Cockpit aluminum edge trim replacement

[BellBoyBob]

Hello All:

While refinishing my Bellboy with Interlux Perfection. I masked off the edge trim around the cockpit to try to protect it as best as I could from sanding and priming. I was unsuccessful and the trim looks terrible now. It looks to be a U shaped 3/8" wide trim that slides onto the edge of the fiberglass as the hull circles the cockpit. The photos show the edge trim near the helm and rear bench. I am loathe to pry it off if I am not sure I could replace it with new stock. Any suggestions where I might find this?

thanks,
Bob

[Steve_Kiesel]

Hi Bob, good to hear from you again. Not sure about a source for your metal trim. But you might be able to remove the existing trim, clean it up, then put back on.

When your all finished with all of the upgrades, post an updated picture of the old girl.

[Helmar]

I have restored that type before.
I started with the removing it very carefully. I was able to keep tapping it with a hardwood block and was able to remove it all.
Then sanded off the coating, and just kept going down to 320, and I think I even made it down to 600 as to give it that machine finish.
Then several cans of Mag Wheel coating to give it that protective finish.

The hard part was the 5200 as I got way too much and had a good mess to clean up but its still holding.

It can be done as I would be interested on knowing any replacement stock too.

[TheBronze]

I've wondered about this myself. I was able to remove the trim on my 404 with a screw driver and gentile tapping. Most of it came off intact, but I've wondered how well it will go back on again when the time comes...Its aluminum, so I might be able to aneal it first and then tap it back into place. Guess I'll find out some time in the next year or so!

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Aluminum Trim

Bob -

I've never found an exact replacement for the small and radiused aluminum trim, so your best bet is to follow Joe's advice and try carefully removing a short section of the stuff. If it comes off with a little urging, great, but if it starts to bend and crimp on you...well, you probably need to back off, try to reset the section you've removed, and just tape off the freshly painted areas and fine-sand the aluminum edge.

Here's a link to one of the many extruded-aluminum companies offering trim that would fit most 1/8"-thick fiberglass edges:

http://www.brunnerent.com/Tools/Port...=1&strMetaTag=

While I'm sure this anodized-aluminum trim would look good on any boat, it doesn't have the round, soft edges of the old stuff. (Maybe someone else can find the round-pattern trim...I tried for only 10 minutes and came up with this stuff.)

A simple and cheap solution, if folks have already destroyed their round-pattern aluminum trim, is to buy a roll of the 3/16" x 9/16" Flex Trim offered by TACO. It's a hard plastic that's available in only white or black, and while not the original aluminum, works pretty well when you need something on your exposed fiberglass edges. Go to http://tacomarine.com and search for product number V30-1005 to see the pattern. We've used it a few times when the original trim was missing altogether, and it looks fine--not original, but okay.

- Marty

[FINS]

You can also get rolls of door edge moulding from almost any auto store. It is a plastic product but looks just like chrome once applied. It comes in several sizes and even has the rounded edge. The stuff I used on my Playmaster project is "U" shaped and had a bead of adhesive in the bottom so that when you tapped it on, it glued itself. Most auto shops sell it in 4'-5' lenghts but if you look, you can find it in 20' rolls.

Chrome door trim

[Yardman]

Hey Bob, I've had pretty good luck removing this type of trim tapping with a hammer and wide blade screwdriver. It'll kind of want to curl a bit but will straighten back out. Try to work long sections a couple feet at a time, seems like it bends less that way. If you are careful the screwdriver doesn't mark it too bad. Like Joe said you will have to sand and polish any way. I use a hook tool sorta like a dentist might use to clean out the old glue or whatever was used to stick it on. Then to put it back on I used a rubber hammer. I seem to work alone so I use masking tape to hold it in position and start in the middle and work my way out to the ends. A little glue goes a long way. I'm working on the same thing on my ongoing project Sportsman.. They were really gnarly looking and had lots of paint on them. I've scraped with a razor blade and went over them with steel wool but havent sanded and polished yet. I set them in place so you can see them, but I figure on burning up a day polishing... good luck!

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Edge Trim

Brian -

Good one--I'd forgotten about that approach, which makes sense when your original aluminum trim is either missing or impossibly chewed up. (I've used the 3M faux-chrome trim before and it's more durable than we might imagine, so the stuff you're suggesting would probably look great for years...as long as it wasn't left out in the rain all winter.)

Ross - Hey, the Sportsman is looking great!

- Marty

[BellBoyBob]

Thanks all so much for this great help! I will try to carefully remove it clean, sand and reapply with 5200.
Best,
Bob