Surf Side Door

[Timmy G]

I have pondered the reason why my trailer door doesn't fit squarely in the hole provided for the past few years. I have never done anything about it since it doesn't leak, but aesthetically it is a bit unpleasing to look at. I have read all the fixes in this forum and have thought about warping the door to seal the spaces and trimming it to square it up, then it occurred to me ...

A few years back, I separated the body from the frame to take care of some frame issues. I remember there being some 1/2 inch plywood shims between the frame and the body forward of the door on both sides of the frame. I never did put them back in. The door currently fits with the top forward portion about 1/8 inch from edge of the door frame and the bottom about 3/4 inch. It seems to me that if I raised the front door-side corner of the trailer that the door would fit better as it would apply a wee bit of torque to the body of the trailer ... I'm thinking maybe that's what the shims were doing.

So my question is, do any other Surf-sides out there have shims between the frame and body forward of the door? I might have to play with this to see if my logic is right or if I'm just engaging in some wishful thinking.

Tim

[Alf S.]

Hi: My question would be... Did the door fit better before the "Out of Body Experience"??? The 1/2" shims would possibly have lifted and separated the door frame even more than now!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[theresa shaw]

Ours has the same problem, the previous owner tried to get it fixed. It doesnt bother me, but my nieghbor noticed it, and I'd like to get it fixed too!

[Steve L.]

I think you're on to something with respect to the body shims. Perhaps it was shimmed new and then the doors were installed.

I know that it's fairly easy to torque the frame and body on my Casita if I crank on the rear stabilizers too much. If I do that, the door doesn't always latch right. A ladder style frame doesn't have much torsional stiffness. Nor does the body for that matter.

As for a fix short of reinserting the shims I don't have any advice. Of course, it would be aggravating to go through the trouble of putting them back and find you still have the door alignment problem.

I suppose my only suggestion would be that if you return to the plywood shim you might try finding some marine plywood for its weather resistance. Another thought is that sometimes you can find a cheap poly cutting board that's about 1/2" thick and cut it up with normal woodworking tools for shims.

[Timmy G]

Steve ... hmmmm ... not sure ...

Alf ... thanks for the advice, good suggestions

Theresa ... I'll play with it today and let you know if it worked ... it's only two bolts that I have contend with.

[Shelley]

My door also doesn't fit quite right - would love to know how you solve the problem!

[GuyB]

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...g-34620-2.html

i have a surfside that had gapping,mostly at the bottom of the door
I just built the trailer out to the door and added new door hinges
pics are posted in the link