[Ozarkguy]

Corrosion is always tough to deal with...As I'm sure you know some of the rust control products actually turn the rust into a primer, allowing you to paint for additional protection... it is obvious that the glue failed and allowed moisture in creating the problem... As far as fastners you could use some steel nutserts .. you can buy a cheap kit from Harbor Freight.. they come is several sizes 4, 6, 8 and so on in the kit... you drill the hole the insert like a pop rivet.. then just screw the machine screw in the blind nut .. I would probally just use a expoxy product and reglue.. after some serious treatment... but each to his own... good luck..

Winters on the ocean are hard on the Newell.

The attached image shows rust that I am in the process of dealing with. The trim piece has obviously been removed. The bulging of that trim was what alerted me to the issue.

I cut the trim with a small rotary cutter at the ends of the front slide. The trim was held on by adhesive. The product looks a lot like a thick double sided tape. By pulling hard at the top of the trim I was able to eventually separate the trim from the underlying steel. The surface rust was bad enough that the adhesive stayed on the trim and just pulled away the rust and the trim came off.
I will treat the steel with my favorite rust inhibitor - POR15 - and then put the trim back on.

But, why I am posting is for suggestions on how I might put the trim back on. For me, access is always better than no access, and the adhesive way pretty much makes it permanently on.
I would not mind at all seeing the heads of a few small fasteners on the trim strip. But I worry about the steel, aluminum, and fastener interface - from a corrosion standpoint. Also I have never been very successful at tapping - I 'm good with the drilling part, but usually break something during the tapping part ( cheap taps maybe ).
I have thought about adhesive, but using much less than Newell did hoping I could pull it off later if need be. I would like to be able to inspect the area in the future.

So, anyone have any suggestions? Thanks - Russ