My Second Belly Band Thread

[John in Michigan]

How did you get the paint color matched??? Did you take the door in to the paint department? Also, what kind of paint to use? Automotive?

I haven't found a marine polyurethane paint that can be color matched.

[David Tilston]

It was a sandable automobile primer that came in grey, or beige. I just bought the beige. It is not a match, but kinda complementary.

[John in Michigan]

Dave, thanks for the paint info.

Doesn't really matter about the primer because that is a very well preserved and restored camper. Looking at the photos, it appears that the camper did not suffer much wear in its lifetime. The buyer got a great deal.

[mszabo]

John, you want to use urethane paint. Not polyurethane.
You can color match with no problem.
Urethane is what is used on most new autos

https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/p...lic-automotive

[John in Michigan]

Mike, I PM'd you about color match urethane paint.

[David Tilston]

I looked last night. No leftover paint, and I don't even remember the brand. Sorry.

[John in Michigan]

Dave thanks for checking! Mike Szabo says that any auto paint supplier will color match and sell small/large quantity of automotive urethane paint. I am pursuing that...

[BurroforACDs]

Hi David. My husband and I just got a 1300 trillium and we want to use this method to remove the belly band. I just have a few questions about it. Why is it necessary to remove the brackets? Is this because of rust or or do they protrude too much? Secondly, about how much resin and fiberglass did you end up using? Thanks!

[David Tilston]

Mel, Several people have done this without removing the metal brackets. I am not sure there is any problem with that. I just felt that there would be less potential problems, and more clean fibreglass for the resin to stick to. If you cut them in half, they come out easy.

[Nancy F]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

OK, this time the object is to go fast. I started on Monday evening. I have now finnished grinding, and have about 60% of the metal plates out. I smoked my Dremel, so I had to stop. I guess I was trying to go too fast.

Are you removing the belly band, if so what are you replacing it with?

[james.c.robertson]

I have been reading the Bellyband threads, and I took my first stab at grinding out some of the rotten stuff yesterday afternoon from my Trillium 1300 (circa 1976), but I'm quite nervous.

When I grind out the old fiberglass (?) and rusted metal "tabs," there appears to be nothing left in the "void." I can stick a screwdriver in there that appears to be pushing into the interior. (I was careful not to breach the interior.)

See attache photo.

Should I stop trying to pull all the old **** out of there and just start slapping fiberglass filler and Bondo into the gap and a smooth exterior surface? Sure, it would "encapsulate" the rotting metal tabs, but they lasted 42 years already. I'd be happy to get 20 years more.

It just feels like if I keep removing old stuff, there is just NO support for the top half of the egg.

[james.c.robertson]

I just put duct tape over it tonight, since we might get some showers in the next day or two, and I can only work on this during the weekends (and it is exposed to the elements).

I took an old toothbrush and tried to brush out some of the old rust before putting on the duct tape. As much as I want Olde Trilly to look beautiful, I will need to prioritize utility over beauty.

(a) Keep the water out, and (b) keep the body integrity.

I'm hoping in the mid-future, I might have a better storage solution where I can spend more time on it in a covered environment, but for now, I have just scant weekend hours in a storage yard where I need to haul in/out all my tools with forethought. (Forget a tool? 30 mins to go back out through the gates, go home, find the tool, return, and pick up where left off.)

I appreciate this forum. It has helped me a lot. This is a labor of love. :-)

[Jim Bennett]

When I did the belly band on a '76, I had a lot of spots along the seam that I ended up grinding through. When I glassed the joint, I first used some fibreglass cloth before building it back up with mat glass, smoothing it out with glass reinforced filler and then some regular acrylic filler. I ground the belly band out to near the edges to ensure a wide strong bonding surface. It certainly turned out nice.



I don't have a final painted photo, but do have this one that was taken as I just touched up a few spots with filler, and only had the final sand left.

[james.c.robertson]

Thanks, Jim. It looks like from the photos that you left the metal studs/rivets/anchors in the body, and patched over it. True?

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by james.c.robertson

Thanks, Jim. It looks like from the photos that you left the metal studs/rivets/anchors in the body, and patched over it. True?

I took out all the loose ones and ones near the surface, but left any that were solidly embedded.

[james.c.robertson]

Jim -- any problems with just "paving over them?" How many years ago did you do this repair?

[John in Michigan]

james.c.robertson, looking at your photos I'd say you have cut through the inner fiberglass reinforcement strip used to hold the upper and lower shells together. As you continue around the center band you should try to avoid doing this. Instead focus on flattening out the humps and if possible removing the metal plate behind each hump. Here's an example from my project. I cut around with a dremel cutting wheel, then extracted each plate. I subsequently flattened out the center band using a random orbital sander with 60 grit.

[David Tilston]

Jim, I kind of address your situation in this post:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post402162
but you have much more of the bandage that is level with the outer shell then I did. You are correct, there is nothing but Ensolite behind the hole that has been created. If you continue, you will separate the top and bottom half's of the trailer. Were I you, I would grind, then replace the glass as you go. Don't grind it all then start glassing, like I did.

Originally Posted by james.c.robertson

I just put duct tape over it tonight, since we might get some showers in the next day or two, and I can only work on this during the weekends (and it is exposed to the elements).

I took an old toothbrush and tried to brush out some of the old rust before putting on the duct tape. As much as I want Olde Trilly to look beautiful, I will need to prioritize utility over beauty.

(a) Keep the water out, and (b) keep the body integrity.

I'm hoping in the mid-future, I might have a better storage solution where I can spend more time on it in a covered environment, but for now, I have just scant weekend hours in a storage yard where I need to haul in/out all my tools with forethought. (Forget a tool? 30 mins to go back out through the gates, go home, find the tool, return, and pick up where left off.)

I appreciate this forum. It has helped me a lot. This is a labor of love. :-)

[james.c.robertson]

Oh, boy! Thanks for the feedback all. I'm glad I stopped when I started doubting myself.

Weather cooperating, I'll get out to my storage yard this upcoming weekend to do a reassessment and try to take this to the next step. I'm trying to get as much of this secured before the winter so as to avoid water/snow/ice from getting in there.

It helps that the belly band has only popped off on about 30% of the perimeter, so I can just tackle that area and deal with the rest in the spring.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by james.c.robertson

Jim -- any problems with just "paving over them?" How many years ago did you do this repair?

This was done just over two years ago, and now with the perfect weather seal provided there is zero issue of the embedded clips being a potential problem.

I wanted to get a minimum of 1/16" depression to accept a thick enough repair. PLUS, the two halves were not aligned very close in some cases and I wanted to correct that. In doing so is where I ended up going right through the very thin band of fibreglass that Trillium put on the inside. Some of the clips had but a very thin layer of glass applied over them. This band was just barely enough to supply waterproofing and was not very structural. They relied on the rivets holding the belling band to the clips to provide some of the structural strength.

Anyway, it looks WAY better in my opinion and is now a much beefier joint in the two halves.