Hey folks, no posts in awhile, but I'm into something...Repairing wood rot on the old Wilderness, for which I have had to de-skin the back end. About ready to re-install the (aluminum) skins and have a question about staples...Originals were what seems to be called medium crown staples, 3/8 wide x 3/4 long. I am having a problem finding these (and the staple guns that go with 'em) locally. What I can get are so-called narrow crown staples, 1/4 wide x various lengths.So, the question is, should I use the narrow crown staples, or not. One downside I see, from limited testing, is that I can't pull the staples once driven, they just want to pull through the skin. Of course, this is only a problem if I would want to de-skin it again in the future. Hope to never :ROther than that, I thing they will hold just fine.Any experiences out there? What would you do?Thanks in advance,Tin(BTW, I posted in this forum b/c I am DIY, and I AM upgrading from rotted wood to un-rotted :) No, seriously, b/c of all the excellent restoration work I have seen here in the past.)

Home depot online has some close to that but the gun is expensive,

Did you check Ebay and other places online for what you need?On the other hand, if what you have works, I would use it. If you need to reskin in the future, that's when I would be concerned about removing the staples.

Tin Pusher wrote:Hey folks, no posts in awhile, but I'm into something...Repairing wood rot on the old Wilderness, for which I have had to de-skin the back end. About ready to re-install the (aluminum) skins and have a question about staples...Originals were what seems to be called medium crown staples, 3/8 wide x 3/4 long. I am having a problem finding these (and the staple guns that go with 'em) locally. What I can get are so-called narrow crown staples, 1/4 wide x various lengths.So, the question is, should I use the narrow crown staples, or not. One downside I see, from limited testing, is that I can't pull the staples once driven, they just want to pull through the skin. Of course, this is only a problem if I would want to de-skin it again in the future. Hope to never :ROther than that, I thing they will hold just fine.Any experiences out there? What would you do?Thanks in advance,Tin(BTW, I posted in this forum b/c I am DIY, and I AM upgrading from rotted wood to un-rotted :) No, seriously, b/c of all the excellent restoration work I have seen here in the past.)Forget about buying "local", most box hardware stores carry items which which sell fast.. These tend to be CHEAP staplers and medium crown staplers are not cheap.You BEST bet is Internet, Amazon has quite a few medium size staplers to chose from.HEREAlternately, instead of stapling you CAN use drywall screws instead, even for intermediate siding panels down the sides of the trailer.The bottom most panel is long enough to bend under the floor of the trailer, you can simply run a few drywall screws into the panel on the underside.. It will hold just as well and is reversible if you need to remove the paneling in the future (that is how I did my first rebuild and it worked fine).Staples are used during construction due to the speed that they can be deployed..

Use small " pan-head " screws. Low profile with a wider head. Start in the center with one or two screws in tight and then work your way towards the ends just snugging the screws. this will allow the panels to work with temp changes. Art.

I wouldn't use the narrow crown staples. I did that a few years ago when repairing my Springdale and they tend to pull through the aluminum after moving the camper a few times. Plus, I was using a pneumatic stapler and it was extremely difficult to get the air pressure set right. The different density of the wood behind the aluminum would allow the narrow crown staples to work some times and other times they would punch right through the siding. Ended up using a wide crown stapler with the longest staples I could get.

Staple Quandary | Good Sam Community

Tin_Pusher
Explorer II
Jan 18, 2016
yatyas81, exactly the kind of input I'm looking for.

To the rest of you, I know I can get "anything" on the 'net, but I wasn't wanting to spend $200 for a stapler. Wider crown staplers at the big box places tend to use T50's and I don't trust them for this.

Kind of surprising, but the rental yards around here don't seem to rent much in the way of staple guns.

Maybe screws are the way to go?

I've got a mobile RV guy I can call, see what he says.
yatyas81
Explorer
Jan 18, 2016
I wouldn't use the narrow crown staples. I did that a few years ago when repairing my Springdale and they tend to pull through the aluminum after moving the camper a few times. Plus, I was using a pneumatic stapler and it was extremely difficult to get the air pressure set right. The different density of the wood behind the aluminum would allow the narrow crown staples to work some times and other times they would punch right through the siding. Ended up using a wide crown stapler with the longest staples I could get.
Rvpapa
Explorer
Jan 18, 2016
Use small " pan-head " screws. Low profile with a wider head. Start in the center with one or two screws in tight and then work your way towards the ends just snugging the screws. this will allow the panels to work with temp changes.
Art.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Jan 17, 2016
Tin Pusher wrote:
Hey folks, no posts in awhile, but I'm into something...

Repairing wood rot on the old Wilderness, for which I have had to de-skin the back end. About ready to re-install the (aluminum) skins and have a question about staples...

Originals were what seems to be called medium crown staples, 3/8 wide x 3/4 long. I am having a problem finding these (and the staple guns that go with 'em) locally. What I can get are so-called narrow crown staples, 1/4 wide x various lengths.

So, the question is, should I use the narrow crown staples, or not. One downside I see, from limited testing, is that I can't pull the staples once driven, they just want to pull through the skin. Of course, this is only a problem if I would want to de-skin it again in the future. Hope to never :R
Other than that, I thing they will hold just fine.

Any experiences out there? What would you do?

Thanks in advance,

Tin

(BTW, I posted in this forum b/c I am DIY, and I AM upgrading from rotted wood to un-rotted :) No, seriously, b/c of all the excellent restoration work I have seen here in the past.)

Forget about buying "local", most box hardware stores carry items which which sell fast.. These tend to be CHEAP staplers and medium crown staplers are not cheap.

You BEST bet is Internet, Amazon has quite a few medium size staplers to chose from.

HERE

Alternately, instead of stapling you CAN use drywall screws instead, even for intermediate siding panels down the sides of the trailer.

The bottom most panel is long enough to bend under the floor of the trailer, you can simply run a few drywall screws into the panel on the underside.. It will hold just as well and is reversible if you need to remove the paneling in the future (that is how I did my first rebuild and it worked fine).

Staples are used during construction due to the speed that they can be deployed..
gbopp
Explorer
Jan 17, 2016
Did you check Ebay and other places online for what you need?

On the other hand, if what you have works, I would use it. If you need to reskin in the future, that's when I would be concerned about removing the staples.
bgum
Explorer
Jan 17, 2016
Home depot online has some close to that but the gun is expensive,

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