I had planned all along to buy new metal for the roof. In the end, with the exception of the center band, bottom band and front window side pieces, I decided to replace the rest of the metal skin as well. This probably cost me an extra $500 or so over saving and re-painting the old sins, but at my pace it also saved me a month of mind numbing paint prep. New skin allowed eliminating the useless clamshell vents on the sides plus the installation of a simpler sink drain, which meant the elimination of the original vented p-trap drain that I wasn’t thrilled about re-using anyway. It also allowed eliminating the factory front fiberglass nose piece and overall would look much better than re-using the dinged up old skin. I only wish I had made the decision earlier as I had spent a lot of time matching the locations of the AC power, lighting, water fill and sink drain penetrations to the old skin, which in hindsight could have been better located. There was nothing available that matched the original metal pattern, not that I’m a stickler for originality, so I opted for standard .024 gauge metal with the classic 4” brake pattern in Polar White.
New metal from Hemet Valley RV:
The center band that I had painted a couple years ago included all the side window cutouts, so the new metal had to be indexed to it.
Street side fitted and fastened:
While measuring the panel below the center band I made a mistake and cut it too short, so the bottom bands I had planned to re-use were not tall enough to slip up underneath the S-lock. Fortunately, the new panels needed to be ordered extra tall so there was enough extra material to make new lower bands. I used a window screen roller, straight edge and a piece of cardboard underneath the metal to emboss the diamond pattern into the new pieces. This turned out to be fortuitous as the old pieces were a little beat up so the new ones look and fit much better.
There was plenty of paint left over so the new pieces were painted then installed the following morning. A small setback, but well worth the effort.
The roof was measured to be indexed to the front side pieces so that at the rear, the S-lock flange landed along the framing cross piece (or rafter) above the rear taillights.
Roof metal placed loosely over the top of the trailer:
Locating the front leading edge (sorry for the focus but you get the idea):
Roof positioned strapped down and fastened, edges trimmed back and ready for fold over:
Having replaced the bottom bands along the sides, I wasn’t happy with the condition of the front window side pieces. They weren’t as wide as I would have liked and now looked rather shabby compared to the rest of the metal. Once again new pieces were ordered that I then embossed and painted. Another small setback that cost me some money but well worth it.
Not the best paint job this time, I laid it down too heavy and the metallic particles pooled, but it will do.
Originally the trailer had a fiberglass rock guard panel at the front. With the new skins that was eliminated. I also changed and improved how the metal was flashed and fastened at the front and rear bottom edges for better waterproofing.
Pieces of counter-flashing, made up from more of the extra new metal, were bent and fastened along the bottom of the skirt boards:
Then flashing pieces were cut to fit around the chassis frame rails and overlap the counter flashing, making it ready to apply the skin metal:
Since the rear chassis frame rails came straight back, I was able to take measurements off the center of the trailer body for the cuts around them as well as the wiring cutouts:
A decent fit:
The front A-frame of the chassis required a different approach. To locate and cut out the notches I made a paper template:
Due to the angles of the chassis A-frame, and because of the close fit I wanted, I couldn’t just slide the top edge of the panel under the S-lock and roll it down around the frame. Instead I had to set the bottom of the panel first, and then roll it up into the S-lock. This was done by rolling the panel over a pipe which gave me just enough room to fit the top edge under the S-lock. Then, after removing the pipe, the panel was able to slip all the way up into the S-lock.
Notching around the front frame rails:
Not perfect but certainly acceptable. The bottom edges will eventually be covered with an aluminum termination strip.
Finally, the edges were folded over and stapled down and the skin installation was complete:
Those are reflections, not wrinkles