If you know anyone at your local airport....perferrably an A&P Mechanic (airframe & powerplant) who does sheet metal work...ask him to show you a little tool call a "hole finder" No joke...there is such a tool. It is a cheap little tool...normally homemade from two hack saw blades. He might even have one he will give you. It is a very simple tool...simple to use...and very accurate. You use this tool to locate the rivet hole....then you drill the new hole via a hole in the upper hacksaw blade. A hole finder is just as important to a sheet metal man as clecos are....can't do a good job without both these tools
Charles
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tn2... Bad thing about doing nothing is you never know when you're done.
I guess it all depends on how handy you are . I say yes it could be done by someone with reasonable skills. The short of it is, you drill out the old rivets, take the old skin off, drill the new and rivet it back together. If you use blind or Olympic rivets you don't need to remove the interior. Check on availability of the skins before you even think about starting.
look on eBayMotors RIGHT NOW! Someone is selling a complete endcap for what i believe will fit your trailer. trying to get those dents out yourself will take you forever, and it will never be perfect. aluminum is soft and once it stretches, there's nothing you can do really.
look on eBayMotors RIGHT NOW! Someone is selling a complete endcap for what i believe will fit your trailer. trying to get those dents out yourself will take you forever, and it will never be perfect. aluminum is soft and once it stretches, there's nothing you can do really.
jp
Thanks for the leed , too bad they are for the back.
I have large dented area on the right rear of my 97 35 footer. It goes over the center rib. Are skins available for this? Can I get them used? Could I get my buddy who has a sand bag shaper just pound them back out? Since it is a compound curve maybe the extra metal will be ok after a bit of gentle pounding.
BTW, mine is an excella not a limited. The excella was not a choice when I set up my avatar.
The short answer is yes - I believe that Airstream has the panels for that year. I would not use used skins. You could try pounding them out, if it doesn't work, you could replace the skins
Send a PM to Aerowood. He says "never" pound aluminum, roll it. You will get good results with a roller. I've seen one he made for himself, about the size of a meat tenderizing hammer, but a double tapered roller at the head.
thanks for the responses. I will see about picture posting. I am not very good at it.
I replaced some panels on my 79 avion with some i got from Colaw and got very good results. Why are you saying not to use used? ARe the holes not always in the same places?
I just had the compound curved, upper road-side rear-cap skin replaced at Camper Clinic in Buda, Texas. They did a fine job. I can look at the seams and see that the skin has been replaced, but no one that didn't know would ever notice. The only clue I see is that the short seam under the curve of the rear window, where the rear window awning bracket is attached, isn't perfectly flat. The bracket covers most of that seam.
Camper Clinic was nice enough to wash my trailer after the installation. The trailer was a lot cleaner than I get it at the local car wash, so I spent 6 hours Walbernizing over the last 2 days. My legs are sore from all that ladder climbing, but the trailer looks like new.
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John W. Irwin
2005 Classic 28 "Sabre-Dog III"
2004 Silverado 2500HD Duramax/Allison
WBCCI Region 9 Webmaster, #9632
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. I say yes it could be done by someone with reasonable skills. The short of it is, you drill out the old rivets, take the old skin off, drill the new and rivet it back together. If you use blind or Olympic rivets you don't need to remove the interior. Check on availability of the skins before you even think about starting.
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