Hidden cancer

While waiting for answers on another thread, I was tracing a couple speaker wires to the rear deck of my 69' bug to find the sorce of a short and ended up opening a huge can of worms. The floor under the battery, and the entire right side of the rear deck behind the rear seat back, is gone, as in nonexistent. If I fabricate some new metal to cover these, would riviting them in place be good enough, or is this a welding scenario? Also, I can understand why it happened under the battery.That was clearly do to a maintenance shortfall. I am puzzled by the rear deck cancer though. Is this a common cancer area for 69' bugs, and are there any other area's I should check. I plan on keeping the car, but if I do end up selling it down the road, I don't want any surprizes to befall the next owner as they have me. It's just a matter of integrity.

Dave

The floorpan under the battery is a very common rust area, the rear tray is less common & indicates a rear window seal is probably leaking. Also check the body (behind the fenders) in back of the front tires & in front of the rear tires.

I was thinking about the rear window. I'll check the fenders also. One good thing came out of the deck cancer. I can easily access the heat supply duct that is torn. I think I'm going to fabricate an access panel on each side of the deck for future maintenance. thanks

Replacing the entire right pan half is progbably the best for the pan, but the rear deck would either need some splicing or fabricating like you said... I know when they replaced my pan half they welded it in, and sealed it. If you don't seal it properly water will get in and you'll be facing the same problem down the line.