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Vantare Slide Seal and Vitrico
Folks,
As far as I can tell, my ’04 H3 Vantare uses Vantare slides. I have two slides and the bedroom is Vantare’s super slide. Both slides have the descending exterior skirt design. There are no air seals, but instead, two d-style compression seals per slide – one for sealing on extension and one for sealing on retraction. The extension seal is mounted to the slide body; whereas, the retraction seal is mounted to the exterior bus body. My bedroom slide extension seal is torn a bit. I’m not sure yet if there’s a leak but I’d like to replace it. Anyone have general instructions on gaining access to and replacing this seal?
Also, I have a smattering of loose Vitricor panels. Anyone have a recommended adhesive and experience with application?
(Now I get to attend to those handful of things that most dealers would have caught during the PDI)! 🙂
Thanks!
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7 Replies
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David, The person(s) to talk to about the slide seals is Ben Cumming or Rick May at Parliament. They are relatively inexpensive and fairly easy to do, I understand. You can use any adhesive you would normally use for laminates. Vitricor is just like Formica on the back side. We use Loc-Tite Power Grab with great results.
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David, any good contact adhesive will work on the Vitricor.
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On the delam on the Vitricor. You go to Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, etc. Get contact adhesive. You can buy it in quart or gal size cans. Buy a couple of through away 1″-2″ paint brushes. You have to use a putty knife in some cases and completely remove the piece, but in most cases you can just apply a good layer on each piece and also the area that it be glued too. Let each dry 10-15 mins and then stick them together. If you have to remove a piece completely, remove it carefully, it can crack very easily, you will have to have a steady hand an apply the piece exactly back.. Vitricor is not available anymore, so you can not buy it anymore.
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It’s true Vitricor is gone, but all is not lost. Nuvacor Corp in Jersey City, NJ (201 41317760) makes the exact same product. They can match your color (we sent the smallest cabinet door) perfectly. Like Vitricor its a fairly pricey product, but it is available. You work with it just like formica, except you go through a sanding process on the corners instead of using a file. And David, the reason I use the power grab instead of laminate adhesive, is that if you just want to reattach a loose corner etc., its a lot easier to apply than trying to use a brush or spray can.
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Thanks everyone, I appreciate your input. For larger work it seems a high-solids good quality contact cement is the trick, while smaller jobs can be more easily accomplished with PowerGrab (or the like). I’m also concerned about cleanup and want to be careful to choose a product that will be kind to the Vitricor. Many of the cleanup solvents used for contact cement are methyl-ethyl-ketone based, or acetone, or toluene based. I wonder what you guys have found that’s compatible with Vitricor. Large panel work certainly needs to be masked and taped to protect the surfaces, but a certain amount of cleanup will be requred. The large panel I have in mind is the mirrored toilet entry way door. I may remove the door and do the repair outside of the coach.
Thanks for the Nuvacor tip. It’s good to know that a suitable replacement is available. I may remove some of my mirrored surfaces in favor of the bronze-stainless steel surface that I predominantly have in my coach.
From the linked pdf, Nuvacor is adhesive backed but they recommend a coating of high-solids contact cement on the wood surface before application of the laminate.
Thanks!
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I picked up a squeeze tube of “Power Grab” today for the three loose pieces of Vitricor we have. How do you apply it to hard to reach places?
Davy
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Davy, anything that will get in there. I’ve used Q-tips, plastic knives, slivers of wood….you get the picture. Press and tape. BTW it cleans up with a wipe paper towel.
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