Post by gary350 on Nov 23, 2015 13:29:47 GMT -8
Driving home from camping over the weekend I notice the wind held the bottom edge of the camper trailer door open about 6". Today I decided to take the door apart to see what needs to be done to fix it. I removed all the screws along the hinge and took the door into the work shop. I used a 90 degree bent screw driver to pry up the aluminum flange 3/4 the way around the door. I cut the hard black rubber window seal off with a razor knife. The 2 halves of the aluminum door came apart easy. The only thing inside the door is a board for the door hinge screws and wood for the door handle to tighten down against. The door has the remains of a honey comb piece of cardboard that held the wood U shape door latch piece in place. About 75% of the cardboard had been wet and fallen apart. There is a 3/4" space between the cardboard and the aluminum door edge for what appears to be a space for boards that are not there. I removed every thing from inside the door then spent about 30 minutes with a rubber hammer removing dents in the aluminum door. I also hammers the aluminum flange flat and straight. I cut new 2"x2" boards to frame the inside of the door. I added 2 extra boards to hold the original wooden door latch frame work in place. I reused the original board that was for the door hinge screws. I put it all together with glue and screws, clamped it down flat then went to lunch. I grabbed a pulled pork BBQ sandwich and ice tea then headed across town to a furniture store trash dumpster to see if I could find some free Styrofoam to put inside the door. On the return trip home I stopped at the hardware store for a roll of foam door seal. I was back home in an hour. I spent 20 minutes cutting the Styrofoam into 1.5" thick pieces with a hand saw to fill the inside of the door space. The door is finished so I put the other half on then hammered down the flange. The new rubber window glass seal turned out the be the hardest part of this project. It took me 30 minutes to sorta half way learn how this should be done. I wrapped the rubber around the glass then marked the length with an ink pin. Then I struggled for 15 minutes trying to get the rubber in the door window hole to see if the length matches the ink mark I already made so I cut off the extra and the rubber was a nice tight fit in the door. It took me another 30 minutes trying to get the glass into the rubber, the first 1/2 was easy but it took another 40 minutes to finish getting the rubber seal in place. The door is finished next I attached it to the camper trailer with the door hinge screws. Next I attached the door latch. Wow the door works much better than before. Next I put the stick on foam rubber seal around the edge of the door and tested it again. It works nice. The door is solid now and it fits perfect. It looks better than it did with all the dents removed and it fits better. I started this project at 9 am and finished at 2:15 pm.
