Fabric wall/headliner becoming loose

markhanks · January 25

In certain locations on our Tab 400 the fabric headliner is becoming loose due to the screws (concealed by fabric buttons) stripping from the campers composite and foam body. I wrote Nucamp and as usual received prompt and excellent advice from them. (Love that!) Attached is their recommendation, I thought it very novel and have posted it below. I have not done this yet, as it's winter in CO and skiing takes precedent.

From Nucamp:
"Thank you for being a part of the nuCamp family! In our experience, it isn't the screws themselves that strip out, but the holes getting hogged out. Since the wall board is a thin composite and there's only foam insulation behind it, a typical wall anchor isn't going to cut it as far as a repair. Instead, what we would advise-- and in fact what we do in our service center when dealing with this issue-- is to grab yourself a piece of steel wool and a toothpick or skewer, and pack the holes with fibers from that steel wool. Now, when you re-sink the screws-- with a drill or screw gun, mind you, a screwdriver won't work here-- the fibers will knot up around the threads and create their own "anchor."

aditto · February 27

This happened to me the day after I bought the new tab 400 last year. I haven't tried this suggestion but 3m command Velcro strips worked really well. The panel hasn't come off since then.

WildRumpus · April 11

From Nucamp:
"Thank you for being a part of the nuCamp family! In our experience, it isn't the screws themselves that strip out, but the holes getting hogged out. Since the wall board is a thin composite and there's only foam insulation behind it, a typical wall anchor isn't going to cut it as far as a repair. Instead, what we would advise-- and in fact what we do in our service center when dealing with this issue-- is to grab yourself a piece of steel wool and a toothpick or skewer, and pack the holes with fibers from that steel wool. Now, when you re-sink the screws-- with a drill or screw gun, mind you, a screwdriver won't work here-- the fibers will knot up around the threads and create their own "anchor."

Thanks for sharing the tip! This totally worked for me! At least, it appears to be working. I guess we'll see how it does long term.

I had success by kind of rolling the steel wool between my fingers to create a pointy tip (careful with splinters!). That made it possible to feed the steel wool into the little hole. I used a bamboo skewer, which was nearly the same diameter as the screw, to push it in. It doesn't take much steel wool.

For those wondering, the cloth "button" just pops off to reveal a Phillips head screw.

Fabric wall/headliner becoming loose

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