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The skirting around the bottom of my toy hauler is starting to fail. I think a lot of this has to do with how Fleetwood reinforced the skirting. The reinforcing "bar" is attached at the bottom of the skirt in a single spot about every 16". This isn't real diamond plate metal, it's fake plastic I believe.
What's the best approach for fixing this? It looks like I'll need to remove the horizontal rail that holds the skirt at the top. I'm going to need a sheet of this material to fix all the sections that have failure similar to the picture below. A local source for the skirt material would be nice. I need to come up with a way to secure the bottom of the skirt without causing it to fail again.
What about going with some diamond or aluminum sheet? The aluminum could be painted to your liking.
You would need to take the strip off the top of the lower panel to removed it. It should be chalked so you will need to cut that seal then remove the sheet metal or wood screws, whatever they are using.
Best to get some new screws as well, hard to say if any will break or be rusted.
I've been looking into the diamond tread plate in .063 thickness. I have a request for quote out to a local supplier of 4'x10' sheets. I'll measure mine today to see what the thickness really is. I'm no longer sure that I have plastic skirting. I was at Home Depot yesterday and looked at a small sheet of diamond tread plate and I thought it was plastic but the label said aluminum. Whatever I put in is going to be reinforced a lot better than what the factory did. I'm also looking into putting some Trim-Lok on the bottom edges. I'm tired of getting cut.
I'm really not looking into taking off that trim strip. I'm worried about what I'll find underneath.
my bottom skirts are rolled under a bit. I can't tell if your are or not. I think that adds a bit of strength them.
As far as the trim strip, I think you would at least need to take the screws out of it, then at least break the seal on the skirt portion of the strip.
I guess that would be the min to do. But that will tell all, regardless whether you remove the strip or not.
Are you sure this is not related to frame flexing ?
No, I don't think so. The skirt is kind of flimsy and the way it is secured is sketchy. A section of RV trim molding, like shown in the picture below, is attached to the frame and then bent to meet up at the bottom of the skirt. One of these is installed about every 6' or so. They put a self tapping screw through the skirt and then into the molding. I'm surprised more attachment points haven't broken like in the picture at the top of the thread.
I measured the skirt material and it is thinner than the new material I'm looking at. The existing diamond plate is ~1/32".
Not an unusual problem. You will find a full sheet of diamond plate is pricey. Our local welding shop carries them. I made a lot of skirts over the years always using somewhat heavier than the OEM crap. When you fasten it back if you back it will a fender washer and a rubber washer, the vibration will not fracture the aluminum. Both Lowes and Home Depot carry diamond plate in smaller pieces like 3x3 and 2x4 in .063 which is really a bear to cut with an aviation snips so I normally use a sabre saw with a fine toothed blade. They also carry the very thin stuff you saw more often. Lowes wants $80.00 for the heavy 2x4 piece. Home Depot wants $59.00 for the 3x3 when you can find it. Taking off the trim and sliding your piece behind it will make for a much neater job and is not that hard to do.
Yeah, I was thinking of doing something with a rubber washer. The outside with just a screw head there seems to be a potential point of failure. But if it's backed up enough on the inside maybe it won't be such an issue.
Yeah, I was thinking of doing something with a rubber washer. The outside with just a screw head there seems to be a potential point of failure. But if it's backed up enough on the inside maybe it won't be such an issue.
And maybe a hole in the aluminum that is somewhat larger than the screw and not overtightened.
Thanks for the link. That is thinner that what I'm considering but it's probably closer to what I have on the trailer now. Plus, that seller is sort of local to me.
I'm still waiting on that eBay seller to get back to me on local pickup. I wonder if eBay deleted my message to the seller thinking I was trying to get around a sale through eBay.
I replaced the problem section of the aluminum diamond plate skirt on my trailer last year. I found a remnant piece that was slightly heavier gauge at a local metal shop. For an extra few dollars they cut it to the right height and length and they even put in a 90° corner for me. It's looks better than new now.
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