Trillium Trailer Front Window Screws starting to rust off

[Dave Storey]

Hi , I was outside polishing our Trillium 4500 trailer today to get her ready for the Grafton Egg Fest meet . As I was polishing near the front window , one of the screws that hold the window frame fell off in front of my eyes all rusted to nothing and I think the rest of the screw is still in the wood or dissolved and now the frame is starting to come lose on the one side . Going to have to put a little piece of duct tape on her for a little while in case it rains .
It might be a big R and R - Wood Rot Job . The fibreglass looks really good though .
I thought I saw a video on here a while back somewhere on how to replace the wood inside the windows and I can't find it . I Just need some tips and maybe a video to help me challenge the job
Dave
.

I went back out and had a better look . 2 other screws broke off , they were no good and the wood is solid inside . I have to drill out the existing screws stuck in the wood and put new stainless screws in . Hope that will work for the time been . The frame holds the window cover not the windows

[Carl V]

Dave

You'll probably have to not only replace the screws, but the inside wood frame as well.
If the screws have rusted that bad, water made its way inside, and chances are the wood soaked that water and has some rot. Just putting new screws in may work as a temporary repair, but will not solve the issue for good. The window has the be taken off, and resealed back on the trailer using butyl tape.

Replacing the wood and resealing the windows is not that hard. There is a lot of info about this on the forum, you can also look at my own thread: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...0-a-71346.html
My Trillium has 7 windows, I resealed 6 of them so far. I'll tackle the last one (front window) hopefully next week if the weather warms up enough.

[Dave Storey]

Thanks Carl . I learned a lot from your thread . I will pull the window out after the egg fest and see how bad the wood is and replace it and seal it . I will check the other windows too . We cover our trailer for the winter with a big tarp from the end of October until the end of April . For a temporary fix I will put a screw in on a bit of an angle to hold the window cover frame down as it is pretty lose and temporary seal it for now

[Roy in TO]

Dave,
I'll be doing mine this year too.

After reading your post I used the Search Site / Google box under the search drop down. "Trillium Window" brings up a number of hits for threads.

In speaking with Dave Tilston, he suggested using an inverted gouge to separate the ensolite at the corners. I've got a drawing of what he described on my other computer that I will post for you later.

Mikmay posted in Dave's window thread that he used a composite material rather than plywood. http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post502731
I'm thinking he used the decking material. I'll contact Mike to confirm and post my findings.

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by Roy in TO

In speaking with Dave Tilston, he suggested using an inverted gouge to separate the ensolite at the corners. I've got a drawing of what he described on my other computer that I will post for you later.

You want to use something like the bent parting tool shown in the picture.
The curve gets you around the bend, the angle matches the bevel.

[Dave Storey]

I will run to Kingston to buy some butyl tape at Princess Auto and take my wife to Aunt Lucy's Restaurant to eat -- good food for a day out .
Figure they would sell it at Lowes, Home Depot or Home Hardware in my town but they don't
The RV dealer in town probably charges an arm and a leg for it if they do sell it .
The bent parting tool , may I ask where do you get one of them for a reasonable price .
I seen one on line for 50 dollars . My big toe nail gets like that once in a while .

[Carl V]

I wouldn't use anything too sharp, as it would be very easy to go too far and punch through the Ensolite.

I don't remember if I mentioned it in my thread but I'm using a brake adjustment tool (that's what I had around when I started this job, and it turned out that it worked good enough for me).



The ends are not very sharp, it's a bit like the end of a flat screwdriver. You could still poke through the Ensolite if not careful, but it's nothing like a chisel or cutting blade.

At some point on my trailer the window frame was behind the upper galley cabinet, my brake tool wasn't long enough to reach the corner of the window, so I simply "sharpened" the end of a paint stir stick that I as able to slide behind the cabinet, between the wood frame and the Ensolite, and that worked good. So it can be a very low tech tool! (a big toe nail would probably work!! )

If you don't have a lot of silicone to remove and clean off, ungluing the Ensolite is the hardest part. Sometimes I was able to peel it off easily, sometimes it was still glued hard, even if the wood under was badly rotten. Pretty good glue they used...

[Carl V]

I got my butyl tape at a local RV center, at the price was reasonable. I could never find the stuff at the local hardware stores, and the guy at Home Depot didn't even know what I was talking about...
All Canadian Tire had was some RV vent sealing kit, which consisted of a short lenght of butyl tape and some screws, but it was quite expensive and there wasn't enough tape for a single window. Looked like this:


My local RV center had the butyl tape in large rolls like this:

[k corbin]

They use butyl tape on boats too. If you have any kind of marine supply store in the area check there.

However it might be less expensive to buy it online and have it shipped to you. That was the situation last time I needed some. By the time I would have paid the store price plus sales tax plus gas it made sense to buy it online. Of course I also saved the hour's time it would have needed to run that errand.

[getaway1]

Hello I have replaced all the wood in my 76 trillium last year. Mine had damp wood due to leaks. I used a 1" putty knife with rounded corners and just pulled on the ensolite to put tension on it. I slid the knife at a low angle along the wood to free the ensolite insulation. This worked really well for me and I managed to peel it enough to gain access to the wood strips easily. No damage to the ensolite. I used contact cement to replace it later on once it dried well. (Elmer's spray cement ) used on both surfaces. Brush on works too of you choose to use it instead. Good luck with the repair. Duane

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by Carl V

I wouldn't use anything too sharp, as it would be very easy to go too far and punch through the Ensolite.

I don't remember if I mentioned it in my thread but I'm using a brake adjustment tool (that's what I had around when I started this job, and it turned out that it worked good enough for me).


The ends are not very sharp, it's a bit like the end of a flat screwdriver. You could still poke through the Ensolite if not careful, but it's nothing like a chisel or cutting blade.

Thanks for making me think of other tools I already have Carl.
Somewhere there is an upholstery tack remover that should do the job. If I recall the end is rounded as to not tear the fabric.

[Glen_]

The wood around my windows was rotten also. I made new hardwood wood frames and installed them on top of the ensolite. Mine were painted but could be stained or whatever. There are pictures of my restoration.