Ply lining- clean or remove?

Just picked up a new-to-me light van. The ply lined floor is badly oil stained and it smells of such.

Is there anything to beware of if I wanted to try and clean it- concerned a pressure washer or steam cleaner might lead to trapped water and permanent condensation or rust.

On the other hand is there any technique to removing just the ply floor. Seems to be screwed to the loadbed across the middle but otherwise bonded around the edges where it meets the ply sides. I may not re-floor it afterwards as in the mid-term I'm looking to fit an extra seat in the rear (and the ply covers the mounting points).

Thanks in advance for responses or alternative suggestions.

Having asked for and taken some of the advice given (thanks!) I just wanted to return to the thread with some results.

The whole van was being stunk out by the smell from the rear so rather than jet or steam clean the ply I opted to rip it out.



The front sheet came out pretty easy but the floor had gone in first so trying to remove the rear sheet without dislodging the wheelboxes was part of the challenge. With no space for a saw and not a lot of chance to get a lever in without risking damage to the floor beneath, I drilled a long line of holes front to back to perforate the ply. It then split with a lot less force and just needed a sharp blade running around a couple of bits of wheelbox bonding.

In the end, probably a good job I did remove rather than clean due to the amount of grease-bound filth that was lurking beneath. Once all the ply was out I jetwashed the rear then parked with the nose up an embankment whilst I swept and soaked the remaining water away, leaving me with the floor as shown bottom right. Over the next few days the oily smell gradually diminished.

Whilst I was still umming and ahhing about how to refloor the loadspace I stumbled upon a set of inch-thick foam mats in Halfords. The dimensions of the mats when laid out matched the floor space pretty well so, for just a few quid I managed to protect the floor and deaden some of the acoustic thrum coming from the rear (I run the van pretty empty most of the time). Only temporary downside was that it then took a couple of days for the smell of the foam mats to wear off.

I don't suppose the mats are strong enough to take a hammering but for what I'm likely to throw at them all seems fine- worth a look if anyone else is in a similar position.