ceiling tape on 70's Surfside?

We have just used our "new" 1977-ish Surfside trailer this weekend, and it was great! We have only started to repair and replace old and ugly parts, but it is fully functional, which is a blessing, because we know nothing and my husband is only partially handy! Our inside ceiling is in pretty good shape but all the tape that was covering the seams of the "spongy stuff covering the ceiling" is gone, and we were wondering if anyone had any good suggestions as to what we could use to replace it. Is that material hard to paint?

Also the floor looks to be those sticky linoleum tiles, and its pretty old and ugly. We would like to replace it, do we have to remove all the tiles, or can we just cover over them with some lino?

thanks for the help, we will probably need a LOT of suggestions!

[Kevin W]

Hi eilie,

I have a similar surfside trailer. I read a few different suggestions on how to redo the seams. I used paintable latex cauking and filled my seams and then used white latex paint and gave the whole inside 2 coats of paint. For future reference they call the interior foam "ensolite", so you could seach this website with that keyword and get lots of ideas and suggestions.

As far as the floor goes, my opinion would be to go right overtop of the peel and stick tiles if they are all in good condition and not lifting. I had linoleum in my trailer and it had a big ugly seam under the dinette table so I decided to pull it all up and replace with peel and stick tiles. When I removed the old flooring alot of the paper backing from the linoleum stays in place because the lino was glued down. I found the big carriage head bolts that attach your fiberglass shell to the frame as well as a raised fiberglass seam that was there since manufacture. What I did was use some fiberglass filler with the strands mixed in. Comes in quart or gallon sizes and mixes with a catylist like auto body filler. I went over the seam and bolt heads with this and then spread autobody filler overtop to soften the contours. I then painted the floor to cover the remaining paper backing from the old floor and give the tiles a good surface to adhere to. In your case I would lay one piece linoleum over the old floor. I didn't have this option becuase I had a few other issues of some loose floor leveler that had been applied by a previous owner at the raised edge where the dinette floor meets the rest of the floor and i had to rebuild the bottom lip of my entrance door opening with fiberglass because it had been the victim of some poor repair job in the past.

Kevin

[Benny K]

If there is any seam tape left in your trailer and it looks like double back picture hanging tape about 3/4-7/8" wide and about 1/16" thick, then that is what it all was....you apply the tape and then strip the backing off the exposed side and spray it with talc or baby powder so it becomes non sticky and voila....should be fine and just like the original.....or so it`s been said by others that have used it...Benny