Trillium Belly Band and Window Seals

[garry g]

I studied the threads and tackled the belly band and window seals. I had water pooling under the passenger side bench seat. I would have bet that i had a leaky window and that my belly band was in good shape.I would have lost that bet. After 38 years all the window frames were bone dry except for one and it had no rot,just a little damp.The belly band was a surprise with rotten metal plates all around.I will post pics when Daisy is coming out of the garage. I was thinking of putting a shine on her with ZEP but i am also pondering rolling on a new coat of paint. I really should have thought about the painting when the windows were out.The finish is very oxidized,what should i do?Thanks to all who post so many helpful threads on restoring.

[Carl V]

I would not paint unless to hide some large fiberglass repair to the shell.
Try the wax first, you may be surprised.

I will probably have to tackle the belly band on mine next summer. Windows all are re-sealed but the front one, yet there is still some water pooling in the back, and the only place left for water to seep in is the belly band.

[MAP 56]

There is a marine compound and wax kit at Canadian tire works well .use a buffer

[David Tilston]

Once the belly band starts to leak it can produce quite a bit of water. Also water behind the Ensolite will cause it to separate. The windows seem to be OK till they start to rot. The trailer, that I did all the windows on, only had one window that actually needed to be done.

[Randy J.]

Little Green, our '76 Tril was heavily oxidized but the Barkeeper's Friend followed by Zep treatment worked wonders! I did paint a narrow contrasting Trillium green border around the rear window after doing some imperfect repairs to the fiberglass there - not perfect but we can always improve what works, right? I also scraped off the orange stripe (sorry purists!) and replaced it with a likewise green one.

I've had to replace the rotting wood frame of both front and back windows (same problem on both) and in both cases narrowed one side of the opening which had been cut too wide to allow the screws to pass through the fiberglass and pinch it between the window and the wood (guess where most of the rot was!).

The belly band seems fine although I did replace that rusting steel keeper with an aluminum one of equal thickness. Our band is continuous except for one keeper and of course the rivets.