In my earlier post I mentioned that a few of the wood blocks that I adhered to the shell for mounting the cabinets had broken free during our road trip. This necessitated rethinking how I attached the cabinets to the shell. Since all of the cabinets are installed I've decided to go with a mechanical fastener between the shell and the glued on blocks. If I were starting from scratch again I would do some research into some automotive type adhesives. I think body shops use adhesive to attach body panels. I would think that they may have the holding power necessary.
I'm going to use some 5/16 galvanized carriage bolts to make the connection.
I drilled through the shell and the wood mounting block with a 5/16 inch drill bit. I then took a step drill bit to enlarge the opening in the shell just enough to accept the square shank portion of the carriage bolt. Prior to inserting the bolt I wrapped some butyl around the shank.
I snugged the bolts down until the butyl squeezed out around the head.
Took the excess butyl off.
View from inside the cabinet.
Ultimately I would have preferred no fasteners on the outside of the shell from both an aesthetic viewpoint and potential source of
leaks. Now that I've installed a few they don't look too obtrusive. If and when I ever get the exterior painted they will be even less noticeable.
Finally there about 20 blocks on the upper cabinets in total. I'm not going to bolt all of them. Perhaps every second or third one will be sufficient.
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Fiberglass RV