.


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[i bike]

I did similar in my van but with 3/4” ply, flanged track and neoprene foam in the valleys of the floor ribs. If you move up to 3/4” ply that’ll leave some wood under the track to help stabilize things. I also put my track directly above the ribs to sandwich the plywood against the floor. If you’re using high density foam it shouldn’t compress much, especially if you use the plywood to distribute the load. Worse case you could cut come washers/spacers to bridge the gap between the van floor and the bottom of the track. Hope that helps.

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[Sigg]

I did similar in my van but with 3/4” ply, flanged track and neoprene foam in the valleys of the floor ribs. If you move up to 3/4” ply that’ll leave some wood under the track to help stabilize things. I also put my track directly above the ribs to sandwich the plywood against the floor. If you’re using high density foam it shouldn’t compress much, especially if you use the plywood to distribute the load. Worse case you could cut come washers/spacers to bridge the gap between the van floor and the bottom of the track. Hope that helps.

Thanks I bike! Your thread was actually one of the (MANY) I’ve read trying to figure this whole thing out. I’m more concerned about sound insulation than thermal, as we won’t be camping IN the van a lot. Do you feel like the neoprene and 3/4” ply cuts out a lotta noise? Also, considering the profile on the flanged is only .5”, doesn’t that mean you have a 1/4” void under your track?

I’m wondering if PVC trim planed to 1/2” would be sufficient to sandwich in there...



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[i bike]

Thanks I bike! Your thread was actually one of the (MANY) I’ve read trying to figure this whole thing out. I’m more concerned about sound insulation than thermal, as we won’t be camping IN the van a lot. Do you feel like the neoprene and 3/4” ply cuts out a lotta noise? Also, considering the profile on the flanged is only .5”, doesn’t that mean you have a 1/4” void under your track?

I’m wondering if PVC trim planed to 1/2” would be sufficient to sandwich in there...



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I want to think the ply and neoprene cut down noise, but it’s tough to say since the rest of the van isn’t insulated yet. It doesn’t do much for a thermal barrier, the floor gets pretty cold.

As far as the void, I didn’t cut all the way through the ply. There’s about a 1/4” of ply left under the tracks. I built a jig and used a router with a straight bit set to the same depth as the track to allow it to sit flush.

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[Sigg]

I want to think the ply and neoprene cut down noise, but it’s tough to say since the rest of the van isn’t insulated yet. It doesn’t do much for a thermal barrier, the floor gets pretty cold.

As far as the void, I didn’t cut all the way through the ply. There’s about a 1/4” of ply left under the tracks. I built a jig and used a router with a straight bit set to the same depth as the track to allow it to sit flush.

Ohhhh...that makes more sense. Maybe strips of plywood would be sufficient. I think I would like to have something under the sheets of plywood to help with insulation. I could just cut strips of the 1/2” ply to sandwich under the l-track to account for the foam. Does anyone see that presenting any problems?


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[CampStewart]

The method outlined by i bike will pretty much insure that everything is flush and in plane when finished. Trying to shim the l track with individual pieces of ply on each side will have waves , high and low spors, and the plywood will flex along the edges unless you use 10,000 screws. 3/4 inch ply is the way to go.