Excella 500 blue waist band replacement

[Not Done]

The 8" high blue stripe is no longer fit for duty. The original material appears to be laminate.

I intend to remove the old stripe but not sure what I should replace it with.

I haven't found a direct OEM replacement i.e. a 9" wide roll nearly 60 feet long.

I've considered laminate from Home Depot, paint, or material (vehicle wrap?) from a sign company.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

John

[AWCHIEF]

Have you checked with Airstream in Jackson Center? They have a large selection of labels, badges, stripes and such.

[Gene]

I saw a variety of decals in rolls at the Airstream store in Jackson Center. Check the website to see if they have them online, or call the store to see what they have.

Gene

[John&Vicki]

I'm installing white and blue reflective tape on my '91 25' Excella - as soon as I figure out how to get the old stuff off.

Cheers,
John

[4RXLA]

You could remove the blue band and paint the aluminum blue.

[nrgtrakr]

The original blue whatever it was on my 75 is long gone. A PO painted the absence blue with something very flakey and peely - terrible.

[Not Done]

The factory has no replacement. The band is riveted on but I don't know if adhesive was also used. The material looks like laminate for a countertop. Does anyone know if that's what it is or if that will hold up in an exterior application?

I've spoken with a few auto shops in my area and they won't paint it because the trailer won't fit in their spray booth.

[Gene]

Can the band be removed without damage? That may be the only way to paint it unless you rig up a visqueen tent over the trailer, make sure there's no wind for a couple of days, mask the rest of the trailer and spray it. You'd have to drill out the rivets and may have to replace them with oversized ones; I'd use adhesive too.

I was confusing this with the decals that are placed on the "extrusions" at the bottom of the aluminum body and the waistband (can't think of the right name for that as my old brain is napping). Ours has a aluminum colored decal on it and it looks not too good. Polishing would help, but I haven't gotten to that. Rolls of various color decals were available at the Airstream store several years ago and I have thought of replacing mine with a blue ones, but polishing would be easier.

Gene

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Not Done

The 8" high blue stripe is no longer fit for duty. The original material appears to be laminate.

I intend to remove the old stripe but not sure what I should replace it with.

I haven't found a direct OEM replacement i.e. a 9" wide roll nearly 60 feet long.

I've considered laminate from Home Depot, paint, or material (vehicle wrap?) from a sign company.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

John

John.

That blue is a vinyl coated sheet metal. Take the moldings off and you will find how the blue stripping was attached. As I recall, it was simply riveted in place.

You can replace it with a nice color blue metallic paint, if done properly.

A while back, we replaced it with a Dupont "ChromaLusion" paint. That paint changes colors as you walk by it. The color we used was called "Blue Steel". It changed from blue metallic to purple metallic, depending on the light and the angle that you were looking at it.

Expensive, but a Fantastic color.

Or simply use a shade of metallic blue.

Andy

[msimon]

Not quite sure what you're looking for and your unit might be too old for them to stock the decals any more, but we obtained replacement decals and rubrail insert for our '92 Excella 1000 at Out-of-Doors Mart a couple of years ago:
Insert: Insert : Out-of-Doors Mart!, More Airstream Parts on-line than anyone!
Decals listings start here: Decals Emblems N Hardware : Out-of-Doors Mart!, More Airstream Parts on-line than anyone!

A lot of people just paint the area(s) in question.

[MohawkDaddy]

Here's my plan to replace the stripes on my 89 Excella:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f474...es-136676.html

Hope it helps. Grain of salt: I haven't actually done the work yet, so ... :P

[bigfoot390]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

John.

That blue is a vinyl coated sheet metal. Take the moldings off and you will find how the blue stripping was attached. As I recall, it was simply riveted in place

Andy

Andy,
Are you saying that the stripe is on a sheet of metal that can be removed? What is underneath? Could I replace it with another ribbon of aluminum? That might look better then all the work of removing the blue and restriping it. A roll of aluminum also is alot cheaper then new vinyl strips.
Thanks,
Bill

[Gene]

Can you put a new one on top of the old one? You would have to get the dimensions perfect and seal the edges carefully, but that could be easier than removing the old sheet metal. Sometimes when an aluminum panel is damaged, the dealer will place a new one on top of it, though they have to remove the adjoining "extrusions" (rails) and then replace them over it.

Gene

[Not Done]

Andy,

Thank you as always!!!

I should be able to take the panels to an auto paint shop. They won't take the trailer but the panels shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you,

John

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by bigfoot390

Andy,
Are you saying that the stripe is on a sheet of metal that can be removed? What is underneath? Could I replace it with another ribbon of aluminum? That might look better then all the work of removing the blue and restriping it. A roll of aluminum also is alot cheaper then new vinyl strips.
Thanks,
Bill

Bill.

As I recall that blue stripe was a piece of vinyl covered aluminum.

Andy

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Not Done

Andy,

Thank you as always!!!

I should be able to take the panels to an auto paint shop. They won't take the trailer but the panels shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you,

John

John.

I suppose that could be done, but I would insist on "flexible paint", since I am sure that it would be flat when painted, and then coiled up so you could transport it back to the shop, and then unwound again.

Andy

[Not Done]

Thank you Andy.