new trillium 4500 line-x question

[jcradford]

Hello all,

I'm picking up a 1979 Trillium 4500 in 2 days, this will be my first egg camper, upgrading from a 2004 Starcraft popup.

The forum has been great to learn about all of the upgrades, mods, and general fixes I should be looking at doing.

One thing I've wondered about, after the bellyband replacement, I'm considering getting from the bottom of the band down sprayed entirely with Line-x to the underside. I've seen they can do some nice colors now, and will just paint the top half.

Seems like that would make a pretty darn good barrier for rocks/chips and durable for the entire bottom half of the trailer.

Just wondered if anyone else has or considered doing the bottom half completely sprayed with line-x and if not what were the downsides?

Thanks!

-Jason

[thrifty bill]

Downside is getting it off later. The exterior of my 1977 Trillium has lasted 43 years now. Cleaned and polished, it looks great. I have no interest in coatings or paint, that take a lot of time and cost serious $$$.

The original gel coat has lasted 43 years and could probably last another 43 years (when I will be long gone). The chips in the first 43 years are not too bad.

The only time I would consider paint is if my trailer had a lot of damage and patches.

[Joe at Outback]

Hello Jason, we here at Outback have a great gravel guard protection Package that we offer on all of our trailers and have being applying it for 20 years, We use a tint able brand called Raptor Liner, we colour match all of our trailers as we offer over a 100 different colour combination, If any thing its a nice clean look that very durable and clean looking, its a little less expensive than Line X and has a smoother finish as well.

[PCO6]

Jason - Lots of off road trailers are done with some kind of bed liner. Depending on how you plan to use your trailer it might be a good way to go. As mentioned above though, once it's on that's it. There's no changing your mind later.

I had the bed of my Jeep Comanche done with Linex and am very happy with it. It had several holes in it where the OEM plastic liner had been attached with sheet metal screws. No welding was required to fill the holes. They simply covered them with aluminum tape and sprayed over everything. It worked perfectly so if you have small holes in yours don't worry about them.

They can spray Linex on as thick as you want but it does add to the weight. As also stated above, Raptor Liner is a great product too and it's something you can spray yourself.

[jcradford]

All -

Thanks for the wisdom and input, sounds like it might not be the best of ideas to go with something like line-x, especially thinking through Bill's post about if I ever wanted to take it off.

Having picked up the 4500 and after cleaning and spending a few nights in it to get a sense of things I have a big list of things to do before I even tackle the outside.

Joe - I will most likely be contacting you as i have a few issues to tackle and will want to see about some replacement parts.

The issues / things I will likely need are:

1. Inside door handle is broken half off, will need to find a replacement for that.

2. The right side of the back rear window has been completely "gutted" to put a small window AC unit. I'd like to take that out, but all of the aluminum channels are gone and just bordered up and sealed. No idea how to find a replacement window or fix the old one.

3. I'd like to convert the front bench/bunk into a dinette instead, I've seen a thread where someone just cut the existing bench down and used a wood frame. Wondering if Joe or someone sells the two complete fiberglass dinette seats where I can just remove the entire thing and install those instead.

Alot to do for sure on this, welcome any wisdom from the group as I get started.

[thrifty bill]

Most likely you have a Bargman L400 lock. If so, its been out of production for decades. That leaves finding one on eBay (most likely) or some RV salvage yard or old stock at some small shop.

They are not CHEAP! Realize the L400 was used on many other vintage trailers, including Airstreams. You will need to be patient, as some sellers have really high prices. Occasionally one gets listed at a somewhat more acceptable price, and you have to pounce.

On the window, if someone removed the jalousie side, that is going to be a problem. Finding the right size window is going to be extremely difficult. The rear window in the late 1970s Trilliums tended to be half single window escape hatch and half jalousie window. If someone removed the escape hatch, you should be able to fix that OK.

[jcradford]

Bill,

Upon further research they utilized the escape hatch portion, I incorrectly thought both side were jalousie. So it appears that shouldnt hopefully be a
big deal after pulling out the AC unit to examine the frame.

Understood on the door lock. One possibility I have a smaller cnc machine and access to some other capabilities, I might just start making replacement parts on that. A handle and other parts for the lock should not be a huge deal to re-make.

This weekend I'll start pulling out all of the inside stuff, wood, and windows.

[thrifty bill]

It could be a side gig, demand exceeds supply!