Fibreglass repair bigfoot door - Page 2 - Fiberglass RV
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 01-27-2021, 08:49 AM   #21
Senior Member
 
ZachO's Avatar
 
Name: Z
Trailer: Sasquatch
Montana
Posts: 2,556
Quote:
Originally Posted by JonRaw View Post
Good fix. Imagine owning a travel trailer where the whole thing is made like the doors on these are?
That's exactly what I was thinking!

Eric, yeah, it was a pretty basic job. Way easier than trouble-shooting the fridge, doing electrical, fixing plumbing and all the other joys of owning a trailer.
ZachO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2021, 04:16 PM   #22
Senior Member
 
Name: bob
Trailer: Was A-Liner now 13f Scamp
Missouri
Posts: 3,209
me i would learn to live with it!
k0wtz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-14-2021, 01:13 PM   #23
Senior Member
 
Name: Bob
Trailer: Bigfoot 17G
Oregon
Posts: 173
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZachO View Post
My door finally hit the point that I couldn't ignore it anymore. Late last fall, the skin on the inside and outside started coming out of the aluminum framing, and things really didn't seem right on the bottom 1/4 of the door.
It looks as if it is time to perform a similar repair on the door of my 17G. Even though it works just fine, I can feel that it is mushy by pushing from the inside. In looking at the door, though, it's not entirely obvious to me how it comes apart.

There are 4 screws through the aluminum frame on either side and two on the top and the bottom. They do not connect the inside of the door to the outside of the door. They go through the sides of the door -- ie. they are accessible only when the door is open. Do they hold 4 individual pieces together that are screwed into the door frame and do those pieces come apart when the screws are removed allowing the door to be broken into 4 frame pieces, a front panel, a rear panel and an inside frame of wood and foam?
Attached Thumbnails
bigfoot_door.jpg  
bobblangley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-14-2021, 03:44 PM   #24
Senior Member
 
Kenny Strong's Avatar
 
Name: kenny
Trailer: 93 "Lil" Bigfoot 13.5'
Utah
Posts: 519
The core structure inside our Bigfoot doors is poor.
Remove door from trailer. The screws in the 4 corners hold the aluminum frame together.
Removing the lockset is easy. 4 screws on the interior face.
When the corner screw are removed the frame can be pulled apart.
The outer, and inner faces my have contact cement holding them onto the foam core, carefully using a long metal spatula or long thin bladed tool you can peal the face coverings off. Mine had been glued on very poorly. just about fell off.
The wooden frame that surrounds the foam core is held together at butt jointed points of contact with corrugated fasteners.
Vertical frame parts are called stiles. Horizontal pieces are rails. The rail and stile pieces on my door at the top and thru the lock structure were good. the bottom pieces were totally rotten and were soaking wet mush. The stiles were rotten up about a foot.
I am a cabinet, furniture maker; I made up replacement pieces. Screwed the new frame back together with stainless steel screws. Used the OEM foam.
I drilled holes in the aluminum frame bottom facing edge, of the bottom rail, so that water could have an exit point.
When water is sprayed against the face of the door it goes between the fiberglass face, and the aluminum frame, to the bottom and collects there. I didn't caulk the edge of the aluminum frame where it meets the face. I guess I could have done so.

Later Kenny
Kenny Strong is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-15-2021, 09:31 AM   #25
Senior Member
 
ZachO's Avatar
 
Name: Z
Trailer: Sasquatch
Montana
Posts: 2,556
I had taken photos of the whole process of taking my door apart, and where the screws were, but I decided it wasn't worth posting that whole part of the process and I didn't keep the photos.

But yes, the screws you see going through are what anchor the aluminum frame to the wooden door frame. Then there are two screws in each corner of the aluminum frame holding it together to itself.

So you've got a wood frame, in my case stapled together, framing some crappy styrofoam insulation, sandwiched between a fiberglass skin on the outside and metal skin on the inside. All boxed in by the aluminum frame. At least on my 91. The wood frame is basically a 4-piece frame, top, bottom and sides, but that oversimplifies it, since there's more framing around the lock/handle. It's all pretty basic, but taking photos as you take it apart, especially at the handle, will save later frustration.

I will say though that feeling spongy from the inside doesn't necessarily mean it's rotting and needs to be rebuilt. Of course I don't know what this type door should feel like new, but mine gained only a very small amount of rigidity after the rebuild. It's just not a solid door.

Mine also had weak, poorly applied adhesive between the skin and insulation.

If you're even remotely handy, it's worth opening it up and seeing what you see. I do a lot of projects but had zero mechanical, construction or household repair experience growing up. My work is pretty rudimentary, but I'm not a complete idiot so I can usually figure things out. The door is pretty simple. I just took it off my camper and started taking out every screw I could see. How it was constructed became clear pretty quickly.
ZachO is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
bigfoot


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Fibreglass repair rileyroo Problem Solving | Owners Helping Owners 8 08-23-2019 06:45 AM
Fibreglass Molding and Repair Expert Needed lilcamperpainter Modifications, Alterations and Updates 7 04-18-2018 03:00 PM
need fibreglass repair in London, ON wolfie the trailer Problem Solving | Owners Helping Owners 3 05-21-2015 06:34 AM
fibreglass subfloor needs repair zelljim Problem Solving | Owners Helping Owners 2 02-03-2014 07:36 PM
Fibreglass Repair on your Boler kevin61 Modifications, Alterations and Updates 0 04-22-2009 07:21 PM

» Upcoming Events
No events scheduled in
the next 465 days.
» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:12 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.