Compact juniors: tape: vertical belly band - Fiberglass RV
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Old 11-22-2008, 11:04 PM   #1
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I bought my trailer in the fall of 2007 and it had tape at the rear over the door, and at the front, above and below the window. I assume it covers a seam. At the rear is has disintegrated and I have not taken a good close look to see what has happened. Its cold, freezing temperatures and I do not want to pull on it . What do people use so I can have product to replace what is there when warm weather returns.

Thanks in advance.
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Old 11-22-2008, 11:43 PM   #2
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Quote:
...it had tape at the rear over the door, and at the front, above and below the window. I assume it covers a seam.

What do people use so I can have product to replace what is there when warm weather returns.

Thanks in advance.
This may have been something added by a previous owner of your trailer. I had a Compact Jr. It's seams were glassed over and finished smooth, but had surface cracking when I owned it. Mine had no tape or "belly band" to cover the seam.
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Old 11-23-2008, 12:32 AM   #3
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If it's above the window(s) and the door... maybe someone put it there to stop leaks, instead of re-sealing the windows?

Another thought is that don't the Compact Jrs have exposed fasteners on the windows? That is, without the recesses for the black plastic strips that, say, the Trilliums have. Maybe the tape was to cover those?

Could you post photos?

R.
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Old 11-23-2008, 08:52 AM   #4
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Quote:
I bought my trailer in the fall of 2007 and it had tape at the rear over the door, and at the front, above and below the window. I assume it covers a seam. At the rear is has disintegrated and I have not taken a good close look to see what has happened. Its cold, freezing temperatures and I do not want to pull on it . What do people use so I can have product to replace what is there when warm weather returns.

Thanks in advance.
Kent is this tape front to rear or side to side? The seam goes front to rear and is smoothed with Bonda type filler originally, evidently to cover the flaws in the resin bond. Mine was sorta cracking/flaking out, so I filled it with body filler before painting. Larry
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Old 11-23-2008, 09:02 AM   #5
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I am in the middle of restoring my 1971 Compact Jr., and yes it had tape over the vertical seams. I am no expert, but I can guess that it was put over the seam to save time preping it for paint. I removed the tape, cleaned the adhesive residue, lightly sanded, then applied body filler (bondo). After a little sanding, it all looks smooth.
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Old 11-23-2008, 09:05 AM   #6
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Larry and I posted just about the same time! Great minds think a like!

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Old 11-23-2008, 09:00 PM   #7
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Yes, this tape is vertical, and it seems to have disintegrated in the colder weather, it was in good shape during the summer. I didn't want to pick at it to see what was underneath because I couldn't work on it during the winter. No garage. From those who have done the restorations it sounds like it the tape may be a cover-up for some rough surfaces. I'll be able to proceed next spring, to really start looking. It may be bondo and paint exercise in a few months.
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Old 11-23-2008, 09:29 PM   #8
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Yes, this tape is vertical, and it seems to have disintegrated in the colder weather, it was in good shape during the summer. I didn't want to pick at it to see what was underneath because I couldn't work on it during the winter. No garage. From those who have done the restorations it sounds like it the tape may be a cover-up for some rough surfaces. I'll be able to proceed next spring, to really start looking. It may be bondo and paint exercise in a few months.
YUP--- the quick solution (w/o a complete paint job) would be to rip the tape, sand it out carefully without going too wide, then Bondo it, and paint a contrasting or complementing stripe on. Larry
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Old 11-23-2008, 11:18 PM   #9
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Ah, I think I see what you're referring to now, Ken. It must be the vertical seam you can see on the front of the Compact Jr. in this photo:


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So does this mean they were built in four pieces instead of the more usual two for Scamps, Trilliums, etc? i.e. top and bottom plus left and right? I can't think why else there would be tape covering up something there?

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Old 11-24-2008, 05:47 AM   #10
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Raya,
The Compact Jr. shell is two pieces, left and right. The horizontal band that runs around the midsection is only an accent line and not a seam. Of course, the upper roof is a separate piece so you could say that the CJ is made of three pieces. The tape that Kent was asking about can be seen well in the attached link. This owner has replaced it with reflective tape.

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm41/to...sonphotos22.jpg

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Old 11-24-2008, 04:39 PM   #11
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Tom,

Aha, left and right halves. That makes sense, and given that there is not much of a joint on the top -- and very little on the bottom -- it made for much less seam to have to work on during construction.

Thanks for clarifying,

Raya
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Old 11-24-2008, 04:53 PM   #12
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I also had the same black tape on my seams and I replaced it with a aluminum strip and 3M double face tape.

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Old 11-25-2008, 01:05 AM   #13
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I was able to take a much closer look . It appears that the tape is a fiberglass tape, with a mesh similar to dry wall tape. The tape is still attached but the brown, likely vinyl, top layer has separated in the cold weather. I can see that in some places there are significant gaps, 1/8 of inch. When the warm weather comes I will have to look and see if I simply need to mix up some fiberglass resin apply, let dry and sand and paint or whether or not it will also require fiberglass mat. Bondo appears to be even easier.
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