wgwhitacre wrote:Hi, everyone
I am getting to the point that I need to attach .040 aluminum to the outside of my TD. What is the best way to attach it, in your opinion? I have 2 tubes of the fast-drying Trempro caulking, aluminum trim, and a bunch of butyl tape. I plan to "float" the aluminum (just attach the edges). My questions are:
Is that enough TremPro?
Should I glue on the aluminum first, let it dry, and then attach the trim?
Or, should I attach the trim while the glue is still drying?
Should I cut out the holes for the windows and vent before or after I cut out the aluminum?
On some people’s build journals they use about 500 clamps to hold the on the aluminum while the glue dries. I only own 4 clamps and I don’t want to buy more, if that makes a difference. FYI
Thanks for your help with this.
Bill
Hey Bill,
Great question. I literally just finished this step and am not so happy with the results....mainly because my aluminum got a little bent...so it's not entirely flat against the sides...most people won't notice but it's killing me. This is a super important step so do not cut any corners!
I basically did the same thing you are doing....trempro, aluminum, clamps. The first thing that I would do different - get as many hands on deck as possible. My wife and I did this alone...(the sides) while we had three people help with the top and that turned out amazing. The difference with the top vs. the sides is that you have gravity working in your favor on the top....where the sides are just floating there. It's tough to get the sides totally flat with no air pockets.
Your two tubes of trempro will be enough. I used 1 1/2 to do the edges of the top and both sides, around the doors and the vent and a porthole that I have in one of the sides.
We ended up beading around the edge and door and then we set the aluminum on a board that was used to make the side even with the bottom of our side wall...this helped a lot. We then clamped the bottom edge with 2x4's across the entire bottom and then worked our way up, attaching the top with tape. You're really going to need to get more clamps though. Clamps around the door opening, clamps on the bottom, clamps near your hatch and tape for the rest of the way.
Yes, cut your doors and anything else out ahead of time. The best thing to do (in my opinion) is to hold the aluminum skin up and trace the outline with a sharpie from the back side and then set down on saw horses (make sure it's supported) and then use a jig saw with a fine tooth metal cutting blade to get it "close" and then go for it. We then let the trempro dry for 48 hours. It's super strong. After that, I used a bottom bearing router bit (flush trim) and the edges are perfect.
We're going to tackle the trimp and butyl tape this weekend.
Hope this helps!
Jack