Restoring Interior Cabinets/Benches

[shelley w]

I was hoping to leave my interior cabinets and benches in their original off-white condition and spiff 'em up a bit, but now that I have them out I see a lot of chips, cracks and extra holes in the finish. For some reason there is an extra cut in the glass at the top of the small cabinet door too. Also, my closet seems to have had shelves riveted in - is this normal or someone's handiwork?

Is there any way I can repair all these holes/chips without having to repaint all the cabinets and benches? I was hoping to avoid doing that if possible.

[RogerDat]

Pictures of the damage needing repair might help others offer advice. Might be worth asking yourself how much will this stuff matter when it's all back in vs taking opportunity to do complete restoration/refurbish. If you did not notice it until you took it out.... will anyone?

Plugging holes can be done with epoxy, body filler or FG. Lots of ways to deal with chips from full on repair to dabbing a tiny amount of touch up paint in them to blend them in better.

Seems like sometimes doing a "perfect" blended touch up on a bunch of spots is more work than full repair/repaint, against a little touch up that makes a big improvement with a lot less work. Sometimes I pressure wash, sand and paint the deck, sometimes I just use a rag and rub a little stain on the bad spots...

[Carol H]

Shelley, its hard to say what was original and what was done by previous owner without photos. The shelves are an easy enough fix. I installed mine so they are movable and you could probable do the same without drilling any further holes. If you have drill holes that you want to fill there are a number of epoxy's you can use or you could put another screw with a small while cap on it into the hole to cover it up. There are lots of ways of doing it.

If you havent already planned on it there is a Fiberglass meet at The Sons of Norway Campground outside of Mission from June 21-24 and the trailers will be open for viewing on the Saturday 23rd morning - lots of Boler's registered - over 30 of all sizes, so you might get some ideas and suggestions from that crowed.

[bkboler]

Hi Carol, do you have pics of your moveable shelves somewhere on here. I'd love to see. I thought about those metal rods with the arms that clip in but with the bouncing down the highway I'm sure I wouldn't have any shelves left standing by the time I got anywhere. haha

[Carol H]

Brian Here are couple of photos.

One of the photos shows the bolt & nut on the inside of the closet holding the rails in place & the clip that goes into the rail holding the shelf up. The other is the snap caps I used on the other side if the head of the bolt was showing anywhere on the trailer - did not bother if it was inside another cupboard & could not be seen - so only needed to use 4 snap caps total. I also put short tie wraps on the front rail holders & shelves to keep the shelves from bouncing - easy to cut and replace should I need to move the shelves. I moved them a number of times when first installed them until I came up with the best position for the things I store on them. Havent had to move them in a couple of years now. Been on lots of rough roads and they stay in place. What you dont see is that between the upper and lower cupboard there is also a shelf that lets me store larger items on top of it (such as a my camping light & small electric heater) while still having room to hang clothing.

Dont look at the mess of my cupboards!

[bkboler]

Thanks Carol. That looks good.

[bkboler]

Hi Shelly, I'm in the same boat as you with the benches. Lots of unwanted screw holes, and scratches. I'd like to keep the interior somewhat original but to me its not that big a deal. I might just take mine out and build some wooden benches instead while still trying to keep the weight down.

[shelley w]

Thanks for the info. I would prefer, at this stage, to just fill holes and touch up, but Carol H may have a good solution - if I just replace the shelves and use screw caps - but then I have nowhere to hang anything so ... I guess I just need to figure out what I want and can afford right now. There are other screw/rivet holes that I would like to fill and I'm not sure what to do with the gouge in the cupboard beside the fridge. There is a bigger issue that I'm not sure how to handle ... the screw holes that the benches screw into are greatly enlarged from having loose screws rattling around in them for years. I'm not sure if they can be filled and still be solid enough to screw the seats down to. Thoughts?

Photos: Shelley Work's Photos | Facebook

Shelley Work's Photos | Facebook

Shelley Work's Photos | Facebook

Originally Posted by RogerDat

Pictures of the damage needing repair might help others offer advice. Might be worth asking yourself how much will this stuff matter when it's all back in vs taking opportunity to do complete restoration/refurbish. If you did not notice it until you took it out.... will anyone?

Plugging holes can be done with epoxy, body filler or FG. Lots of ways to deal with chips from full on repair to dabbing a tiny amount of touch up paint in them to blend them in better.

Seems like sometimes doing a "perfect" blended touch up on a bunch of spots is more work than full repair/repaint, against a little touch up that makes a big improvement with a lot less work. Sometimes I pressure wash, sand and paint the deck, sometimes I just use a rag and rub a little stain on the bad spots...

[Carol H]

[QUOTE=shelley w;314933] There is a bigger issue that I'm not sure how to handle ... the screw holes that the benches screw into are greatly enlarged from having loose screws rattling around in them for years. I'm not sure if they can be filled and still be solid enough to screw the seats down to. Thoughts?

Its hard to tell from the photo but was there something mounted previously where the large gape is by the fridge? Perhaps you can mount something else over it - like a weather station or a battery monitor....

I would just put caps on the screw holes on the side of the closest - you can fill them and paint the side but that may mean painting all the fiberglass to match.

You can use an epoxy filler (most hardware stores carry it) in the screw holes that have gotten to big and once dry just drill a pilot hole & put the screws back. If you use the epoxy filler just make sure you wipe the excess away with a damp clot/sponge before it drys other wise it will only come off the fiberglass by sanding it away which will make a mess of the fiberglass. Even better if you can fill the hole with epoxy from the inside the bench.

[Carol H]

Shelly, another thought regarding the holes on the side of your closet. A lot of people use that wall to hang things from - coats, keys, mirrors, photos, white & cork boards for messages, shoe organizers for clutter etc.... perhaps just covering most of the holes with something you can use/need would be the easiest solution.

You might also be able to hide the poorly cut door opening by the fridge by putting trim that slips over the edge of the fiberglass around the edge of the opening. You should be able to find it at Home Depot although last time I tried they were out of it. I think it was in the title sections. I know Scamp sells it as well.

[shelley w]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Its hard to tell from the photo but was there something mounted previously where the large gape is by the fridge? Perhaps you can mount something else over it - like a weather station or a battery monitor..

The only thing above the fridge was the drawer. I'm not sure what the gouge beside the fridge (largely hidden by the cupboard door) is from.

[shelley w]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Shelly, another thought regarding the holes on the side of your closet. A lot of people use that wall to hang things from - coats, keys, mirrors, photos, white & cork boards for messages, shoe organizers for clutter etc.... perhaps just covering most of the holes with something you can use/need would be the easiest solution.

You might also be able to hide the poorly cut door opening by the fridge by putting trim that slips over the edge of the fiberglass around the edge of the opening. You should be able to find it at Home Depot although last time I tried they were out of it. I think it was in the title sections. I know Scamp sells it as well.

Both great ideas Carol! Thanks. I was toying with the idea of cutting one slightly bigger hole with one cabinet door, but that might make the cabinet weaker, so probably better to trim it.

[shelley w]

Here is a photo of the enlarged and misshapen screw holes where the benches attach.

Shelley Work's Photos | Facebook