Seam/Seal identification.

[Brougham78]

Motorhome specific question... what are these seals referred to as so I can look up replacements. the seal/seam these go to attaches a fiberglass section to the aluminum body section. On the seam with screws... Is there a gasket underneath it? I havent pulled it off yet.

[legomybago]

That's vinyl trim/window/RV screw covering in the second pic. They usually have some in stock at RV parts places, or you can find it all over the web. The first pic is also a vinyl seam/edge material of some sort it looks like Hm?

[Brougham78]

Once I remove the trim seal with screws, is there a gasket/seal/putty/anything underneath it that will need to be replaced?


I found a replacement seal to the other one! this piece from Trim lok seems to be the right size.


So this fiberglass attachment site for the cab has most of the holes ripped out... I was planning on just using some fiberglass to put a new lip on it to give it some strength again. I was also thinking of maybe in bedding a strip of metal to give it some rigidity like a gromet.. would that bond well tho? Or should
I just beef it up with some fiberglass alone. I am no stranger to fiberglass as I built speaker boxes as a high school kid but I dont know if it would bond well with a metal strip overlapped in it.

[TerryH]

That's vinyl trim/window/RV screw covering in the second pic. They usually have some in stock at RV parts places, or you can find it all over the web. The first pic is also a vinyl seam/edge material of some sort it looks like Hm?

I agree. The strip in the second photo is common, two or three widths available and largely aesthetic to hide the screws. The first photo shows a bulb seal with a wedge insert. Not sure where it is used based on your photo, but a bulb seal is just that - a seal. Very common around door to casing, hatch to casing etc. Generally replaceable. Your photo of the black bulb seal shows a 'U' channel fit rather than a wedge fit. You have to consider the natural flow of water when replacing. A U channel may just defeat the purpose and direct water in rather than away. Again, difficult to tell from the photo.

[Rickf1985]

It used to be a u-channel at one time and went along the edge of the fiberglass top he is showing in the last pictures. That is what has me confused though, that type of seal would be used on a lid that is removable, not screwed down. Did the screws go through the seal? And yes you could bed in a strip of metal, I would use aluminum to prevent rust. The problem is that by the time you properly lay in the metal and build your reinforcing layers you are going to be too thick for the seal.

[Brougham78]

Hmmm well judging by the number of holes in the lip maybe this seal/seam was an attempt by a previous owner. Im going to re-fiberglass the lip, is there a better way to reattach this back to the cab?

[Rickf1985]

No idea without knowing how it was attached to begin with. Most of the time I do not see glass attached solidly to metal since the two have different thermal expansion rates and the fiberglass would get stress cracks at the attaching point. I believe they would have been held down with some sort of clamping attachment against the gasket you have there. What is around the rest of the unit where the glass meets the metal? If it is all gasket then there is a clamping type rigging somewhere in there. Probably behind the paneling. This is all conjecture since I am not there to look at it.

[Brougham78]

The back seal/seam appears to have some putty/butyl looking stuff coming out of the edge when examined from the inside frame. I have no unscrewed it off to see yet. I wonder if I could use a rubber gasket edge trim similar to the one I found above, and attach it above the edge trim and then cover the screw holes with eternabond tape or something. I have a feeling that either way I do it, it will probably have to be maintained/updated/replaced every couple years due to the nature of the flex the cab over gets.