Replacing the waist band on a clam shell trailer

[Stephe]

I took off the bumper strip on my waist band and discovered all the screws had rusted out.. So, I removed all of the screws (over 100 of them) and decided to clean everything up.. So I took out the metal strip that holds the bumper strip, removed all the 30 year old caulking and started putting it back together again and noticed the whole band is rippled.. I am not sure what to do now.. I could replace the metal strip but that seems like a gong show too.

should a left it alone I guess

If anyone has experience with this, I am all ears.

Thanks

[CharlesinGA]

I think you did the right thing. That is a standard channel and plastic strip, fairly readily obtainable except for getting a long continuous section.

Seek out stainless screws of the same size and thread pitch (which may mean quite a bit of searching) and use butyl tape underneath the strip. Run the screws in, and walk off and wait as the butyl slowly works its way out, gently snug the screws (by hand) and do this till you think that all the excess butyl has come out. Install the plastic strip and MASK the top seam of the retainer (with blue painters tape, both above and on the strip and run a bead of Dicor non-leveling sealant. Dont run a long bead, keep it short, a couple or three feet, then use a Popsicle stick to form and remove the excess. Continue on. If you go too far, it will start to skin over and be difficult to smooth out and remove the excess. You should end up with a small filet seal along the top of the strip.

Charles

[Stephe]

Originally Posted by CharlesinGA

I think you did the right thing. That is a standard channel and plastic strip, fairly readily obtainable except for getting a long continuous section.

Seek out stainless screws of the same size and thread pitch (which may mean quite a bit of searching) and use butyl tape underneath the strip. Run the screws in, and walk off and wait as the butyl slowly works its way out, gently snug the screws (by hand) and do this till you think that all the excess butyl has come out. Install the plastic strip and MASK the top seam of the retainer (with blue painters tape, both above and on the strip and run a bead of Dicor non-leveling sealant. Dont run a long bead, keep it short, a couple or three feet, then use a Popsicle stick to form and remove the excess. Continue on. If you go too far, it will start to skin over and be difficult to smooth out and remove the excess. You should end up with a small filet seal along the top of the strip.

Charles

Thanks Charles that is pretty much what I did.. I actually went up from a #8 pan head to a #10 in Stainless Steel.. then after cleaning up the butyl I taped off both sides of the belly band and used a clear RV caulking that looks like silicon.. I then sprayed some non chlorine window cleaner on a finger of my rubber glove and smoothed the caulking in that way... It worked well. There are still ripples in the plastic strip but I think that may disappear once the weather warms up. Thanks again for your reply

[Stephe]

Originally Posted by Stephe

Thanks Charles that is pretty much what I did.. I actually went up from a #8 pan head to a #10 in Stainless Steel.. then after cleaning up the butyl I taped off both sides of the belly band and used a clear RV caulking that looks like silicon.. I then sprayed some non chlorine window cleaner on a finger of my rubber glove and smoothed the caulking in that way... It worked well. There are still ripples in the plastic strip but I think that may disappear once the weather warms up. Thanks again for your reply

You were right about using a hand driver to avoid the ripple effect.. I employed that method after making a bit of a mess in the first few feet.