Removing and Adjusting Tambour?

[lewishw]

I would like to remove and paint some of the tambour in my '78 sovereign, and then re-install and adjust them so that tehy don't fall out of the tracks. How do I loosen the tracks to remove them without damaging them? What about tightening the tracks up after I paint so that they don't fall out during normal use?

Any other tips on preparation before I paint the tambour?

Thanks yall!

Stream on!

Hunter

[adonh]

I think what you will find is the same thing I found in my 1976 31' Sovereign. The Tambour doors and tracks on the doors under the kitchen sink and below the TV area and on the large microwave cabinet in my AS were a different type of material than the Tambour in the over head bins. I was able to repair and paint the Tambour in the over head bins without any problem and they now work fine and look good. But the Tambour on the lower doors did not take paint well at all and I could not get them to look good are work properly. So I replaced all of the lower Tambour with Oak veneer doors door and drawers. In the old microwave area next to fridge I turned this in to a bar area and installed a new oak roll up door on a track that operates sorta like a roll up garage door. I did some other remodeling to the interior as I was doing all of this. The pictures below show the results. Hope this helps.

Don
1976 31' Sovereign

Airstream Interior 2010.pdf

[lewishw]

Don,

Your interior looks great!! I like the new cabinetry. It really helps lighten up the whole space. What happened to the spice rack and that goofy shade holder behind the sink? Can you just drill the rivets and pull them out?

As for the tambour for the microwave and the front entertainment center, we are planning on restructuring those completely. I am more focused on the overhead tambour. How do you adjust the tracks? Is there a set screw that makes the spacing narrower so they dont fall out or wider so its easy to put the painted tambour back in? I just dont know how the tracks actually adjust.


Hunter

[adonh]

On the over head Tambour doors look in the bottom track where the door closes there should be screws that hold the track that the side of the Tambour slides on to this bottom rack. Roll your Tambour door up to the full open position and you should be able to see the screws or at least where they go. They may have come out. I would suggest that you made your repairs and get doors operating properly, up and down, then paint the Tambour material with a latex enamel up to the edge of each side track. That way there is no paint in the track. I took some paint samples to the paint store and had it matched to the interior trim. Look at the 2nd and 3rd picture and you can see the overhead tambour doors, they have been painted like this for some time and they still look good.

Don