Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I will be installing diamond plate aluminum on the front of my TD as a rock guard, and along the sides as accents. My question concerns installing diamond plate along with insert trim. Do I install the diamond plate flush with the edge of the TD, and overlap it with the trim, or do I install the trim first, and cut the diamond plate flush to the edge of the trim? My concern is that if I overlap diamond plate with trim that it will create a small gap for water to get in.

I'm going to in counter the same problem, I'd initial thought of wrapping the diamond plate around the side and butting the team up to it with some adhesive waterproof tape under it.
Be interested to see what's sugested

I used the 0.063" diamond tread on the front of my TD, & also on lower sides for trim. I had no problem using the 'insert' type dead soft RV trim on the radius of my TD. It conformed rather readily to the little 'jog' where the diamond tread is thicker than the 0.040" siding & roof.

I was actually a little hesitant to use the diamond tread on the front as I had already installed the sides & roof & was some worried about leaks. I cut the diamond tread with about 3" of excess width to overlap the skin. I put 3 beads of adhesive/sealer on the skin, installed the diamond tread, then pre-drilled & installed stainless screws every 2". After installation of ALL the screws I removed each screw individually, squirted the hole full of sealer, & reinstalled the screws. Did essentially the same for the diamond tread lower side trim. More'n 8yrs & 25K+ miles later & no leaks from those areas.

Thanks Harvey!

Tommy2tone_1999 wrote:I will be installing diamond plate aluminum on the front of my TD as a rock guard, and along the sides as accents. My question concerns installing diamond plate along with insert trim. Do I install the diamond plate flush with the edge of the TD, and overlap it with the trim, or do I install the trim first, and cut the diamond plate flush to the edge of the trim? My concern is that if I overlap diamond plate with trim that it will create a small gap for water to get in.

I've done it just like Harvey and it looks fine. But here's a bit fancy way of doing it:

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=59086&start=150

You might have to scroll to his most recent posts.

Tony

Another question. I floated the rock guard on top of the aluminum skin. After doing so I realized that there is no spar behind this to screw into. What would be the best way to attach a piece of insert molding across the top of the rock guard. I'm considering either rivets or glue (3M 4200).