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Old 02-01-2015, 12:15 AM   #41
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Name: Tony
Trailer: Scamp - "The Haunted Mansion" (13') and TBD (16')
Colorado
Posts: 290
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Like many Scamp owners, we have door issues that need to be dealt with in our restoration. When we removed our door for repair, it was extremely heavy. Thinking it may be filled with water, we drilled holes in the bottom (as shown in the pictures), but nothing came out. Feeling lucky, we decided to autopsy our door and see if there was water inside, or if the fiberboard had soaked up all the moisture that had obviously entered at the unprotected edge at the bottom of the window. Using a Dremel and a cutting wheel, we sliced all the way around the edge of the door, making the cut just inside the lip created by the core of the door. We figured that the edge would still allow the door to have some stability/strength and would provide us something to build from as we reconstructed the door.

Then, using a couple of screwdrivers and our handy pry bar, we lifted the interior panel of the door...and that's when this HORRIFIC STENCH was released from the bowels of the door...and we quickly found out where the smell was coming from. Just as we suspected, water DID get down into the door -- a LOT of it. The smell was coming from the fiberboard inside the door which was completely waterlogged -- almost to the point of dripping - and was completely rotten. As we separated the two parts, the bulk of the fiberboard came out with the inside panel as shown in the pics.

We scraped off what we could - most of it came fairly easy... We're guessing there was about 20 pounds of smelly, waterlogged fiberboard that ended up in the round file tonight.

In the last pic, it may look like a brownie with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, but it's rotten fiberboard with a sprinkling of fiberglass dust. YUCK!

We got as much as we could for now...before we can do too much more, we're going to have to let both pieces dry out. The exterior panel is salvageable, but we're not sure if we'll keep and reuse the interior panel...it might just be easier and cleaner to create a whole new interior panel from scratch. We'll have to see how they clean up once they've had a chance to dry out.
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Old 02-01-2015, 12:17 AM   #42
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Name: Tony
Trailer: Scamp - "The Haunted Mansion" (13') and TBD (16')
Colorado
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Here are the two panels having been scraped. We've got to let them dry out before we go much further.
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Old 02-01-2015, 12:28 AM   #43
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Name: Tony
Trailer: Scamp - "The Haunted Mansion" (13') and TBD (16')
Colorado
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Having autopsied the door, we turned our attention back to the interior.

After removing the clamps from the tab/strut on the rearward side of the door, we were really pleased at how the PL adhesive set up. That thing isn't coming out for anything! But we'll still glass it in before we're done, just to make sure.

Next up, the next tab backward - the one that will attach the rear wall of the pantry/closet. The tricky part was how to clamp it in position. We cut a couple of 2x2's to act as spacers between the two struts to keep them evenly spaced. Then, after gooing it up with more PL adhesive, we used a web clamp/strap tie down running through the doorway and window, we clamped the rearward strut into position.

Next, we moved on to the rear of the trailer. There were a couple of issues that we need to address here. First, part of one of the bench seat tabs had rotted out thanks to a leak from the back window. That needed to be replaced. A new tab was cut and fitted into place.

The second issue involved the holes for the bolts for the spare tire The two bolts that hold the spare tire on had only the thickness of the back wall for support... We didn't think that was enough, so we decided to give the area a little bit of reinforcement; we cut a scrap of 3/4" plywood and glued it to the wall using that amazing PL adhesive.

Our plan is to make the dinette into a U shape, with a bench across the back of the trailer, so we needed to provide support for the bench across the back where there was none before. We cut a tab to fit the back of the trailer, then cut a notch in it to go around the reinforcement panel. Once it was all fitted together, we glued and clamped it in place. A scrap piece of 2x2 wedged between the reinforcement panel and the floor helped keep the reinforcement panel from sliding down while the horizontal tab held it tight to the wall.

The last thing on the agenda today was to get the tab forward of the door glued into place. Again, some creative clamping was required; the tab is set too far back from the edge of the door for standard clamps. It had to be to allow for clearance of the bolts for the door.

We screwed a small 2x2 block on the floor to give us at least one sure clamp point. Using a framing square, we squared up the tab to the floor and marked the pod where the tab should go. We then slathered the back edge with the PL adhesive and shoved it into place, clamping it at the bottom and aligning it along our marks at the top. In order to hold it tight against the wall, a scrap piece of 1x2 was wedged between the tab and floor and held into place with a drywall screw.

We still have some tabs to get in -- including the rearward one on the driver's side, and the second one on the right front corner (to make the front closet), as well as the various smaller tabs for the upper and lower cabinets. Lots to do...so little time!!
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Old 02-01-2015, 02:43 AM   #44
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Looking good Tony. Did you ever concider glassing in tabs for attaching the ribs ?
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Old 02-01-2015, 11:32 AM   #45
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Dave - oh yes... the adhesive is just part of the solution... We thought we would get all the tabs ecured in place and then fiberglass them all at the same time.
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Old 02-01-2015, 11:45 AM   #46
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What is the brand name of the PL adhesive you are using? At 50 cents an hour for the rebuild it seems like it would have been a push for the price of a new deluxe !! You are a pattern maker deluxe!!
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Old 02-01-2015, 11:57 AM   #47
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Name: Tony
Trailer: Scamp - "The Haunted Mansion" (13') and TBD (16')
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Frank - my labor is cheap when I work for myself... It's actually a bit of therapy for me....I have an office job where I sit way too much...so getting out in the garage for a little hands on work does my soul some good. And there is something to be said for having a completely custom built trailer! And thanks for the compliment!

I will send a pic of the adhesive we are using when I get home...i am out and about running errands today. But it's just the standard 3x premium PL adhesive you can get at Home Depot for about $3.50 a tube.
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Old 02-01-2015, 05:13 PM   #48
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Colorado
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Here's the stuff I used to affix the tabs to the wall. I learned about this stuff from a thread somewhere here in the forum. It works great. And when we glass the tabs in, those things will never move.
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Old 02-01-2015, 08:31 PM   #49
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Name: Martin
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Ontario
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I've used a very similar product to bond the mounting tabs in my Boler to the glass shell. It definitely works great but in hindsight I wish I had gone the additional step and glassed the blocks in place. We spent two weeks on the road and a few of the approximately 30 tabs that are scattered throughout the trailer broke free. I fixed the problem by drilling through the shell and using carriage bolts to re-secure the tabs. After further research I discovered that body shops now use adhesive to affix certain body panels to cars, specifically pickup truck bed sides. I would imagine that adhesive would be more than sufficient for this job.


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Old 02-01-2015, 08:36 PM   #50
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Oh, definitely we'll be glassing them in. The adhesive is just to get them to hold in place while we do it. We'll just do all the fiberglassing at once, since it is so messy.

From the research we did on "tabbing" in fiberglass boats, some people use an adhesive/glue to put it in place and then the fiberglass it to give it the strength and holding power. So that's what we are doing... We figured we might as well do it right instead of half-assed - even though it means a bit more work...but as I said, my labor is cheap when I work for myself.
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Old 02-02-2015, 01:55 AM   #51
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Hey Toni
Very nice work. I like your plywood struts.
Doug


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Old 02-03-2015, 11:39 PM   #52
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Thanks, Doug!
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Old 02-05-2015, 09:20 AM   #53
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Very nice, Tony. Well thought out, well documented, and it reads well. I also like your creative use of clamps, straps, struts, etc to fixture the work.

Have you decided how to fill the hollow door and with what? The fiberboard was a pretty bad choice in the original design. Something waterproof, non-rotting would be ideal.

Keep up the good work!
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Old 02-05-2015, 04:53 PM   #54
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Trailer: Scamp - "The Haunted Mansion" (13') and TBD (16')
Colorado
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Paul --

Thank you! Yeah, that fiberboard seems like a cheap and ineffective solution to the problem -- one that made the door REALLY heavy. I would like to keep it as light as possible...

As for the inside of the door, I'm still thinking on that one. I saw in one of the forums here that someone made an aluminum frame to go inside the door, but my budget/time/technical skill level will probably prevent something THAT sophisticated...BUT...I have been wondering if I could use galvanized conduit, bent to the right curvature of the trailer body and glassed into the door, to provide structure and support.

I thought about using plywood "struts" running up the side of the door (much like the tabs inside), but I worry about the strength of those only being 3/4" thick and 3/4" wide... The conduit at least wouldn't rust (assuming we can seal off the area around the window - which I intend to do!), and wouldn't break or rot (like a wood strut or rib might do)...

For the hollow space between whatever frame I decide on would be the pink/blue insulating foam. It has several advantages: a) it won't rot like the fiberboard, b) it's water resistant (and hopefully no more water will come in the door), c) it's lightweight, d) it's easy to work with, e) it provides SOME insulation, and f) it would provide SOME sound proofing in the door.... I do plan on having a wood (plywood) frame around the window so I have something solid to attach the window to, and around the lock area to support the new lock mechanism. Both of the wood pieces would be glassed in as well before we seal the whole thing back up.

Any thoughts on what might be better than what I'm thinking? I'm open to ideas.... Thanks for the input and the encouragement!

- Tony
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Old 02-05-2015, 07:08 PM   #55
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In this post (Post #12) by DanPatWork (http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...oor-26567.html), they are replacing the innards with a 3/4" mylar backed foam insulation...which may be better than just using foamboard... I think this is where I got the idea to use the foam instead of the fiberboard....

And here's another inspiration for a door rebuild: http://public.fotki.com/Joncassino/p...mp/scamp_door/
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Old 02-06-2015, 01:36 AM   #56
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Hi, I have thinking as you post about the door rebuild, that they make a two part expanding foam I have seen used. It seems to me that it could be put into the door cavity and then shaved down to thickness using a hand saw.
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Old 02-06-2015, 06:28 AM   #57
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That might work, too...what about that expanding foam in a can you can get at Home Depot or Lowe's? Is that easy to work with?
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Old 02-06-2015, 08:33 AM   #58
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Some more thoughts on this. Since the separated door skins already have the right shape (which you could tweak to some degree), you need to keep them spaced as they were and connected in at least a few places, maybe every 4 - 6 inches apart. Think of an I-beam. Top and bottom carry the load and the web just keeps them in proper relationship. (It is not much more complicated than that.) The spacers between the outer and inner skin of the door can be made of anything that can be fiberglassed in place and bonded to both skins. The window opening and the door lock area need to be reinforced more, as you mentioned. Then you could drill a few holes and spray in some of the foam from a can. That foam will not be providing any support, just insulation and sound proofing.
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Old 02-06-2015, 11:20 AM   #59
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My suggestion would be to check at one of the plastic shops. We have several Tap Plastics stores in our area
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Old 02-07-2015, 11:35 PM   #60
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Name: Tony
Trailer: Scamp - "The Haunted Mansion" (13') and TBD (16')
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An unexpected couple of days of spring-like weather meant we could get some work done on the Mansion that couldn't be done when the temps were at our typical February sub-zero variety.

But first...we got more presents! The new water tank arrived, complete with the drain valve and the inlet/vent connectors. Not sure about that plastic drain valve, but we'll give it a shot. We also got the water pump. Unfortunately, it didn't survive the trip from the Scamp factory. The outlet port was broken off. A quick phone call to the Scamp parts department got another one shipped to us - no questions asked... YAY!

We also ordered a sliding rear window which came all neatly packed in a wooden crate, delicately wrapped in a couple scraps of "rat fur," the wall covering Scamp uses on the interior of their trailers. Once we got everything unpacked, it was time to head to the garage and get to work on the inside.

First up was to take a look at the door now that it has had the opportunity to dry out. It wasn't too bad...it needs to be sanded, but it overall, it's in pretty good shape. The interior piece we cut out is still pretty nasty, so we've decided to go ahead and just trash it; we're going to have to refiberglass it anyway...might as well make it nice instead of patching in an old piece...and it won't smell nearly as bad.

Heading into the trailer, the first task was to actually secure the floor -- until now, the floor was just laid in the trailer. The warm weather afforded us the perfect opportunity to finally glue it down. We crawled under the trailer and traced the frame on the bottom side of the floor. Then, taking the floor out, we used the lines as guides to drill pilot holes through the plywood. The plan was that once floor was back in place, we'd see the holes from the top side, and then use them to drill from the top down through the frame underneath. Then we could screw the floor down. We cleaned off the frame, prepping it for glue, then we laid down a heavy bead of adhesive before dropping the floor into place.

It felt good to get the main floor down once and for all. We didn't attach the "step" area by the door, though. Sure, we had cut a piece of plywood for that area based on the old floor that came out of the trailer, but we decided to hold off for now and take care of the door sag issue first, and then recut a new piece to meet the door once it was in the proper position.
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