How to remove old caulk from Beltline

[jacwjames]

I am still working on fixing the delamination area. I'm taking my time and doing small areas working my way up. I know the epoxy will flow down the wall so placing it high and letting gravity work.

Since I had a "leak" of epoxy at the rear corner I decided to do a small pour down that side along the beltline thinking it would flow and seal any leaks. I thin did a pretty good size pour working my way up, I poured ~20 oz of epoxy across a ~3 ft section. I ordered and received some 150ml syringes with tubing that I used for the last pour, this worked good although hard to push the syringe.

Both times I compressed the fiberglass to the side of the coach with the form that I made. Yesterday I pulled the for off completely and there are no ripples, bulges, or high spots. Looks like the overall fill/contact is pretty good.

I ran out of epoxy and have some on order. I decided to stick with the 205 fast hardener and keep doing smaller pours. This next pour I will try and work my way up to the level of the window, which should allow for gravity flow of epoxy.

The last pour I will have to use syringes to place the epoxy "uphill" but I think I can rig up a caulk gun to make this work. I can have ~5-6 syringes full ready to go when I start to place it.


FWIW, A friend of mine use to be the shop foreman for a large RV collision repair shop and I talked to him about my plan. He actually came over and looked at my problem. He had never done a large area like I was trying but thought it would work. So far so good.
I would not have been able to do this easily without being parked in a garage with concrete floor and access. Having a wall to stage against and wedge 2x4's worked great. As I work my way up it will be even more important that I have the ability to wedge against the wall. I will have to rig up my form so I can quickly reassemble it to press against the wall. Working time with this epoxy is ~20-30 minutes.

[gcederholm]

Originally Posted by jacwjames

I need to redo the caulk on my belt line, not sure what the original sealant was. What is the best way to remove the old sealant??? What type of cleaner should I use before applying new sealant

I have bought ProFlex RV clear to use but have to clean the old off first.

Just had belt line work done at Talin RV last month. In addition to the red scrapers from Harbor Freight, I asked what solvent they used on the original sealant. Turns out they used Boe-Shield T9 (liberally) and mentioned that they have also had success with WD-40. Haven't tried either yet personally, though...

[jacwjames]

I actually ordered some of the Boe-Shield T9 to use as a lubricant. May try a small area as a test. I have tied both Acetone and Denatured Alcohol, I think the Acetone works a little better. Removed the old caulk on the drivers side but have resealed with Geocel yet.


I am still working on my delamination area. I finished the area below the window where I could use the 150ml syringes with a larger size tubing. The last area I did was about a 2X4' area, I poured about 600 ml of epoxy, trying to spread it across the area as I worked from both the window and the exhaust from washer and dryer.

Pulled the forms this morning and it looks good, no ripples or bulges. I've probably used ~1/3 gal of epoxy so far. I had to order more but went with some slow cure hardener.


Now comes the hard part, the area above the window. I rigged up a couple lengths of copper tubing that I can position, the problem is it is all up hill and trying to used the syringes would work it will take a long time to push that much up hill. So I will attempt to used some air pressure to place it. I have some heavy plastic "Power Aid" bottles that I can attach to the plastic tubing. I drilled a small hole in the bottom and can used an air nozzle to push the epoxy. I'll definitely do a test before committing as I intend to do a ~3.5'X4' section in one pour.

I've done all the prep work for the forms, will have everything positioned so that I can quickly put pressure on the side of the RV once I place the epoxy. I cut the piece of plywood to fit the new location and figured out how to put pressure on the form using the wall of my shop.


Wish me luck.

[rmcb]

Try this for good removal of most all calks, sealants, adhesive , etc.

[jacwjames]

So I had been working on fixing the ~4'x7' area of delamination on passenger side behind rear bedroom window. I had done a series of smaller epoxy injections working my way up to the window. Once I got that far I repositioned the support for the plywood and 2X6&10's to push against the side. I test fit everything and precut the boards to put pressure the side.

Since I could not rely on gravity I came up with a way to inject the epoxy. I used copper tubing, a short flexible SS braided hose, compression fittings, and plastic bottle. I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the bottle and plugged with a screw so I could fill it with epoxy, attach it to the hose, turn it upside down, and then use air nozzle with ~30 psi pressure in short bursts to push the epoxy into the void. This worked great.

So yesterday I did the pour, probably close to 1/3 of a gallon total on the last pour a ~4X4' area. The epoxy injection went pretty well, did have a couple leaks that I easily cleaned up with denatured alcohol.

This AM I removed the forms and plastic. I found that epoxy had leaked out of the holes that the dryer vent was attached to the side of the coach with. So I have a ~6"X12" area of hard epoxy. I will try scraping this off, anyone have any ideas the best method.
But overall the repair looks pretty good, see picture, notice that the beltline came off and went back on pretty easy. Still have to seal it, will use Geocel.

Here are some pictures.

[windsorbill]

Jim

Back when I had boats, we used this stuff to remove cured epoxy. But it was in the bilge. I don't know what it would do to painted surfaces/clear coats.

https://www.amazon.com/Attack-Solven...a-849555507747

BTW,

I've been trying to find some of that Geocel clear, but it seems to be on backorder everywhere I look.

[jacwjames]

Thanks, I check into the solvent but at first glance it looks like it won't work on clear coat/paint. I'll to some more checking though.



I bought my Geocel clear on Ebay but I just check and it shows 0 in stock.

[jacwjames]

Here is a picture of where I think the leak came from, this is where the rear cap and the room meet. The finish it off with fiberglass but there is a hump and the metal molding that holds the belt line on goes over it but does not make full contact. I suspect that when the motorhome flexes the original seal broke letting the water come in and got behind the fiberglass but also traveled down the belt line as it was discolored going down the back but everywhere else it looked original color.

I am in the process of cleaning all the old seal out and will use Geocel to reseal the entire belt line.

[rikadoo]

So my story was i noticed on my main slide that there was a big gap forming at the floor trim where the seal between the wall meets the trim, one end was almost 1/4 in. Then i started to notice the belting that covered the screws that held the trim to the wall had “bumps” that belting was in the center of that seal. So i removed that belting an found several of the steel screws that held the trim piece were broken causing the heads of the screws to raise the belting trim. I had to drill out all the broken screws “for little POS screws i was amazed how hard it was to drill them out” then i replaced them with Stainless screws, reinstalled the belting trim an reseal it all. I had to do that all on the street in front of my house. I would LOVE to have a shop i could pull in an perform work on my rig.
Hey FYI while i was working in that area i discovered a area when the slide was closed there was a spot big enough for my outside thermometer to mount that still recieved contact with ambient air yet was totally out of sight, my indoor read out display is still able to get the signal and works great.

[jacwjames]

So I started to reseal all the belt molding today. In the past I would free style it, put a bead of caulk down and smooth it out with my finger. The Geocel says to use soapy water so that what I started to do. But the Geocel doesn't play well, took me a while to get my first seam looking good. Luckily this was a top rear seam drivers side so not as visible from the ground.

I then remembered somebody recommending taping the seam so I gave that a try, using painters tape I put some on either side of the seam, leaving ~1/8" to lay a bead of Geocel. Did this on a seam, taped it off, laid a bead of Geocel and then smoothed it with soapy water, ripped off the tape, then smoothed again. This worked good and after doing a couple seams was faster then not using tape. Got most of the coach done, will finish the rest Monday.
Still have to put the bedroom window in place and a couple minor jobs but starting to see the light at then end of the tunnel (hope it's not the train).

[RoadTrip2084]

Hi all, I'm a new to me owner of really nice condition 1997 Monaco Dynasty. I noticed a few places on my rig where the caulking is giving way on the beltline that I would like to touch up before winter storage here.

I was wondering how the beltline comes off?

[jacwjames]

The belt line is flexible and shaped somewhat like a "U". The aluminum extrusion it fits over has lips on the bottom. When the belt line is attached it is snug fit and it clips onto the extrusion. Once the beltline is sealed it won't come off easily.


To get it off I pried it out from the bottom a little and used a paint can opener to grab the beltine and gently pull it off. Once you get it to start coming off it is pretty easy.
To put it back on I used a rubber mallet and tapped it back on.


I removed ~20 ft of it, didn't damage it but you to be careful removing the sealant at it was put on after my coach was painted and it did pull a very little paint off, not bad but you have to be careful.
Earlier Monaco's didn't have full paint and were gel coat.

[RoadTrip2084]

Thanks! Sounds simple enough.

My coach is definitely full body paint as the clearcoat is "spidering" on the top fiberglass sections.