2004 Trillium Ouback entry door hinge repair

[Ak Ron]

Hi. My lower entry door hinge came loose and I am looking for some ideas of how to repair it. The machine screws holding the hinge were screwed into what appears to be an expansion type of nut that was set into a hole in the fiberglass. The area of the door where the nuts were is a closed chamber. The fiberglass seems to have cracked around the holes. (see photos)

To strengthen the chamber, I have been wondering about filling it with epoxy resin, but not sure how to embed nuts to screw to. Are these expanding insert nuts common?

Thoughts??

[Raz]

I chronicled my hinge adventure here. You might find it useful.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...air-47624.html

[Ak Ron]

Thanks, Raz. It was an adventure! It gave me some ideas. I am lucky (?) my wall hinges are still solid. I think the door will be easier.
Do you know what those expanding insert nuts they used to attached the hinges are called?

[Raz]

Originally Posted by Ak Ron

Thanks, Raz. It was an adventure! It gave me some ideas. I am lucky (?) my wall hinges are still solid. I think the door will be easier.
Do you know what those expanding insert nuts they used to attached the hinges are called?

Don't know. My trailer was made by the other outfit and they just screwed into the fiberglass. Sorry I can't help.

For what it's worth the epoxy paste and for that matter the whole project has held up well with no issues since I operated.

[Escape 15A]

You could always make stainless 304 plates, then glass them in.

[Ian G.]

We performed an emergency repair on a trillium when, as they drove into a fibreglass event the door fell off (really, this is true).

Our repair started by removing the screws and cleaning out the holes, then we mixed up some epoxy and put it into the holes in an attempt to stabilize and repair the embedded wood. The next step was to pack the hole with epoxy putty, after that set we re-drilled the holes and remounted the hinges.

This was several years ago and last summer the door was still working great.