New used trailer, some loose trim

[JHarper]

Greetings all, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Just bought a 2001 Bambi from Sanders RV in Gainesville. Very good condition. Am planning to crawl all under it tomorrow, and all over it too, to touch up any spots that need caulk.

One issue: About 1.5 feet of the exterior trim low on the trailer has worked loose. It is located in front behind the battery box, below the window, and between the A-Frame members, and some of the caulk has seperated. I need to figure out how to fix it, and if sealing it is a top priority to prevent leaks, although this appears to be too low to leak into the living area.

Any ideas would be appreciated. I have ideas myself sometimes but they die of lonliness.

James

[joel]

Sealing it is a priority. The seam behind the trim is even with the wood on the floor ,and a leak will put water directly on your floor.If your trim has the plastic center you will have to gently work it out of its track to get to the rivets on the trim.You drill them out and replace them and then re caulk with vulkem. You need to find out why it came loose. The most commen cause is that the battery box does not have any support under it and this allows the front sheet metal to flex to much and to work the seams loose. I have a friend that sells used AS and we have found that on several. On some of them you coud tell by sliding the battery in and out and watching for it to sag as it slides in. If it does not have support you pull the box and cut a piece of wood thick enough to fit under it. Good luck

[JHarper]

Dear Joel:

Thanks! I don't know where I can get any Vulkem but the job will be done pretty darn pronto.

James

[Jim W]

Hi James. If you can't find "Vulkem". Then you should be sure to use a Polyurethane caulk. I think the others won't stick very well to the aluminum.

Jim W

[lynn]

The floor fits into an extruded aluminum channel ,the front plate metal hangs down past the top of the channel approximately 3/4 of an inch. the rubrail extrusion in that area is as much of a cosemetic feature as anything else. There is not an exposed edge of flooring behind the rubrail. The battery box on a 2001 Bambi I believe is on the A Frame not in the front plate. It sounds as if just the glue on the back of the rubrail insert has come loose. Re-gluing should work. Make sure the seal on top of rubrail is intact, if not you may want to reseal it where it meets the front plate.

[JHarper]

Gentlemen:

Thanks for the advice, I fixed everything yesterday. The rivets holding the aluminum body panels and the trim channel sheared in one or two places to flexing and/or improper fit (slightly) of one of the panels. No damage to the panels was evident, nor was there any indication of damage under the trailer.

The previous owner had done a sloppy job of attempting to hold everything in with screws - and unmatched ones at that.

I removed the battery and LP tanks and rock guards, then peeled back the trim, drilled out what was left of the rivets, drilled and re-riveted the body panels, and then the trim channel. I had no extra trim or adhesive so I fixed the two short lengths of loose plastic trim with self-tapping screws (only to the channel itself - the previous owner had made a mess of the trim anyway when he put screws through it.) Last came 50-yr polyurethane sealant, then I put everything back together, no parts left over.

I plan to get some new trim and adhesive and patch it in behind the rock guards; in the mean time I can easily lift the trim now and check to see if the rivets are holding. If not, I have a nephew who is a first-rate sheet-metal fabricator and he will solve the problem for me if it recurs, or tell me how to solve it. I think some tougher rivets would be in order anyway.

I don't mind putting in this kind of time on a substantial trailer. Our previous motor home was a Gulfstream 21 foot Class C that wasn't worth the time it took to drive it to the dealer's lot to trade it in. You could listen to it fall apart on a quiet night.

James