Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

The thickness of my wall once the aluminum sheet is applied will be 1.184". In the doorway there's a lip on the interior on which a trim lok seal will be placed. The doorway opening will be covered with an aluminum trim edge molding (see attached). That aluminum molding is .875, so when that is applied it will not entirely cover the wood surface of the door opening (since that opening is 1.184"). I'm asking for any suggestions how to complete covering that bare wood that won't be covered by the aluminum molding? I could cut a strip of aluminum to kind of fill the gap.... but any other suggestions? Just want to bounce this off other members to see if there's any other thoughts I haven't thought about.

Thanks
John

Well, someone wrote a book that includes using that trim in the galley area for a Fredrick's-style hatch. The guy wrote it something like this:

The underside of the hatch and the exterior of the galley wall need a rabbet cut to allow the trim to nest. The trim I have used for this has been 7/8” wide by 1/8” deep. It’s sold by Vintage Technologies and So-Cal Teardrops and is called nosing trim. This rabbet is a ten-minute job with the correct bit and is easily done after the walls are up and the hatch is resting on the bench.
Cut these rabbets with a CMT #835.501.11 variable depth rabbeting router bit or equivalent (and yes, Amazon has these.) And of course, these cuts need to be sealed.



That's one way to do it.

Tony

There's still bare wood though. Correct? Do you coat with epoxy before installing the aluminum trim?

That's some slick work btw.

Thanks. yeah.... I'm trying not to have the wood visible. I suppose I'll have to add a strip of aluminum fitting under the bulb seal and extending that out to get covered by the aluminum molding (the molding from Vintage Technologies).

thanks tho.... for the suggestion.

John

Capebuild wrote:Thanks. yeah.... I'm trying not to have the wood visible. I suppose I'll have to add a strip of aluminum fitting under the bulb seal and extending that out to get covered by the aluminum molding (the molding from Vintage Technologies).

thanks tho.... for the suggestion.

John

That's what I was thinking.
Put it all together with an adhesive caulking.
I first though to bond it together with JB weld, but that would be more then just a couple tubes, you probably couldn't mix enough before it flashed let alone use it.
There as some flexible 2 part epoxies out there but I have no experience with them.

Maybe just seal the wood with epoxy and paint it body color or black... disappear the wood "in plain sight", so to speak. Hiding the wood under aluminum does not insure against water intrusion, so the epoxy (or thin penetrating epoxy) is advisable regardless.

My build uses no aluminum RV trim whatsoever (except I am planning to have traditional aluminum drip visors over the door openings). The door surrounds (sill, header and jamb areas) are hardened and sealed with epoxy laminated fiberglass (instead of being armored with aluminum trim) and will be painted body color. The standing edge of the seal flange is also sealed with neat epoxy and will be painted black. I think the black will make the small gap between the trim-lok seal and door jamb area "disappear" in the shadow line of the trim-lok seal.