Mounting a shelf...

[paul paquette]

Hi all,

I'm mounting a 12" deep full width shelf above my front window. To do so will require an anchor/support point installed on both side walls. I'm contemplating drilling a hole through the fiberglass and using generous sized washers to spread the load over the fiberglass surface.

My concern is that without reinforcing the f/g - over time the mounting may cause cracking (...particularly if the shelf has any significant load on it). However I want to avoid messing up the elephant skin - which is in good shape.

Does anyone have experience or suggestions on how to make a solid mounting point that won't stress the f/g and be minimally invasive? ...or am I being needlessly worried?

Cheers,

Paul

[Raspy]

You could cut away a section of the "elephant skin" and glue 1X2 or 1x1 wood blocks to the inside of the fiberglass. These can be glued with 3M 5200, Marine Tex epoxy, or equivalent. This is probably the strongest method of attaching them and it required no drilling, through bolts or washers on the outside.

From previous experience, I can tell you that to remove these blocks, you'll have to sand them off. They will not come off under load without ripping some glass with them. Very strong. You can chamfer the lower edge and paint them before setting the shelf on, then run a few screws in to hold it to the blocks. Cut your holes in the elephant skin to the right size such that you don't need any trim work. Put a block or two in the middle to keep the shelf from sagging.

[David B.]

Paul, I was able to mount shelves/upper cupboards using the existing window mounting screws, thus not needing to drill new holes. Our windows are held in place with a “pinch rail” on this inside of the trailer, but perhaps your windows use exterior screws. I used aluminum “L” stock from a hardware store, and some shelf supports from Home Depot to hold all this up. I cut the aluminum to the length of the window “pinch rail framing”, chalked the heads of the screws to transfer their location onto the aluminum stock, drilled the holes both in the stock and the shelf supports. If your Trillium has exterior screws to hold the window in place, then you probably have wood on the interior of the trailer for the screws to anchor into. You could simply use shorts screws into this wood to attach the shelf brackets to. Best of luck with your project.
Dave & Paula

[paul paquette]

Some great suggestions!

Thank you!