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uwe · 03-08-2004, 11:50 PM

Well, i am almost done with my bathroom floor replacement job. The new plywood went in, the walls and components are back inplace, everything works, no leaks.
I had the plastic bathroom components refinished, and got a new toilet from Sea-Land. New faucet, paint and wallpaper. Installed new black tank valve and grey tank plumbing. Wheew - what a job. But, the reward was a 4-day camping trip to the beach last weekend....cool!
The last ting left to do is the replacement of the broken/missing/yellowed and brittle molding that they used in my 1971 to conceal the rivets holding the vanity and toilet surround panels in place. It is two parts, one that the rivets go through with a tiny lip on the outsides, and a second part that snaps over the first one once riveted in place, to conceal and waterproof the rivets.
I can't find this material anywhere.
Does anyone know where to get this?
InlandRV had the curtain hardware for the bathroom window, but not this material.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

thenewkid64 · 03-09-2004, 05:13 AM

Uwe,

Can you post a picture of the lipped piece? Do you have any of the old stuff left that you could also take a picture of? I have replaced the beige insert in other coaches but that does not sound like what you are describing.

smily · 03-09-2004, 05:42 AM

If you have too much trouble finding exact replacement, you can get something VERY comparable to it in most RV stores.

I know you can get both items at "Sonnys Camp and Travel" here in Charleston SC.

Smily

jaco · 03-09-2004, 09:25 AM

What was Inlands advice on the missing items?

Are you talking of an aluminum extrusion with a vinyl insert? Or a plastic extrusion with aa vinyl insert? or something else completely?

Please tell us more about your fixture refinishing. It is apparently on the wish list of every a 70's era owner.

Chuck · 03-09-2004, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Please tell us more about your fixture refinishing. It is apparently on the wish list of every a 70's era owner

Ditto

and post pics of the whole re-hab process. didn't know you were doing a total bathroom renovation.
(did you change your grey tank config?)

uwe · 03-09-2004, 10:47 AM

Here a pic of the molding, assembled.

uwe · 03-09-2004, 10:50 AM

the lower part takes the rivets, the upper part then snaps over the lower part to conceal the rivet lines.

uwe · 03-09-2004, 10:50 AM

the two strips are made of vinyl or plastic, and are used in the bathroom only. The material covers the rivet lines around the bathroom vanity, the toilet surround, and parts of the shower tub. Where the strips are exposed to water, there is a small bead of silicone sealer on thetop and bottom, between this material and the bathroom interior.

uwe · 03-09-2004, 11:07 AM

Sorry, no pictures were taken during the rehab process, only a few of the floor system.
I posted the procedure in another thread, but basically I had everything out of the bathroom, including the three walls, plumbing, black tank, etc.
I then disassembled and cleaned the vanity, so all the plastic parts were separate. Found a refinishing firm in the yellow pages, called them for an estimate, got a few references, checked and gave them the job.
They did my entire wet bath for $ 275.00, tambour included. It looks, feels, and smells great. I chose a standard white color, but they could have done any color desired.
Chuck, I did not relocate my grey tank, but did add a vent to it. Big difference! it now holds enough for wife/me showering, cooking dishes etc. for 2-3 days. It keeps up with the black tank, easily.
Time permitting, i will get some pics taken of the finished product. It looks really nice. Need this concealment molding and a new light fixture to finish the project.
i was also thinikng of getting a separate faucet for the shower. The plastic thingie i purchased at Camping world is pretty cheesy. I might buy a nice vanity faucet, and then plumb in a shower faucet separately. Right now it's the kind you pull a pin and it turns the faucet into a shower faucet.
The bathroom rehab was not very hard, but quite tedious. Wore out 2 #30's just to get the thing apart...used my air riveter to put it back together.

uwe · 03-09-2004, 06:14 PM

I spent some time with local RV supply places, but to no avail. Nothing online either, so far.
There is one more murky old trailer supply house I can try, but then that's it.
I would surely like to cover up the unsightly rivets and holes, unevenly drilled at that.

Chuck · 03-10-2004, 07:24 AM

There's gotta be something out there. perhaps that salvage place that everyone is always talking about? then again, probably any 30 year old trailer's plastic moldings are going to be in rough shape, too.

I think it was Shari's web site on her trailer renovation that talked about getting some kind of metal moldings for kitchen cabinets and dinette table...maybe that sort of supplier would have something appropriate?

another question about the fixture refinishing: what exactly was it that these people did to your fixtures? do they re-coat them with something, or what? I thought I heard someone somewhere mention that you could wet sand the abs plastic. Now I'm wondering what color the fixtures were when new. were they white? or almond? I'm starting to think that they were white, and what I'm looking at and thinking is supposed to be an almond or beige color is actually a yellowing of the plastic...

smily · 03-10-2004, 09:10 AM

If you search Sonnys Camp and or CamcoRV you will find product called "Insert Molding Trim" , you will find both the base piece and the vinyl insert.

This is common stuff in RVs

Smily

uwe · 03-10-2004, 10:20 AM

smily,
I'll check out your sources today.
chuck,
my 3 main pieces were originally off white/sort of a light almond color. Some spots that were covered by other pieces had still retained the original color.
The tambour was the same color, but had yellowed severely.
I tried wet sanding, but all it does is remove small surface scratches. The discoloration on my items had penetrated deep into the material. I also tried a pro buffer with 3M cutting compound. This yielded a very nice and shiny, but still stained and yellow finish.
next came all chemicals known to man, from thinner to acetone to windex. That's when I called the refinishing guys.
Basically, they sanded the pieces with 150first, then 220, and then they spray coated everything with 3 coats of their concoction. It was a 2 component epoxy coating, slow drying and very very nasty smelling. The pieces to be refinished were removed from the trailer already, so there was no overspray or odor inside the trailer. I highly recommend removing the parts to be refinished, if at allpossible. The result is much nicer, and the workers have better access to the components.
The finished and cured product has a porcelain type appearance, is very tough and can be cleaned with normal soap and water products, but no scouring powders, ever. I tried to pick some of it off in invisible places, and it is impossible. I believe it is a fairly common product amongst the refinishing guys. Most of the work they do is in apartment complexes. They also refinish countertops etc. There is definitely someone in your area doing the same thing.
I chose a antique white color, which matches the new porcelain toilet in color, and also matches Rustoleum's Gloss white spray paint. This way I can restore some of the smaller items inside the wet bath with a spray can. The antique white has just enough warmth init to not clash with the rest of the interior.
This procedure so far had the biggest impact on how the trailer feels. It completely changed the way the trailer's inside looks, feels, and smells. We love it.

Chuck · 03-10-2004, 11:05 AM

great! take a picture, will ya!? I wanna see!

uwe · 03-10-2004, 12:26 PM

Chuck, it'll be a few days before I'll have time for pics again. Too busy at work, trailer's in storage right now.
But I will take some and post them, soon.

Tin Hut · 03-10-2004, 01:29 PM

Couple of other ideas, what about cutting a thin veneer wooden strip insert and using velcro, tape, glue...whatever...lay it in. Could look nice.

Another option would be to use a metal insert or overlay, you could maybe shape your own that way....you can buy rolls of workable brass, etc that can be formed.

uwe · 03-10-2004, 05:33 PM

Good suggestions, tin hut.
One challenge is that the section along the rear vanity is curved. It follows the contour under the rear window, from left to right. The other sections go in places where i would rather not have them protrude much. The stuff they used is just perfect, i guess. I will try and find something very similar. So far, no go on any of the sources I tried. Most of them have metal molding, someof the vinyl insert trim, but no one so far shows the system I am looking for.
Another thing, parts of it go into the wet area of the wet bath, under the step the toilet sits on. So it also has a sealing function once caulked over with silicone.

77 R GO C MH · 03-10-2004, 07:23 PM

I just talked with the folks at Inland RV today looking for exactly the same item. They suggested I take a piece to Home Depot and see if they have anything similar since it is no longer made by Airstream. I'll post more if I find anything.

biggerbadbrad · 03-10-2004, 07:44 PM

I'm not sure if you folks have a store called Princess Auto down in your neck of the woods (USA) but I have found many items for my Airstream there. Anodized aluminum trim of every shape and size for example. I browze the store occasionally for fun because you never know what you'll find there. But then again I need to get a life.

bbb

PizzaChop · 03-10-2004, 07:45 PM

Uwe,

You're about 4 weeks ahead of me in the restoration process. (My floor new floor is in and I just finished cleaning all the disassembled bathroom pieces on my back patio, awaiting the refinishing process.)

Sounds like my trim is different than yours as it is aluminum with a vinyl insert. (Don't know if you can find some or not.) But as my wife and I were discussing replacing the insert (it is yellowed, cracked, and otherwise ugly, those pieces that survived the rip out anyway), she picked up a piece of linoluem, cut a 1-1/2" strip, and it slid in perfectly.

We now know how we will make our trim match our new floor, as well as coordinate with the new paint/wallpaper in the bathroom.

This may not help you as it looks like your trim is different, but if you can get your hands on some aluminum trim.....