Replacing penthouse gasket

[rob_gendreau]

I'm replacing the rubber gasket that fits onto the fiberglass edging on the penthouse roof, the black one with holes that circles the whole thing.

I finally noticed the replacement doesn't come with holes; any tips for dealing with that? Should I line up the old one and drill or punch new ones? Or do you fit it on first and then sorta eyeball it and punch a hole? Or is there a way to press through the plastic fittings that Sportsmobile supplies?

thanks,
Rob

[Viejo]

I'm no expert but I would not drill new holes in the fiberglass. You could mark the top above the existing holes and then drill the gasket below the marks.

[rob_gendreau]

Yes, I mean just drilling the gasket. It's not so easy to mark the spacing since it's stretchy and inevitably it doesn't exactly line up once you push it on. I can sort of pull back the rear of the gasket to access the hole, but can't figure out how to punch the other side from the inside of the penthouse. The plastic rivets don't have to extend through the rubber on the inside anyway; they're chopped off there so not to gouge the fabric.

[daveb]

I wouldn't want to drill extra holes in the top There is no way to fit the gasket on the top and peel back the inner side and stick a needle or similar through to the outside to mark your spot?

[witoke]

Why not just glue it on and forget the rivets? I am not so impressed with the way the rivets hold the gasket anyway. Mine gasket has torn in a couple of spots when it was pulled away from the top. That would not have happened if it was glued. But ultimately replacing the original gasket altogether with something more stout is on my 'to do' list.

[rob_gendreau]

My gasket wore pretty well, although it had accumulated some toxic waste....

I was thinking of adding a bead of silicone not only to help it hold but also because water just sits in the bottom of the gasket, and there are some frayed edges on the penthouse fiberglass. I epoxied them up, but best not to have them sitting in a dirty soup.

There are some other moldings that could be used, but I don't want anything that will wear further into the metal at the edges, and some of the moldings I've used would do that.

I ended up getting a leather punching tool, the kind that operate like pliers. Punches a somewhat smaller hole, but will work fine.