So Confused! Interior sealing Help

[Tracy Lynne]

Hi, We've decided to strip our'68 Overlander down, reseal and insulate from the inside which I thought would be the most sensible. I seeked advice from one of the Airstream supply stores and he said I had to drill out every rivet from the outer Aluminum shell, apply sealant then rivet. This is not an option. What are you experiences sealing your airstream? from the inside or out? What product? Trempro 635? what do you do about the rivets?
I really appreciate everyone's suggestions. Thanks.

[Belegedhel]

Ha--sounds like the kind of advice you would get from someone who sells buck riveting kits, drill bits, Trempro and rivets!

But seriously, that recommendation is way overkill, and fairly ridiculous. Even if you did this, there is still a chance that you end up with a newly installed leaky rivet. Besides, the aluminum skins don't have sealant where they overlap, so you could have the tightest rivets on earth and still have a leak at the overlap. Are you supposed to disassemble the entire trailer into its individual panels, and then reconstruct the trailer with sealant between the sheets at the overlaps and on the rivets?

So I had my trailer completely emptied out, and there was already a bunch of factory installed sealant at SOME of the rivet lines/seams, typically at the end caps. So I went ahead and put some trempro 635 in cup, and then thinned it down a little bit with mineral spirits until I got something the consistency of a thick paint. I then brushed that onto all the rivet lines and the edge of all seams visible inside the trailer. I also tried some of that spray "flexseal" stuff, but I didn't get much confidence that it was really getting into all the nooks and crannies--felt more confident with the painted on Trempro.

Now, even after all of this, I found two leaks when I soaked the trailer down with a continuous deluge of water. One came from a "stack" window where the glass is suppsed to seal to the window frame, and the other leak was coming from a very glopped seam--go figure.

Anyway, once I am done with my trailer and it is all shiny and complete, I will run a tiny bead of parbond along all of the exterior seams as well.

Good luck!

[thinktankair]

It is so confusing. You are right. My trailer leaked everywhere when I got it and because the water leaks inside you think you should seal the inside. What I learned was you seal the outside and no water can come inside. Worked like a charm. Used tempo 625. Call vintage trailer supply and they will explain the process and send the things you need!