--- On Fri, 3/27/09, Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU> wrote:
> Poor Matilda, one month of winter in Newfoundland and her
> incipient seam
> rust is erupting.� Paint has started to flake off just
> above the seam (left
> side, behind the fridge and sink), a spot of rust maybe 1"
> x 3" now exposed
> to the air (and salty road spray), plus all the other
> bubbling and stuff
> along the seam.

Usually seam rust under the utility inlets comes from the inside.
The OEM seals are wimpy gaskets, likely leaking after 20years.
On my Westy I seal around the outlets with a clear sealant.
Silicone works for a few years. Marine grade polyurethane based 
sealer a bit longer. I believe "Seamgrip" which you can pick up
in a small tube at MEC is I believe the same material.

> 
> I'm taking her in to a body shop next week to get an
> estimate on repairs -
> the options they mentioned involve replacing the whole
> side, or what sounded
> like cutting a strip off and replacing that, or sanding it
> out from the
> outside and doing something to keep it from rusting again
> (what does one
> do?).
> 
> They said (offhand guess) that it would take a day of labor
> to remove all
> the camping gear and then put it back in, plus the time to
> actually do the
> work.� That sounded like a lot of time, though no
> doubt it would take me
> that long.
> 
> If anyone has any advice on having seam rust repaired,
> before I bring her in
> to get the estimate, I'd really appreciate it!

A complete treatment from both inside and out is the only 
long term solution. 

Short term one can prevent more damage by:

Keeping the body and underside washed. Waxing anything you 
can reach. Washing regularly flushes out salt. Waxing makes
the surfaces hydrophobic (water repelling). In the coin car
washes I spray with the wax setting both on body and 
undercarriage. 

Paste wax lasts longer than wash-on when used on the body, 
and seems to penetrate decently into leaky seams. 

Sealing any areas where salt spray can enter and lodge.
Other than utility inlets that would include rusty/damaged 
body seams. (Originally these are sealed with a paintable
sealing compound, but again 20years has probably made this
brittle and leaky.

Martin

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