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Old 06-06-2019, 05:42 PM   #1
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Belly band servicing?

I left our 2014 Escape 21' at an RV service place in our town today to get the wheel bearings repacked, the brakes checked, and the tires rotated. Beside that work the technician inspected the seals on all the windows. All of that went well.

At one point, though, the technician phoned to ask if I wanted to "reseal the belly band" that goes over the join between the top and bottom halves of the trailer, an operation I had never heard of. I phoned Escape and asked if there was any point in doing that, and was told there was not.

Has anyone found cause to reseal to the band? Wouldn't the top piece overlap the bottom by enough to keep water out no matter what?
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Old 06-06-2019, 05:46 PM   #2
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On an Escape there is no seal to the belly band, the shell uses fibreglassing to join the two halves creating a perfect midsection seal.

The belly band is there to hide the joint made. It is real easy to replace the center plastic band. Lots of colours available too.
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Old 06-06-2019, 05:52 PM   #3
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Thanks, Jim. The shop works mainly on stick-built trailers, where leaks are common. I didn't think Escape would leave any way for water to get in.
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Old 06-06-2019, 06:03 PM   #4
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The belly band is only there to hide the seam.

There is no overlap of the top and bottom shells. It is a butt joint that has a strip of fiberglass applied to the seam inside before the upper and bottom molds are released. See the production video the Escape web page to see the construction details.

Having said that...there are some predrilled holes in the belly band that are not filled with rivets that will let dust and dirt in behind the plastic part of the band...but not into the trailer.

If you want to reduce the dirt behind the plastic insert...just seal the empty holes.
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Old 06-06-2019, 07:25 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Catchlight View Post
The shop works mainly on stick-built trailers, where leaks are common. I didn't think Escape would leave any way for water to get in.
Escapes have a glassed midsection before leaving the molds, but the rivets that hold the belly band on are still a potential leak point. There have been a few issues at failed rivets. Is it possible the shop meant that they would remove the vinyl band, inspect and seal rivets and reinstall?

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f9...tml#post206198
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Old 06-17-2019, 04:25 PM   #6
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Thanks for your replies, Rubicon and Eggscape.

After the owner of Courtenay RV had a look at the band and how the top and bottom of an Escape are joined, he agreed that the only thing worth sealing was those rivet holes. It looks easy enough to do it myself. Any suggestions for a good product to use?
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Old 06-17-2019, 08:06 PM   #7
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Hi Brent- be careful to not fix what ain't broke Only problem with ours(same age) is a belly band stretch. Wonder how Alf would put that Had to trim almost a foot and unscrew one end point clamp then reinstall.
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Old 06-18-2019, 03:11 AM   #8
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I've noticed the belly strap/thing on my E21 is way loose in places, there's gaps all over that collect algae and stuff. so far, I'm good with using a washbrush and hose to get that accumated crud out of it.
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Old 06-18-2019, 05:38 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz View Post
I've noticed the belly strap/thing on my E21 is way loose in places, there's gaps all over that collect algae and stuff. so far, I'm good with using a washbrush and hose to get that accumated crud out of it.
I have to use a wash brush to get accumulated crude out of my bellybutton.
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Old 12-18-2021, 04:48 PM   #10
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The belly band is only there to hide the seam.

There is no overlap of the top and bottom shells. It is a butt joint that has a strip of fiberglass applied to the seam inside before the upper and bottom molds are released. See the production video the Escape web page to see the construction details.

Having said that...there are some predrilled holes in the belly band that are not filled with rivets that will let dust and dirt in behind the plastic part of the band...but not into the trailer.

If you want to reduce the dirt behind the plastic insert...just seal the empty holes.



I know this is an old thread, but...........


So the holes for the belly band strip channel rivets DO NOT go all the way into the interior of the shell?.................I hope!.


Appears to be some kind of "channel" on the exterior/interior that the rivet holes are confined to.......





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Old 12-18-2021, 05:25 PM   #11
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I know this is an old thread, but...........


So the holes for the belly band strip channel rivets DO NOT go all the way into the interior of the shell?.................I hope!.


Appears to be some kind of "channel" on the exterior/interior that the rivet holes are confined to.......





You stopped the tape about 5 seconds too soon.

There is no special channel there. The top and bottom overlap with a flange. They fit closely together on the exterior but on the interior there's a slightly rolled edge that makes a gap of sorts. They fill the gap and glass over it, but there's no channel.

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Old 12-18-2021, 05:55 PM   #12
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?

About 5 seconds after the above shows a guy going "full in" on the bellyband with about a 4" drill bit (electric drill) ...............hence my question. Seems that would go all the way inside.........?



The pics / screenshot I posted above were to show the "bump" in the fiberglass skin exterior bellyband area. Appears the interior is flat / smooth where they glass the seam during the video, though the interior "bare" still pic above may be misleading - as it appears to not be.


Do the flanges from the top fit inside the flanges from the bottom 1/2 - or reverse, or not at all? All I have seen is a seam where the edges come together under the bellyband.


I'm trying to visualize a cross section of the two shell coming together but I'm not there yet.




Anyways, my focus was on the rivet holes and if they go all the way thru to the interior, hopefully not.


Do they?

Thanks!
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Old 12-18-2021, 06:31 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by 7Gentex View Post
About 5 seconds after the above shows a guy going "full in" on the bellyband with about a 4" drill bit (electric drill) ...............hence my question. Seems that would go all the way inside.........?
...
Anyways, my focus was on the rivet holes and if they go all the way thru to the interior, hopefully not.


Do they?
They do (or at least they did, for many years) - they just were not drilled yet in any interior photo that shows the bare fiberglass with no holes or rivets. The belly band is installed relatively late in the process. I would want to go without the band, for this reason, but that isn't (or wasn't) an option because it would require too much hand finishing effort to smooth out the joint... but in practice I don't think anyone has problems with leaks at these holes.
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Old 12-18-2021, 06:37 PM   #14
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They do (or at least they did, for many years) - they just were not drilled yet in any interior photo that shows the bare fiberglass with no holes or rivets. The belly band is installed relatively late in the process. I would want to go without the band, for this reason, but that isn't (or wasn't) an option because it would require too much hand finishing effort to smooth out the joint... but in practice I don't think anyone has problems with leaks at these holes.



Thanks!


Seems adhesive would be the way........


Hey, let's make a really nice weather tight shell..........and then drill all kinds of holes in it
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Old 12-18-2021, 07:02 PM   #15
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Thanks!


Seems adhesive would be the way........


Hey, let's make a really nice weather tight shell..........and then drill all kinds of holes in it
You want a trailer that's a bare shell without doors, windows, vents etc. Holes are there for a purpose.

Do you have any specific examples of why ETI should change their manufacturing process? Any cases where the belly band was a problem aside from a most easily remedied replacement of a rivet?

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Old 12-18-2021, 07:26 PM   #16
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Seems adhesive would be the way........

Hey, let's make a really nice weather tight shell..........and then drill all kinds of holes in it
I felt the same. I ordered my trailer without the belly band. The issue with using adhesive is the halves of the trailer don't line up perfectly.

I have an automotive rub rail to install.

However, with some Dremel work on high parts of the gel coat and filling the crack with Six 10 epoxy. Right now, I have it covered with T-Rex tape. I just need to do a little more finish work and I think I can just cover it permanently with a trim tape.
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Old 12-18-2021, 07:59 PM   #17
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There are something like 16 rivets and eight bolts fastening the awning to the trailer. Another dozen rivets attaching the fridge vent. I counted them once, but didn't write down the total.
None have leaked. That doesn't mean you can ignore maintenance.
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Old 12-18-2021, 08:26 PM   #18
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Anyways, my focus was on the rivet holes and if they go all the way thru to the interior, hopefully not.


Do they?

Thanks!
Yes, the holes for the rivets go through the shell, but not all holes have rivets in them. Some holes are drilled through the belly band into the trailer shell and do not have a rivet in them. There have been various posts about water leaking into Escapes, but the source of the water is unknown. Some have suggested that water made it through the rivet holes. This could be possible. When we washed our trailer, the water would flow between the trailer body and the belly band and wash out lots of dirt and bugs. The water could easily surround the rivet bodies and wick into the trailer.

My solution was to caulk (with ProFlex) the line between the of the belly band and trailer shell. I used blue tape to create a caulk joint of uniform width around the trailer and to prevent smearing on the trailer. I did not caulk the bottom so if water did get behind the belly band it would drain out. The final result was a smooth transition without gaps from the trailer body to the belly band. See pictures of trailer with the blue tape being prepped and then after caulking.

I also pulled the black vinyl trim insert off, about 8 ft or so feet at a time, and poked a wire into each empty hole to see if it went into the trailer. There were 8 holes into the trailer without a rivet. I could feel the wire poke into something that felt like foam insulation. I then put a dab of ProFlex over each hole and over each rivet head. After the ProFlex had skinned over I eased the section of black vinyl trim back into place and moved on to the next section.

Kathy
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Old 12-19-2021, 01:08 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by Ron in BC View Post
You want a trailer that's a bare shell without doors, windows, vents etc. Holes are there for a purpose.

Do you have any specific examples of why ETI should change their manufacturing process? Any cases where the belly band was a problem aside from a most easily remedied replacement of a rivet?

Ron

Geezzzz.........you ETI's lawyer or something?

"...specific examples...cases....remedied..."?


I was wondering, from a future care & maint. aspect, regarding the mounting approach of the belly band rail.

Question answered, Thank you.


I did state "Seems adhesive would be the way........"

That's more of an open question than a demand for a change, but..........guess I left a question mark off the end.

I also did not state that I "... want a trailer that's a bare shell without doors, windows, vents etc." as you wrote above.

Maybe you left off a question mark as well?


But, I'd like to have the least "holes" possible.

And, fiberglass is a relatively soft / pliable medium for blind rivet use. Granted, this is not structural per se. But, they still usually loosen up.

My last trailer (aluminum shell/framing) had hundreds of rivets (solid / bucked). If you had to drill one out, and could not get to the back side to buck a new one, you used a special blind rivet (and shaved a rounded head on it with a special tool to match the look of the originals) and sealer was used.



Awning rail.....ugh.....did not think of that one - same deal?
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Old 12-19-2021, 01:14 AM   #20
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The current awning is a different design from the original style (like baglo has), and mounts differently. Still, there are fasteners...
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