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aluminum seam sealer

PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:15 am
by maisyhead
I need help finding a sealant for aluminum seams. On our exterior we've pieced our aluminum, caulked the edges behind, and riveted it to the sides of the trailer. We're wanting to seal the seams before we prime and paint. Any recommendations?

PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:39 am
by madjack
MH, I am trying to figure exactly what you are wanting to do...if you used a good quality sealer/caulk under the edges and then riveted it down, they should already be sealed...did you overlap the AL(correct way) or just butt it up...a little more detail please
madjack 8)

PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:48 am
by maisyhead
we used silicone behind the aluminum sheets and overlapped the sheets approx. 2 inches. Wanted to seal around the outside edges before we painted just extra precaution against waterleaks.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:55 am
by madjack
MH, there is flat trim, available from TD parts suppliers, Rv parts outlets and possibly hardware and box stores. the picture is from SoCal Teardrops site
madjack 8)
Image

PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:01 am
by maisyhead
googling...I came across 3M Flexiclear body seam sealant. Looks like this may work. We've got our pieces "quilted" so to speak so I don't know if the trim would work to our advantage. We're just going to paint it camoflage anyways so that will hide any defects haha. Thanks for the suggestion.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 2:58 pm
by larryl
Maisy;

Airstream seals the seams on their aluminum with an aluminum colored
sealent. The name excapes me, but you can find the information on one of the Airstream discussion boards. I used to purchase it from a local airstream dealer when I needed to do maintainence.

Goes on easily.
Larry

PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 7:59 pm
by dacrazyrn
I did the same overlapping a riveting as you describe. I was almost thinkng of going with Bondo along them. Smoothen up the appearance a little too.