WILLY'S FACE LIFT - INSTALLMENT 14

Today was harder than expected.  The molding isn't as pretty as I was hoping but it is going to work well as far as protecting Willy's corners. Pamela is happy with it, so I'm happy too. Also it isn't as easy to work with as I had anticipated.  That's because it reacts quite a bit differently when you have the corners covered with butyl tape and the have two strips of butyl tape on the inside of the molding. I did end up with only two joints on each side, which is one per side less than anticipated.  Actually, with the weight of the molding, I overlapped instead of doing a joint. Figured that was safer. I do want it to look nice but the most important thing is that it protects the edges from water.  I'm using less molding than anticipated and a lot more butyl.  Here's a step-by-step.

STEP 1:  I started in the front.  Both of the front pieces were already shaped and there was no shaping to the piece going across the roof line. For the back I put the molding in place, using a couple of pieces of butyl like tape, and made any necessary cuts to create the curves.

Top front with butyl covering the seam

corner covered with butyl tape

 STEP 2:  I covered the seam where the side and front skin meets with butyl tape.  I worked it is so that it was very tight to the skin. Since the roof actually overlaps the side there was no seam to cover.

STEP 3:  After the butyl tape was in place and secure I put a strip of butyl tape on each leg of the molding.  I then carefully put the molding in place using any curves as my guide and pushed firmly or tapped lightly with a soft mallet. With that much butyl tape it isn't going anywhere.

STEP 4:  I secured the molding with 8 x 1" sheet metal screws every 2.5-3", a bit farther apart on the roof line because half of it is going to be under the roof sealer. I figured that I wasn't going to skimp on the screws. I bought 500 screws and will use all of them before I'm done.  On front and back I started at the top and worked  my way down. I used a soft

Butyl tape on inside of molding

Front corner finished

mallet any time I needed to tap the molding into place. This molding is very strong - after all it is made for the corners of a  pole bar - but it does bend very easily. A few times I hit a screw that was holding the skin to the wood. All that I needed to do was start again moving so little that you have to look to notice that there is a second hold. The unused hole is filled with butyl.

The reason that the molding didn't turn out as pretty (for lack of a better word) as I had envisioned was that the skin isn't flat. If you look at any of the pictures you can see the ridges and valleys. The screws pull  the molding tight to the skin. That's what you want.  The molding gives, which is good, but there is almost a dimpled effect because of the skin.

Back corner viewed from side

Back corner from rear

I am glad that we made the decision to try this very unorthodox method.  Most moldings attempt to cover the seam created by the joint of a front, back and side skin without you being aware of the molding. Some of it actually has plastic strips to cover the screws. The down side of this cosmetic approach is that there is no way it provides as much protection. Besides, Airstream has made an icon of its screws and rivets showing.

Next is to put a protective sealant along the roof molding. This helps keep the butyl clean and will provide an added water barrier. Some people who restore trailers put a sealant over all butyl to protect it and keep it from turning dark. After all the molding and edges have been finished I will coat the roof with a special trailer roof sealer.  I don't have the stats on the sealer right now, but I'll try to remember to post it in a future blog. There are a number of products out there, and most of them are adequate to good. We wanted to use the same product as Tim Heinz (a professional restoration expert in Panama Beach, FL. whom we know) but the only place to get it was in the deep south (not even Northern Alabama) and I couldn't find anywhere to purchase it on-line. I decided to use the product that a local Evansville shop uses.

After that the big job is going to be putting everything back together. We need to clean the window frames and put in new screen. Then there are the tail lights, water tank drain valve, water tank fill, and all of the other things we took off.  I did have a problem with the paint on the fenders, so we might be faced with buying new fenders.

We not going to be done before we go on our cruise, but we're going to be pretty close!  Every day I have gone to work on Willy has been somewhere between scary and terrifying.  But we have tried to do our homework and preparation and take our time.  I'm very pleased and must admit that - other than some periods of pure terror - I've really had fun.