My First Belly Band Thread

[Raz]

I wonder if a belt sander would be easier to control and provide a more even surface? Raz

[David Tilston]

I finnished the bottom of the seam, I am now about 1/3 done the top.

I don't have a belt sander.

[Glenn Baglo]

Not having a belt sander could be one of the wiser decisions in your life.

[GMike A]

I use on of these and its so fast and accurate and controllable to work with IMO.

Good luck. Am enjoying the pictures.

[Roy in TO]

Dave,
Glad to hear you are OK with the floods, been wondering about you all night.
Have you tried the flap discs? I found they cut well and gave a nice finish.
Flap Discs | Princess Auto

[David Tilston]

Ah yes, the flood. We are near the river, but about 30-40 ft above it. Many of the kids that my kids go to school with, are out of their homes. In fact, how we found out that our neighboring community was being evacuated was that my sociable daughter started getting, "R U OK?" texts, and offers of a place for my family to stay. This from people who only know of us through our kids. Wow. I love my city.
We started to reach out to the people who, we know live in that community. We woke up one person who after five minuets of conversation, she started to hear the loud speaker making the announcement. We offered our place to stay, but they have family in the city.


The flapper disk is what I used to cut the groove in the fibreglass. It cut FAST! The disk worked out OK once I got the hang of it. Bottom edge first, then top. The grinding is mostly done, but I found some defects in the fibreglass, and some low spots. So, I will be doing a little more grinding yet.

[David Tilston]

OK, the belly band didn't look so good to begin with, but at least it is water tight now.
Still have not sanded yet. After that a quick coat of resin and then onto the belly band, and rear window, and plywood table support on Life Support, which is headed to Ontario on July 27. Bondo and paint will have to wait.

[David Tilston]

OK, so no sanding. Instead, I fixed a flaw that was starting to bother me. I did not notice it before, and it is kinda subtle. The top shell overhangs the bottom shell by about a 1/4" on about 2' of the street side. This is near the front of the trailer.
I decided to try to fill that over bite as much as possible. I scraped off the electrical tape where I was planning to fill, and I scratched up the gel coat there as well. Then I laid down as much glass as I could. It started to sag as it was gelling, so I used a razor scraper to cut the excess off before it hardened.

[David Tilston]

I am out of resin, and I need a fix! I love the art of fibreglass! I like to lay it down, and I like grinding it off. Can you say vicious circle?
I ground the recent attempt to correct a factory flaw. I still have to add some more fibreglass, (see pictures). I also ground out one of the metal plate sockets. I am grinding too deep to get the flat surface I want, and it was too close to the surface. So I will fill that when I get more resin and glass.

[GMike A]

They do have a group called Fiber Glass Anonymous for people like you. Fevered pitch, loss of time, love the smell of acetone and resins, longing to feel the itch of FG in the webs of your fingers because you forgot gloves and yes glazed eyes. Very addictive. Good luck. I'm on a 12 step recovery program.

[David Tilston]

I do like the smell of the resin. I went to Princess Auto to get a gallon, (4 liters). I used up the last drizzle in my second 1 liter container and started laying the last of the fibreglass on this belly band. I am putting down the last of the fill for the misalignment between the top and bottom shell. I had the glass down, but not saturated. Time to mix up anoter batch. When I tried to open the large container of resin, the cap would not turn. I got out the channel locks, and it was still difficult, but I got it to turn even then I had to pry it off. There was lots of hardened resin on the inside of the cap. When I poured it out, there were large lumps that too big to make it out of the container. I was in the middle of laying down glass, so I made sure there were no chunks and added some hardener and hoped for the best.
This time, to get a sharp edge on the bottom of the ridge that runs around the trailer, I used an Olfa knife, and a framing square for a straight edge. Once the resin was stiff, but not hard, I cut it. See photos.
I took the gallon back to Princess Auto, and they exchanged it for another one. They even let me keep the hardener that came with it. By the way, as a response to the floods in Calgary, Princess Auto is now open 24 hrs.

[itlives]

Wow, the more I follow this thread, the less I want to do mine! This is a lot of work!
It'll be worth it (once you're past the itch)!

[David Tilston]

I have not noticed much itch. I wear the bunny suit when I grind, (disposable cover all with hood, rubber gloves, dust mask and gogles) so that probably helps. The mosquitos have been bad, but I don't notice much itch from that either. Maybe I am now somehow immune to that.
I kinda feel silly with the work I have done since post 47, when I was done with fibreglass. The factory defect that I am correcting is kinda subtle. Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but I would. Tonight I will grind and paint the whole belly band with resin and call it done for now. Why I feel silly is that I have yet to start on the Trillium 4500 that we are taking to Ontario at the end of July.
I honesty think I can get to this point on Life Support, (the above mentioned 4500) in a couple of weeks now that I have done it once.

[David Tilston]

OK, the camera died, so no new pictures till I go to Costco and get another one.

I had a great learning experience. I am wrapping up work on Cantaloupe. I have gone as far as I have time for. The plan was to paint resin over the belly band, so no water gets into the fibers. I wiped down the belly band with a wet paper towel to get rid of the grinding dust. I guess I did not wait long enough for it to dry. I had painted about 10 feet with resin when I noticed that it seemed kinda milky. So I stopped and got out the ceramic heater and dried the rest of the belly band and then continued painting, before the resin hardened.
Well, where it was damp, it never hardened. It was just as sticky the next day. The parts where I dried it were fine. So I got out the sand paper and used it as an abrasive paper towel. I went through a sheet and a third. It was wet at first, then it was plugged up with soft resin, then it sanded normally. That was when I moved on to the next 6" section of belly band. It took about an hour of elbow grease to get it all cleaned off. Then another coat of resin.
For now, it is done. With a coat of shiny resin on it, it is almost transparent. The former location of the metal plates is obvious. When I have time, I will sand it again, apply about 1/16" of Bondo, then sand it smooth and paint with the color my daughter chooses. That will be after I re-install the door, close up the hole someone cut for the Coleman furnace, and install the Duo-Therm furnace I have for it. Of course, I will only paint when the windows are all out, and the plywood frames have been replaced. Yeah, this trailer has a ways to go.
Now onto my Second Belly Band Thread. Life Support has to be roadworthy by the 27th.

[David Tilston]

Got a Canon Power Shot Elph 120IS.
16M pixle
8x optical zoom
720p Movies
It came with a 16Gbt card for $175.

The pictures have been cropped, but are at full rez, width wise.

[cjoypritch]

Hello David,
I've tried to find and read all of your posts on removing belly bands. I am hoping to remove the band off my 74 1300 Trillium and I would love to know exactly what materials I need! I saw one list you wrote but I can't find the details on exact types. My understand is fiberglass strips(?) and resin and bondo (maybe). I'm a tiny bit unclear. If I can know exactly what to buy then I'm confident I'll be able to get the job done with all your well documented instructions and tips!
Thank you for you time!

[David Tilston]

Caitlin,

The materials are simple:
Glass mat: bondo 8 sq. ft Fibreglass Mat | Princess Auto
Polyester Resin: bondo Fibreglass Resin (3.5L) | Princess Auto
Filler: Like bondo to fill and roughness that is left after grinding. I did not use any.
Paint: Let me know what you find, I have yet to paint either of the trailers that I did the belly band on.

Tools: Most important: disposable cover alls that have a hood, gloves, and goggles
Grinder: A small cheep grinder, or two. I use one with a flapper disk to gouge, and one with a flat sanding disk to smooth to a near flat surface.
Sander: I use a 1/3 sheet orbital sander.
A Dremel tool with a cut off disk. To cut the metal plates that you may, or may not choose to remove.

Fibreglass is easy. If you grind off too much, then put more down. If you put down too much, grind it off.

[cjoypritch]

David, I could kiss you! Thank you so much!
One last question... What are your thoughts on removing metal bits? I'd rather not have to but I'll do whatever it takes to do it "right". Can I skip it? Any negative consequences?

[Mel P]

Thank you David for the thorough explaination. I REALLY don't want to do this now...but I kinda have to. Has anyone else followed these steps? How much resin and fiberglass would I need. Have a 76 Trillium 13 footer

[David Tilston]

I bought a gallon of resin:
https://www.princessauto.com/en/deta...l-/A-p8205007e
This did two trailers and still had about 25% of the gallon left. The glass is cheep. I bought this:
https://www.princessauto.com/en/deta...at/A-p8205049e


Those prices are Canadian, so divide by about 1.3 for the comparable US cost.

Too bad you are not nearby. I got another gallon on sale for about half that. I still have not yet opened it.