Edge Strips

From Nancy: It may be necessary to remove the strips that run along the outside edge of your Scotty.Serro originally nailed down with a 1" spiral aluminum nail. The strip is also aluminum, soft and easily distorted, and if you're not careful, can twist as you remove it, which will make it very difficult to put back on and still have it look decent. This is the method I used to remove mine and it worked very well.

If you need to buy new strips, many RV stores sell them. They typically have both the old style, as used on a Scotty, and a newer style that has a vinyl insert strip. We have not found them in the original lengths, so new ones have to be pieced together. I encourage you to stick with the original style which looks much better on a vintage trailer.

Nancy's Method

Removing the edgestrip
Using a flat pry bar, slide in at the nail and pry up very gently.
You want to raise the nail up just enough for the next step,
but you don't want to dent your skin.

Removing the edge strip
Now, use a small "cat's paw" type of pry bar and catch the nail head and remove it.

Edgestrip frame
Because this was the second Scotty I removed strips from,
and the first one's strips twisted and became very difficult to replace,
I was very careful when I actually removed the strips.
I made this simple wooden frame and I duct-taped the strip to it, at both ends of the strip and the top corners of the frame. I carried the frame to the other side of the Scotty and taped the other strip on the opposite side of the frame. I then leaned them up against the garage until I was ready to put them back on.

Replace with ss screws
Give serious consideration to replacing the 1" aluminum spiral nails
with stainless steel screws (shown) when you replace your strips.

From Petri: I used the 'rivet-removal' technique. As we all know, the nails that hold the trim down are aluminum, which is really soft, and bends easily. So, I simply removed the 'head' of the nails with a LARGE flathead screwdriver and a hammer. This is done by placing the edge of the flathead screwdriver at the side of the nail at a slight angle, then GENTLY at first, tap on the handle end of the screwdriver just enough to make the flathead screwdriver slip underneath the nail head...I must stress to do this VERY GENTLY...too hard and you could dent/scruff up the aluminum trim. Once the Screwdriver flathead blade is under the nail head, and you know that your against the nail 'stem', then give the end of the screwdriver a quick sharp 'Whack' (pretty hard)...this will 'cut' the nail stem and pop the nail head off. It may be necessary to give it a couple of whacks at first to get the feel of it, but once you do a couple, you'll know how much force is needed to pop off the nail head. Once all the nail heads are removed, then the trim with simply lift off without having to bend it too much (depending on how old and crusty the old Butyl tape sealant is...). After the trim is off, if you want to remove the remaining nail, use a pair of locking Vise-Grip pliers to grab onto the bit and pry it out...
This worked great for me, and took me a quarter of the time to do the rest of my Scotty as it did with other methods. I would STRONGLY advise eye protection, as those nails heads can richochet pretty darn fast when the fly off.

National Serro Scotty Organization | Delton, Michigan 49046