P6070476.JPG;Trim Lok sent me a free sample. |||P6070477.JPG;|||P6070478.JPG;|||P6070479.JPG;This stuff will work|||P6070480.JPG;I will have to shorten the back leg|||P6070481.JPG;With the 5/8|||P6070483.JPG;The trim goes round the corner just fine. This stuff is flexible|||P6070484.JPG;|||P6150579.JPG;Table saw cuts the back leg quickly but it is awkward and dangerous cutting something this small|||P6150580.JPG;With the bag leg cut and fully inserted into the aluminum channel, the trim fully grabs the wall|||P6150581.JPG;|||P6150583.JPG;Whew. My wife is happy this trim is going to work out.|||P6150584.JPG;Did I mention they only sell 250 foot rolls, which is twice as much as you need|||P6150585.JPG;You can skip the table saw and cut by hand. Nicer more controlled cuts but it is tiring|||P6150586.JPG;|||P6150587.JPG;Damn that looks good|||P6150588.JPG;A side shot showing how the trim can be inserted into the factory aluminum window channel surround|||P6150589.JPG;|||P6150590.JPG;Of course you will have a joint on every window. Just put it somewhere you wont' easily see it|||P6150591.JPG;|||P6150595.JPG;|||P6150596.JPG;Installing it into the channel is also tiring and a great workout for your thumb|||P6150598.JPG;|||P6150599.JPG;Table saw is quick but will occasionally pull a metal piece out to off angle|||P6150600.JPG;|||P6150601.JPG;The kitchen wall is no where near 3/8|||P6150603.JPG;1/4" would probably work better for this wall. But I don't need 250' of 1/4" thickness trim|||P6150604.JPG;|||P6150605.JPG;|||Trim-Lok Specs.png;|||AlbumDescription;The RV came from the factory with these huge rubber pieces as window surrounds. The rubber pieces degraded after all these years. They frequently fell out of the channel, were cracking, and just looked like crap. Nothing brings your RV down than having a piece of rubber window trim hanging down from the ceiling. The prior owner stapled the rubber trim in place. Even the staples weren't holding by the time we bought it. I actually just cut the rubber out in several high up sections because I was tired of stuffing it back into the channel only to have it fall out again on my next drive.
We knew we wanted to replace the walls and ceiling in the RV. But a major blocker was not knowing what to do for window surrounds. No one sells reproduction rubber surrounds like our 1977 had from the factory. Earlier years had a large 4 piece plastic surround that screwed into place. Reproduction pieces are avaialble but expensive, but I wasn't looking forward to drilling holes in the aluminum frame nor did I like how the plastic surrounds looked.
After a LOT of searching, I found a company called Trim-Lok that had a trim piece that looked like it would work. The model number is 1375W3x3/8. This is bright white rubber trim reinforced with segmented steel so it can curve around corners. One edge of this trim sits down in the aluminum channel the old rubber trim occupied. The other edge wraps around the wall material. This trim has one lip on the inside of the U to help hold it on the wall material. That lip must be placed on the wall side, not the aluminum channel side.
The dimensions on this piece of trim are as follows:
- Material thickness up to 3/8" (9.52 mm)
- Legs are 5/8" long (15.87 mm)
- 1 tongue
- Color = white with a pebble texture
This trim worked our perfectly for my application. But there are some things worth considering before you use it on your RV.
- They only sell it in a 250 foot roll. All the windows in a single RV probably takes about 100 to 120'. So 250' is twice as much as you need, hence twice as expensive
- Edge thickness of 3/8" would be very loose on the original cardboard + snakebike vinyl walls. I chose to make my wall pieces thicker by utilizing plastic sheet + neoprene padding + vinyl. You can get narrower trim than I did, but make sure you really know your material thickness
- My kitchen walls are less than 3/8 thick. Thus the trim doesn't tightly grip the kitchen walls. Still, it has enough of a hold to stay in place in the aluminum channel. It is visually slightly loose on the wall but I don't think anyone but me would notice.
- The leg is too long at 5/8". That length is fine for covering your wall. But for the leg that slides into the aluminum channel, you really need it to be maybe half that depth. I cut that leg with a mixture of my table saw and sturdy scissors. The channel in the aluminum window surround simply isn't very deep. By shortening the legth, when I fully inserted the trim in that aluminum channel, the other leg covered the wall material deeply enough for the tongue to engage and hold the trim in place. If you don't cut the back leg, the front leg tongue won't hold the trim in place to the wall piece. Cutting this trim is a pain. If you use scissors, you have good control but you are cutting rubber coated metal strips. It is a workout. If you use your table saw, the cut won't be perfect as its not an easy material to work with. I ended up using the table saw, the doing little cleanups manually with the scissors.