Anyone with an old Airstream? I am trying to figure out the door seal for the Curtis. It looks like the seal sold by Vintage AS is the right one. But, I need to get a warm feeling about installing that seal , riveting , between the panels of the door. The way the remnants of the old seal look...it has the seal laying on the outside of the door against the visible polished skin. The one flat side of the seal is then glued to the door flange. I show no residue of a seal, at all, on the door frame on the body. Looks like a big job and lots of bucked/squeezed rivets here. Any experience with this type seal?
1971 21' Globetrotter
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Arvada
, Colorado
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 3,530
Yes, I,ve changed this type of seal on aircraft many times. It used to be a very common way to install bulb seals. and still is used on some general aviation aircraft. It is however a PIA to change. Use of "A" rivets makes it somewhat easier, but mariginally.
Robin, I think I would go with what Andy has available.
Cut that old gasket flush with the sheet metal edge & use 3M Super Weatherstrip adheasive to glue on Andy's Part #: 45313. This gasket has a lip that covers the sheetmetal edge.
Here is a picture of how mine turned out. I then used the VTS overlay door gasket on my overlay style door. (1959)
Reg
Thanks...
Andy....I think your suggestion will work...but, I have a real mess with the remaining deteriorated gasket. I may still have to do a major clean up. You can see it goes all the way round...even the bottom.
How about the window gasket (see picture) its not an Aero Lite style. looks kike a "D" 1/2 x 3/8.
Reggie...Yours looks great! I have a similar door frame lip but it never had a gasket. Maybe I can do as yours, sort of belts and suspenders approach.
Well, I bought a Heir Compact fridge to fit the spot where the Ice box no sits. I could not bring myself to change the appearance of the interior that much. So.now the plan is to convert the original ice box to a refrigerated unit. For my intent this should work.
Robim,
Andy has 2 sizes of "D" gasket. I chose his smaller one for my windows I did not want to replace the original that was riveted to the lip of the window frame. In fact I have 17 feet left that I have in the clasifieds for sale. You can see it glued it the actual window instead of the window frame in the picture. I was able to look at all his gaskets when I was having him install a torsion alxe on my trailer.
Is your door a overlay type? Does it fit close to the body skins? Andys door gasket can be used for the door as well as the inside frame. My door did not fit close to the shell so the thicker VTS gasket worked better.
I have been rebuilding Hehr standards for the last few months in my spare time, and I will attest that they are a HUGE pain in the rear. I know they are what makes the trailers nice in these old units, but I don't know what they were thinking when they built them. Maybe they were thinking, "Hey...lets see how many parts we can think up to create a single window."
Replacing the front frame gasket is pretty simple since the sashes can be removed from the window without removing the window from the trailer, but replacing the back frame gasket requires (At least on my trailer) removal of the entire window unit. I am using the gasket that is an "e" shape sold by VTS, but I see how Reggie's gaskets will work as long as the area between the skin and window frame is sealed since the e gasket seals between the window and skin.
Every step of the way with this project is an adventure in learning.
My front and rear "eye" windows were designed with 1`/4 in. plywood reinforcement around the entire frame inside. This was against the skin. The plexiglass was then laid against that. A small channel frame, see picture, was then placed over the skin and wood from the outside and screwed alltogether. No residue of sealer at all, resulting in major window/inside the wall leaks. I fixed all that.....
So, you can see, you have it made with rubber seals.
Robin,
Your ice box unit looks very similar to what I had in our live aboard sail boat. It worked well but was power hungry running on batteries. Had to run the generator twice a day to keep the ice box cool in the tropics. Your ice box insulation will be the determining factor of how satisfied you are with it.
Steve,
Good catch on the window frame edge. Thats why there was a small bead of Vulkem put around every window frame edge after the picture was taken. I had some lower areas where the hardened original compound had fallen out.
Down to the barn today for electrical work.
The polishing begins tomorrow AM. Anyone want to help? I did not think so.
Brad, the original windows were not glass. It was real plexiglass....the kind that was era made. It scratched and yellowed. If you installed it without stress relief it cracked big time. The new windows I made are scratch resistant lexan like material.....still stress relieved at all the screw holes.
still baffled by the door seals and figuring out electrical....so I polished.
Semd me your address and I will send you a piece of each type of rubber gasket I used on my door & door frame. It helps to have a piece of each at the trailer for checking the fit.
Reg
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