[RussWhite]

Winters on the ocean are hard on the Newell.

The attached image shows rust that I am in the process of dealing with. The trim piece has obviously been removed. The bulging of that trim was what alerted me to the issue.

I cut the trim with a small rotary cutter at the ends of the front slide. The trim was held on by adhesive. The product looks a lot like a thick double sided tape. By pulling hard at the top of the trim I was able to eventually separate the trim from the underlying steel. The surface rust was bad enough that the adhesive stayed on the trim and just pulled away the rust and the trim came off.
I will treat the steel with my favorite rust inhibitor - POR15 - and then put the trim back on.

But, why I am posting is for suggestions on how I might put the trim back on. For me, access is always better than no access, and the adhesive way pretty much makes it permanently on.
I would not mind at all seeing the heads of a few small fasteners on the trim strip. But I worry about the steel, aluminum, and fastener interface - from a corrosion standpoint. Also I have never been very successful at tapping - I 'm good with the drilling part, but usually break something during the tapping part ( cheap taps maybe ).
I have thought about adhesive, but using much less than Newell did hoping I could pull it off later if need be. I would like to be able to inspect the area in the future.

So, anyone have any suggestions? Thanks - Russ

[rheavn]

Using adhesives are the best from an appearance standpoint. You could just glue it on or use double sided tape. Since you park on the ocean I would want a complete seal, so as not to allow salt air getting to the metal below. Other alternatives that won't be as attractive is to pop rivet or use self tapping screws. I would think with this method you would want to caulk the edges to again avoid salt air intrusion. I'm sure others will have other ideas.

[Ozarkguy]

Corrosion is always tough to deal with...As I'm sure you know some of the rust control products actually turn the rust into a primer, allowing you to paint for additional protection... it is obvious that the glue failed and allowed moisture in creating the problem... As far as fastners you could use some steel nutserts .. you can buy a cheap kit from Harbor Freight.. they come is several sizes 4, 6, 8 and so on in the kit... you drill the hole the insert like a pop rivet.. then just screw the machine screw in the blind nut .. I would probally just use a expoxy product and reglue.. after some serious treatment... but each to his own... good luck..

Winters on the ocean are hard on the Newell.

The attached image shows rust that I am in the process of dealing with. The trim piece has obviously been removed. The bulging of that trim was what alerted me to the issue.

I cut the trim with a small rotary cutter at the ends of the front slide. The trim was held on by adhesive. The product looks a lot like a thick double sided tape. By pulling hard at the top of the trim I was able to eventually separate the trim from the underlying steel. The surface rust was bad enough that the adhesive stayed on the trim and just pulled away the rust and the trim came off.
I will treat the steel with my favorite rust inhibitor - POR15 - and then put the trim back on.

But, why I am posting is for suggestions on how I might put the trim back on. For me, access is always better than no access, and the adhesive way pretty much makes it permanently on.
I would not mind at all seeing the heads of a few small fasteners on the trim strip. But I worry about the steel, aluminum, and fastener interface - from a corrosion standpoint. Also I have never been very successful at tapping - I 'm good with the drilling part, but usually break something during the tapping part ( cheap taps maybe ).
I have thought about adhesive, but using much less than Newell did hoping I could pull it off later if need be. I would like to be able to inspect the area in the future.

So, anyone have any suggestions? Thanks - Russ

[Chester Stone]

Hey, thanks for the post. I park my coach a block from the ocean in Mexico, and will keep an eye out or this problem.

[lbrachfe]

Folding a thin piece of sheet metal over the heavily rusted piece and pop rivet in place for strong with no adhesive and you can drill out the rivets for future access

[Chester Stone]

I was in Tucson about two weeks ago and noticed that an aluminum strip about 2" wide and 6' long was bulging in the middle. I noted that it is glued on. I observed that the temperature was over 100, and this piece exposed to the sun. I also noted that there was no space on either end for expansion. Conclusion, heat caused the metal to expand, but no were to expand to. Now when garaged in the shade, the bulge retracted. I am posting this to suggest that Gurus having this problem may want to trim the ends a bit to allow for expansion before putting the trim back on the coach.

[encantotom]

this one has me really interested. mine has very few rivets and the skin is mostly held on with adhesive (except where the front and end caps are there are rivets).

on the rear slide at the top, the aluminum rolls over the edge and is adhesived on top of the piece going down. about 4" over the top. that separated about 6-8" across.

the same piece as russ's under the slide, a 2" strip or so was loose under the bedroom slide as well.

when i was at newell this summer i had them work on it. they tried using their adhesive on the slide room piece and it wouldnt stay. so they ended up using adeshive and 6-8 rivets. looks a little out of place but you have to look for it.

as for the trim piece under the bedroom slide the end came loose about a foot or so. they used a 2 part epoxy and glued it down, but it wasnt quite flush and has since come a little loose again and the end is overlapping the piece next to it like i think is pointed out above.

a few weeks ago i noticed above salon slide outside there was a bump of metal sticking out. it is the piece directly above the room slide and is sticking out quite a bit and is about a foot long from tail to tail and at the peak is sticking out about 1/2".

i know i will have to rivet this piece back down and it will also look a little odd being the only place with rivets.

i also assume that before i really understood how to put the slides out that i might have loosened it as it clipped edges. but who knows.

i just hope the rest of the coach doesnt start separating. i have heard that the places that are adhesived are supposed to be stronger than the metal itself. but i have seen enough to question it.

tom

[RussWhite]

I have completed repairs to my trim. In the end, I decided to drill and tap. I purchased a combination drill and tap from McMaster and went with 10-32 I think. Never used the drill portion of the tap as I purchased several bits the correct size and only used two I think in drilling all the holes. I purchased stainless torx head flat head screws and countersunk each hole in the trim strip. I think it looks a little better than pop-rivets would have and I can easily remove it to check the condition of the metal behind it.
The biggest boo boo was when I removed a piece of tape from the trim that was holdering the far end in place as I worked at the other end. The tape actually pulled the paint from the alumium strip - bummer - postage stamp size.

[rheavn]

Just remember the "3 foot rule" and move on.