My First Belly Band Thread

[Reid Larsen]

It is quite a bit of nasty dusty work, and that is just getting the demo done. When I did the 13' Trillium a PO had previously removed the belly band and filled the recess between the two halves w/ sillycon. A bear to get it all out-was still fighting it when it came to priming time. I did all of the filling and smoothing with epoxy resin filled w/ micro balloons to give it more body. It still sagged and took 24 + hours between coats. This summer I have the 4500 to do and I plan on a primary filler of epoxy and fibreglass tape and final smoothing and filling w/ fibreglass bondo ( with kitty hair in it) Hope that goes faster-shorter drying time w/ the bondo product. I know it will take multiple coats. Keep up the thread David because there are people watching and hoping for an easier way. I do prefer the no band look on a Trillium- the raised body line on which the band is centered is enough detail w/out the metal trim . IMHO.

[David Tilston]

This is the technique that worked best for me.
1. Cut the metal plate with a Dremmel cut off wheel
2. Pry one of the cut halfs up so that a pair of needle nose plyers can get a grip.
3. Pull the half plate out. This may take some tugging from side to side.
4. Pull the other half out.

[David Tilston]

The grinding residue has been wiped off, and I have taped news paper to protect the bottom of the trailer from drips.

The first picture is the best picture I could get of where I found large bubbles between the shells of the trailer and the inside bandage that was put over the metal plates in the belly band. I will be filling these in with successive layers of glass mat and resin. The goal is to get a relatively flat surface for the glass bandage that I will be putting over the outside.

This weekend I was filling in the holes, left by the metal plates, with glass mat and resin. No pictures yet. Tomorrow probably.

[Raz]

For comparison here's how the new ones are done. They did a poor job on the inside "bandage" resulting in leaks. I took the pictures when we did the repairs. Dave, Good thread. I'm taking notes for future reference. Raz

[David Tilston]

Raz, It looks like Trillium RV use the same washer approach that Trillium / Outback use. Hopefully they use a stainless steel washer, and rivets, so you won't have to do this for some time. I would caulk the top of the belly band to prevent water getting in the pocket in the first place.

I have completed glassing in about 25% of the belly band. It takes about three layers of glass to get back to flush, more in some places. I have about six layers where the metal plates used to be. There is about 34 feet of belly band. This is 102 feet of fibreglass strips. After work, I am doing about 8 feet of one layer a day. This represents half an hour to an hour of work a day. Ten week days to go. I will probably get more per day done on the weekend, but with five kids, there are no guarantees.

[Darwin Maring]

Saw a house fly once but never heard a belly band.

[David Tilston]

This does not include Suday's progress.
Two by two, hands of blue.

[itlives]

Getting there! Can't wait till the priming/painting begins!

[kootenaigirl]

Great thread, love the details. For sure a keeper.

[David Tilston]

This is how it looked last night. Tomorrow, I should be done glassing.

[Jim Bennett]

Given the weather lately I assume you have a nice place to work inside.

I am enjoying following your progress.

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Given the weather lately I assume you have a nice place to work inside.

I am enjoying following your progress.

A couple years ago Canadian tire had a sale on a double wide car tent. It was $275. No walls, just a roof. It is 20' x 18'. I set it up when I started this project. It doesn't help with the mosquitoes though.

I was volunteering at bingo yesterday, (my twins are in the music program at their high-school) so no new progress. I have to get this done soon, so I can start on the 4500. I have to have that one water proof by July 27, when my vacation starts.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

It doesn't help with the mosquitoes though.

The mossies are getting drowned out on this side of town.

[David Tilston]

Jim, I have heard that Escape bolts the two halfs of their moulds together, so this is not an issue. Can you confirm this? What is under your belly band? How is it attached to your trailer? Can an Escape be ordered without one?

[Jim Bennett]

From the Escape site. I am not sure how the belly band is attached, but I do know it is just decorative to hide the seam.

All Escape trailers have a 100% molded fiberglass body. The body is constructed from a top and bottom shell, which are fiberglassed together at the center prior to demolding, to create a seamless body construction. This eliminates any chance of water penetration while maintaining a strong, long-lasting, lightweight RV.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

What is under your belly band? ... Can an Escape be ordered without one?

Going without the trim is not offered as an option. My understanding from conversation with Reace is that it would be expensive due to the length of seam to be hand-finished, so he is reluctant to offer this. My guess is that it would also be problematic for production scheduling. Personally, I think finishing the area to smooth but not pretty and using a tape stripe instead of the mechanically fastened trim would be a good compromise, but I am not in a buying position and thus have not discussed this possibility with Escape.

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I think finishing the area to smooth but not pretty and using a tape stripe instead of the mechanically fastened trim would be a good compromise, but I am not in a buying position and thus have not discussed this possibility with Escape.

Is the present belly band riveted on? That would seem a counter intuitive thing to do, after going to the trouble of making the shell in one piece. I get the reluctance to do the finish by hand. The time I have put in so far would be really expensive if I was paying someone to do it.

[David Tilston]

OK, I have laid down as much fibreglass as I need to. The next stage will be to grind the excess down to close to flush with the edges of the work area. Not too close, the last part of it will be with an orbital sander and some 80 grit sandpaper.

I would like to try to encapsulate what I have learned so far. Little as that may be. Most of what follows is the advice of my neighbor. I have mentioned him often. He is the best neighbor I have ever had. He runs an HVAC business. He is also quite experienced in fibreglass. He says it is his favorite medium, which surprised me because he has built flat deck trailers, and small dump trucks in his back yard for fun. He says if he were to divide his profit by the hours spent, then he is making cents per hour. He picked up an old, mostly fibreglass motor-home at the auction for cheep. It had been run into a low bridge and had a gaping hole in the top. By the time he was done you could not tell there was ever a problem. But since it was a really old motor home, it was never going to be worth much. He has offered to paint my trailers, if I buy the paint and do the prep, (sanding and masking). He really just loves to paint. Best neighbor EVER!

This has been quite the learning experience. My fist batch of resin was quite stressful. It is mixed in the cap that covers the top of the tin. On the shelf the cap holds the little tube of hardener. The resin that I mixed was kinda lean on the hardener. It took about 24 hrs to cure. I put much more hardener in the next batch. Eventually I settled on between 15 and 20 drops per cap, depending on how full the cap is. This gives you about ten minuets to use up the resin. After that it starts to gel and won't soak into the fibreglass mat. It is best to move on to another area once what has just been laid down gels. It hardens to hard enough to sand in one to two hours. The sanding is just to rough up the surface and remove any wax like residue on the hardened resin. Then you can lay down more glass.
The act of putting resin and glass down is more art then science. It is like a combination of paper mache and bed head. There is no one way to do it, but when laying down long strips, I paint the sanded surface with resin, then stick the cut glass mat strip onto the wet resin. Then paint more resin over the dry mat, till it is saturated. Using as little resin as practical. Sometimes, when I was filling the place that the metal plates came out, I would dip a precut patch of fibreglass into the resin, then put it into the depression that I was trying to fill. The excess resin would be soaked up by the next patch of glass. Eventually filling the void left by the plate till it is level with the surrounding fibreglass. Getting those glass fibers to lay down, in the shape, and place, you want is a skill. At first I was sure I would never get the hang of it. I would use brush strokes that were too long when trying to wet down the mat I had just stuck down. The glass would all fluff up and I knew that was wrong. My 18 year old son came up to me and asked some question about what I was doing. All I remember was answering “I don't have a clue what I am doing”. The resin not hardening up on schedule was a very discouraging end to that experiment. After a few more batches of resin I was starting to get it. My last batch was my best work yet. In fact this has been a great experience, because every time I work on the trailer, I am much better then the last time. Very rewarding experience.

An important safety message:
When sanding freshly hardened fibreglass, some of those hairs did not lay down. Rubbing your hand on this surface will give you slivers of resin hardened fibreglass. Wear gloves till all these stray hairs have been sanded off.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

Is the present belly band riveted on?

Yes, as of my discussion with Reace (over three years ago), the Escape trim is fastened with aluminum rivets. This is one reason that I would be interested in eliminating the trim.

Originally Posted by David Tilston

That would seem a counter intuitive thing to do, after going to the trouble of making the shell in one piece.

I agree, but I think they are closed-end rivets (so no leaks through the rivet) and the design still has the advantages (over the old Trillium approach) of precise alignment, no gap between the shell halves to bridge, and no steel bits embedded in fiberglass.

[David Tilston]

So today I was grinding fibreglass while my city and my Provence floods. We are OK, but they are evacuating a nearby neighborhood. Weird.


Yes, back to grinding. I am now using a flat sanding disc on the grinder. I am also using my battery powered grinder, (enough power to get the job done, not enough to hurt my self too bad). I tried to grind the full width and messed up right away. I settled on grinding the bottom of the seam first, then do the top. The bottom is way thicker then the top. Go figure. I got about 2/3rd of the way around on the bottom. The other third and the top will have to wait. I am grinding down to the gel coat on either side of the seam, when the gel coat starts to recede, then it is time to move on. When the top has been ground as well, then I expect a ridge down the middle of the seam. I will sand that down with an orbital sander.