[rich b]

Last one we did still had the remains of the tack strip in place. We drilled out the rivets, removed the little remains of fiber, welded up some rust out, had the pieces powder coated, pop riveted them back in place (with sealer), then laid some of that black plastic tack strip in place, and pop riveted the plastic down. This worked out very well.

If you don't have the original tack strip to work with; I don't see why you couldn't cut some of that plastic wood to the right shape and go with that alone.

Something to consider; that while the original tack strip isn't "structural" in nature; it does add some rigidity to lip of the top opening.

If you haven't done this before; the top finish molding also uses some small machine screws to secure the ends in addition to the tacks over the length.