Top-center interior panel problem?

[malconium]

I decided to remove all of the interior panels on our 1973 31' Sovereign. I am partly done now and ran into a problem that I did not expect. The 1973 service manual says that I should be able to remove the top center strip by unfastening the rivits, bowing it down in the center and sliding it out of the track along its edge. For whaterver reason that does not seem to work - not with any amount of presuading. What I finally did to get it loose on one side was to use a thin and sharp paint scraper to slide in and chop off the rivits that hold the track to the frame. While this worked well enough it does not seem like I should have to do that at all. The only thing I can think of is that the center panel is somehow binding on the rivit heads that hold the track in place. Even after I cut the rivits it was not all that easy to pull the track off the edge of the center panel.

Has anyone else had this problem? I still have to detach the center panel from the other side and so-far it is not budging. I did think that I might try squirting some silicone lubricant into the track to see if that helps. If not the only recourse I see is to chop off the rivits like I did for the other side. I don't reall want to do this because I do not get the full picture of the order that the pieces are installed under the track this way. I am also hoping that I can put the skin back on and get the center panel to slip into place without a problem.

Does anyone know if the track is available? If I can figure out how it works I thought I might consider using something like it along the edges of my belly pan.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

Thanks,

Malcolm

[Inland RV Center, In]

The ceiling center panel (multi-dome) was installed simply by bowing the vinylclad material, and then riveting it in place.

It is remove by reversing that procedure.

Andy

[malconium]

Andy,

I already knew about what you said was supposed to work. The whole point is that it does not work as advertised. I meant what I said about it not releasing with any amount of persuading.

One thing I did notice last night that might have some relationship to the problem is that there was some amount of moisture getting into that area from leaks in the ceiling area somewhere (probably around vents). I have not investigated fully yet but it could be that there is some amount of corrosion that would cause some binding. Otherwise the problem is still not solved.

Malcolm

[malconium]

I finished removing all the inner skins this last weekend. I discoverd why the center panel was so stuborn to slide out. It would appear that a PO added an additional strip of aluminum above the center panel that also slid into the track. These additonal strips did not seem to me to be factory original (I could be wrong). The were tucked into the track from the center and rivited to the frame perhaps to help keep the track on the level for some reason. This did not seem all that necessary to me. The net result was that the actual center ceiling panel was jamed into the track pretty tightly. I was barely able to pull the second side out after squirting some silicon lubricant into the track.

Does anyone know if this second strip is standard operating procedure? It certainly made things tight.

Thanks,

Malcolm

[Inland RV Center, In]

Malcomb.

You have described "exactly" how Airstream built many many trailers.

The purpose of the "shim" was to make the center panel (multi-dome) look straight instead of having waves at the sides of that center panel at the molding edges.

Does it make a tight fit? Absolutely, and for a good reason.

Andy

[malconium]

Andy,

Does your shop have any tricks on getting out stuborn center panels then? Mine was so tight that even with silicon lubricant I had to use a rubber mallet to break them loose. I had to pound on the sides of the holes cut into the center panel to get any purchase on the panels. I do not think this would have worked if I did not already have the first side completely detached by cutting off the rivits behind the channel.

Malcolm

[Inland RV Center, In]

Malcolm.

No magic tricks, just keep on pulling.

The tightness increased simply by towing the trailer. That made the multi-dome slide in place, even tighter.

I didn't say it was easy, but I did say how to do it.

Maybe we need to back to the days of the pirate ships, where the guy in the hull, with the whip, kept hollering to the oarsmen, pull, pull, pull.

Andy