Econoline floor bolt holes: fill or nah?

[Chams]

Hey Guys! So, I've been addressing some rust in the back of my van and I'm looking for advice. There are a dozen or so bolt holes that go through the bottom of the body that were used to hold some shelving for my van's previous life as a work truck. Do I fiberglass these over before putting in my flooring? I know there are other drain holes in the side panels as well, so there is no making this thing air-tight, but I don't want to ruin all the nice new stuff I'm about to put in here, either. Please let me know what you've done in this situation!

The cause of the rust seems to have been from the nature of the work the van did. I confirmed with the previous owner that the doors would sometimes be left open to complete work in the rain. So that's why I'm second-guessing this. I had planned to cover them, but I've also seen advice online saying your insulation needs to "breathe" in a van anyway because condensation is unavoidable.

[doublevan2]

What about some stainless steel bolts - or neoprene/plastic bolts - or similars -- bolted thru flooring (maybe some LockTite also) - IF you're putting in new flooring -- so long as bolt heads are below the sub flooring ribs of the OEM floor ? Just "thinking out loud." ?

I know - S/St not cheap !

[jamesc]

Somewhere here there is a thread about this, or almost this. There were very extensive reasons why one shouldn't silicone floor holes like this. I used lexite (or something close to that name) and haven't had problems here in Michigan.

[Chams]

Hey guys,

While I appreciate your suggestions (I'm looking at epoxy, maybe) I'm actually concerned about if I should fill them at all. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

[doublevan2]

Personally - I wouldn't trust epoxy to metal in combo with water, body twist, heat/cold expansion, etc.

Good luck --

[doublevan2]

If you don't deal with it - I'm "guessing" it will just rust out more from water, etc.

[Tnew]

I caulked over the holes in my floor without issue.

The previous owner of my van had rhino lined the entire floor of the van, covering all the holes. When I removed it 15 years later the floor was fine. No signs of rust or corrosion anywhere. Not sure how relevant that example is.

[BCam]

Check out POR-15's Power Mesh. It's a fiberglass mesh that uses POR-15 instead of epoxy. I used it for a floor pan repair in my cab and it worked great. I used POR-15 silver which has a high solid content. One layer of Power Mesh should be fine for bolt holes. Plus, the POR-15 silver will be perfect for rust-proofing your floor. If you don't want to use silver on the entire floor, get a small can for the bolt holes and use whatever color you want for the rest and as a topcoat on the bolt patches.

https://por15.com/products/power-mesh

Don't be too picky in applying it. With the first coat of POR-15, there'll be fibers sticking up in the air but it gets better with each coat.

[AdventureRUSS]

I plugged my seat anchor holes for the bench seats from the bottom w/ big fasteners for radiators & greased the threads after I applied POR-15 to the floor. Then covered with insulation, plywood and vinyl flooring.

Wanted to keep the floor anchors for future usage. I used the front seat anchors to secure sink cabinetry and fridge with metal base plates screwed into seat anchors. The non-seat anchor holes were covered with rubber plugs.

[r27d]

I used Por-Patch with a bit of mesh drywall tape.

https://amzn.to/3veXf0M