16' Casita Screen Door

[Alice L]

Has anyone here ever installed a Scamp bi-fold door on a 16' Casita? I did own a 13' Scamp once and remember there was a wood frame built to make the entry way square on the inside to mount the screen. If anyone has done this, I would appreciate your expertise in how you did it, problems you may have encountered and how it all turned out. Pics would be helpful also.
Thank you.

[patrick crawford]

alice, i looked into using a scamp door but after getting prices from scamp i decided to build my own. the $150 (or so) wasn't so bad but the shipping to get it here was crazy. like $250 because it had to be shipped in a crate.

i started by making a foamcore (you could use large sheets of cardboard also) mock up to figure out clearances, etc. by taping the mock up to the fridge wall at the entrance. the critical clearance issue was where the air conditioner sticks out from the wall. when i was satisfied that it was, in fact, possible i began building a frame with 1x2's. after a lot more adjustments to compensate for the thickness of the wood frame i had a working door. adding the screen and trimming out was the easy part. i don't have any drawings and they would be of little use since no 2 casitas are exactly the same. i hope the attached pictures are helpful.

if you decide to make a door you can find a full documentation on the casita travel trailer forum by using the "search" function. also, if you have any specific questions don't hesitate to ask.

good luck!

p@

[Radar1]

Great job P@!

[Alice L]

P@, that looks wonderful!!! Do you have pictures of the inside frame that you built? I'm pretty sure I could build one, the frame around the entry is the biggest challenge. Were there any problems on the A/C side?

[patrick crawford]

Alice,
There is no inside frame on my door. On the left (facing from the outside) the door is mounted directly to the fridge wall with a piano hinge. The right side presented issues that i’ve not fully resolved yet. That wall is nowhere near straight vertically and then there’s that curve in the exterior wall to deal with. A temporary fix was to attach a strip of foam rubber with double stick duct tape. This allows the door to have a seal when the rubber compresses when the door is in use. That temporary fix has remained for several years now and is still temporary. It works well as is but, i’m sure there’s a more elegant solution. I was sidetracked by serious upgrades to the 12v system and adding more solar to charge a pair of 6v golf cart batteries to power a new fridge that’s 12vdc or 120vac (no more burning propane to make things cold).

P@

[itlives]

Awesome looking screen door! Sometimes those temporary fixes just work too good to worry about bettering them!