Interior Belly Band Sadness

[ScubaRx]

On 6/21/2023 at 5:00 PM, Citrus breeze said:

I reapplied the band using double sided industrial strength tape.  Unfortunately, it's thickness left a gap between hull and band.  Complained to Oliver, and they sent me another band.  I just had the E2 serviced this spring, and had them replace the old band with the new band.  

Just checked again, and the newly applied band is off the hull!  Man...For the price of this unit, this should not be happening.

 

 

Our trailer is over 10 years old. Belly band still right where they originally installed it. In fact, I don’t recall ever having any problems that I couldn’t fix.myself. 

[GAP]

13 hours ago, rideandfly said:

I can only assume the holes were made for the hull assembly process. Can someone here explain the holes?

When fiberglass boats are made, the hull and deck come out of two separate molds.  The seam, where the two parts join, is sealed with fiberglass tape both inside and outside.  The outside seam seems to be taped in and there is a raised ridge of fiberglass all around.  I think John is probably right that the inside seam is secured with some sort of pins.  Not sure if there is any sort of aluminum framing between the shells but the pins must secure the top to the bottom and the inner to the outer shells.

[GAP]

8 hours ago, ScubaRx said:

Our trailer is over 10 years old. Belly band still right where they originally installed it. In fact, I don’t recall ever having any problems that I couldn’t fix.myself. 

Just a guess on my part but it's possible that as the company has grown and to producing more trailers at a faster rate, that some items fall between the cracks.  Our E2 (hull # 701) had quite a few problems that were caused by less than perfect installation.  Similarly to ScubaRx, we've been able to straighten them all out on our own but it's taken time and a bit of frustration to get there.  These include unsecured wires in the neutral and grounding blocks, antenna mast hanging from it's wires, a window missing it's butyl tape, inverter with incorrect settings, lube bolts mounted with wrong orientation, to name a few.  When I asked about our belly band coming loose, I was told the surface must not have been properly prepped during installation.  As far as I can tell, Oliver has far superior quality control as compared to the rest of the industry.  For comparison, check out the Airstream forum which is rife with sloppy manufacturer mistakes.  Bottom line is that these are complicated systems and a one-off craft build so a bit of missing the mark is to be expected.  

[rideandfly]

On 6/22/2023 at 9:56 PM, John E Davies said:

Most likely there were 1/4” plastic pins inserted when the two inner halves were glued together, to make sure that the alignment was perfect, or perhaps “as designed” might be a better term. Then they were cut off flush. This is an educated guess, I never worked with fiberglass molds, but they have to use jigs to hold stuff in position until the adhesive cures.

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

On 6/23/2023 at 10:30 AM, GAP said:

When fiberglass boats are made, the hull and deck come out of two separate molds.  The seam, where the two parts join, is sealed with fiberglass tape both inside and outside.  The outside seam seems to be taped in and there is a raised ridge of fiberglass all around.  I think John is probably right that the inside seam is secured with some sort of pins.  Not sure if there is any sort of aluminum framing between the shells but the pins must secure the top to the bottom and the inner to the outer shells.

JD & GAP, Thanks for the reply!

Really like how GAP & Dave Phelps reused their 2" belly band!

If someone chooses not to reuse the old 2" belly band,  in addition to the chrome molding rich.dev mentioned earlier, found good reviews on Cowles 2"X16' automotive Chrome molding on Amazon, but that's probably not long enough to have a one piece chrome molding around the beds. Also found Cowles 2"X30' Chrome molding with 3M adhesive strips on their website, but it's presently sold out.

https://cowlesproducts.com/body-molding-official/Cowles®-38-900-Custom-Chrome-Truck-or-SUV-Body-Side-Molding-2-x-30-p266461334

For fiberglass  preparation, ordered  3M adhesive cleaner, 3M White Scotch-Brite pad, and 3M adhesion promoter from Amazon as mentioned by JD & Dave Phelps.

 

[rideandfly]

Used ideas from previous post in this thread, Thanks!

Removed old adhesive with 3M adhesive cleaner. Placed blue painter’s tape along top line to guide where new belly band will be placed. Rubbed 3M White Scotch-Brite pad over areas where belly band 3M adhesive strips will contact. Applied 3M adhesion promoter with outside air temperature between 60F and 80F as per 3M instructions. Wore a respirator while using adhesive remover and adhesion promoter.

The new belly band is shipped rolled with chrome on outside of roll in an opposite bend direction when applied to the two corners of an Oliver. The day before installation, rolled the belly band with adhesive strips outward in a 3’ diameter roll for overnight at 70 to 80F to get rid of opposite band bend memory to make it adhere better in the corners.

The installation went well and should  not have any  future “Belly Band Sadness”! 🙂