Pahaska, Thanks for the encouraging words. I took this opportunity to ditch the old carpet in the front of the trailer. I couldn't believe how much water was in the carpet pad. It was like a sponge! Anyway, the kitchen area is vinyl sheeted, so there isn't too much to replace. I think I'll be putting in the extra IKEA flooring I bought "for a rainy day project." Well, I wasn't planning on this!
Marc
Unlike most of you, I would presume, I have two of the square and one rectangular vent covers without the radiused corners. My rectangular one was missing when I purchased the A/S. I contacted Inland RV and their's was 1/2" short for my opening, bummer. Well, I took this as a challenge and built one from two different sizes of angle aluminum and a lexan sheet from Home Depot. Took me an afternoon to build and hasn't blown off after over 5000 miles and it hasn't ever leaked.
Check out the attached diagram. This would be quite difficult to do with the radiused corners but not impossible.
What size foam did you use? And what type of foam was it?
>>>>>>>Action
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1966 Mercury Park Lane 4 DR Breezeway 410 4V, C-6, 2.80 - towing a - 1966 Overlander International Twin Bed
1996 Lincoln Mark VIII Diamond Anniversary 4.6L (275hp), 4R70W - 1990 Ford E 150 5.7L, AOD, 3.73 ____________________________________
Phoenix ~ Yeah it's hot however it's a dry heat!
I used the foam that I got with the replacement cover from Inland RV, about 1 inch square with a sticky edge. Its drying out though and I will need to find something else because its getting brittle. I used a rubber type foam between the lexan that seems to be holding up. As you know, anything that's made out of any other material other than metal or wood can't survive the heat.
My local rv place has 2 types of sealer in 1 or 2" wide strips; one is putty, the other a sticky black butyl rubber. The hotter it gets, the stickier it gets. It doesn't dry out (so far) and seals real well.
When you repair vents you do not even need to use rivets
at all.
Go to any auto body parts supplier and ask for door skin
adhesive.
1. Clean both joining surfaces well.
2. Wipe with a non-residue solvent.
3. Apply the adhesive.
4. Clamp off with "C" clamps and wood blocks for the
recommended time.
SEM makes great products and I have used many of them.
Another good one is Lord Fusor products.
This bond will never fail and leaves no rivet or screws visible
or as potential future failure points.
There are also autobody adhesives that will bond plastic to
metal.
I don't know if I would want to do that permanent a repair or not...if the lexan cracks again or gets damaged...by using the adhesive it would make the vent basically non-repairable.
Aaron
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....so many Airstreams....so little time...
WBCCI #2449 AIR #2495
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