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Old 01-18-2010, 01:05 PM   #1
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77 scamp door feels like 800 lbs so since I'm feeling all handy with refiberglassing I was going to take a dremel tool and cut from the inside a square to dig out the "guts" probley wet and moldy. So I'm thinking what to refill it with and styrophome peanuts came to mind. Any thoughts as to why I shouldn't do it this way?
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Old 01-18-2010, 02:22 PM   #2
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77 scamp door feels like 800 lbs so since I'm feeling all handy with refiberglassing I was going to take a dremel tool and cut from the inside a square to dig out the "guts" probley wet and moldy. So I'm thinking what to refill it with and styrophome peanuts came to mind. Any thoughts as to why I shouldn't do it this way?

I would consider lo-volume spray foam install a small portion at a time so you don,t distort anything as it expands. Worth considering.
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Old 01-18-2010, 02:59 PM   #3
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I can think of a couple of reasons I would not use peanuts.

1) Many of the peanuts today are water soluble, and very easy to dissolve

2) The way that the door holds its curve (unless you have or are adding something like a special web frame) is by the skins and core working together (in tension, I believe, although I'm not a physics expert). So the bond between the outer skin, the intact, dry core, and the inner skin is important. Peanuts would not have the integrity to perform this way.

So I would want to put in a sheet of core material, then bond the skin back on with epoxy, and then "tape" the seam (where the skin was cut) with fiberglass tape. I don't think peanuts would work well for this.

Coring material for boat decks is often made up of "blocks" of flat material held together by a scrim, so that they can make a curve but still stay together as one sheet. Or you could probably bend a solid sheet okay.

I would order a sheet of coring and proceed with the repair as if it were a boat deck. It comes as balsa wood, or foam (several varieties). Check to see what thickness you need when you have the door apart.

If your door curve is no longer what it should be, this is your chance to change it, as once laminate the new (old) skin back on, it should hold the curve you set it at.

Here are some examples from one retailer, but there are many:

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userp...ID&history=

As far as step by step instructions, the process would be very similar to that of re-coring a boat deck (except, lucky you, much much smaller and less labor intensive). Let me see if I can find a set of instructions online (I don't have time to write one out right now). I'll come back and add a link (or, feel free to ask specific questions).

Raya

Edited to add: Okay, maybe it's quicker just to write a synopsis of one way to go about it. This is just the basics and there could be more steps depending on what you find

1) Remove the door from the trailer and support it on a work bench. Then cut out the inside skin with a dremel, grinder, circular saw, etc.. You can either cut it so as to re-use it, or plan to lay up a new one. The fewer pieces you cut it into, the fewer seams you have to re-glass later.

2) Remove the rotten core (I think some Bolers had a full door coor and others just had some braces inside - I imagine there was a lot of variation, and probably some "punting.") If it's really rotten, it might just fall out on its own; if it's only partially rotten you might need to use chisels and/or something like a Fein MultiMaster.

3) Clean up the insides of both skins by sanding.

4) Solvent wash the insides of both skins.

5) Does the door need to have it's curve adjusted? If so, now is the time. You could perhaps build a jig to hold the door in the desired curve while you work.

6) Cut core to fit and mark it for easy identification.

7) Assemble epoxy ingredients so you are ready.

8) Wet out inside of outer skin with neat epoxy

9) If you are using core that is divided into squares on a scrim, then fold them open backwards (like eating a mango that is cut) and force thickened epoxy into the gaps.

10) Lay down a layer of thickened epoxy on the inside of the outer skin

11) Lay core onto the epoxy and flatten it. Squeegee off excess epoxy. Let cure.

12) Remove any huge imperfections while it is in the green stage

13) Wash off amine blush with 3M pad and water

14) Sand fair then vacuum and wipe down with acetone

15) Coat with epoxy and then lay inner skin down on top of core (might add thickened epoxy too). Use gravity and heavy things to "clamp" while it cures (make sure outer skin is properly supported).

16) After that cures, then remove blush, sand, etc.

17 Add fiberglass tape and neat epoxy resin to cover cut line on inner skin. If you want it to be flush you can sand/grind recesses next to cut line.

18) Remove blush, fair, sand, acetone, paint.

Voila!

Note: I only had a few minutes and have surely missed some things, but this gives you the idea. If you google "deck re-core" you will find web pages and photos. Note that many people take shortcuts, or maybe don't exactly know what they are doing, etc. (people are just trying to do their best, but...).
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Old 01-18-2010, 05:55 PM   #4
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Quote:
77 scamp door feels like 800 lbs so since I'm feeling all handy with refiberglassing I was going to take a dremel tool and cut from the inside a square to dig out the "guts" probley wet and moldy. So I'm thinking what to refill it with and styrophome peanuts came to mind. Any thoughts as to why I shouldn't do it this way?
Are you on that kick again????? I thought you got over that last year.... Did you ever drill the holes in the bottom like we talked about to see if any water ran out? My door weighs right at 35#. Weigh it after you take it off and see.... Just because it is nice outside, you're getting "squirrelly" looking for projects, aren't you? (but another rain storm is coming)

On a serious note, yeah the guts prob are a little moldy. The idea of the cardboard is to provide support so the two layers don't collapse. So something similar would need to be put in to replace that like Raya related. It would look like squiggly lines of cardboard on edge. Someone on the forum had pictures of it after they split the layers. Have Fun. Larry
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Old 01-18-2010, 06:44 PM   #5
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Con did quite a write up on how to repair air-craft style doors. The documentation is in the Document Center, here's the link: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/files/BolerDoorFix.pdf. It opens as a PDF.
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Old 01-18-2010, 07:17 PM   #6
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Con did quite a write up on how to repair air-craft style doors. The documentation is in the Document Center, here's the link: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/files/BolerDoorFix.pdf. It opens as a PDF.

Donna,

Is my PDF file about my door restoration available somewhere here on the forum? It's a Scamp door, like Brandi's...
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Old 01-18-2010, 07:19 PM   #7
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Donna,

Is my PDF file about my door restoration available somewhere here on the forum? It's a Scamp door, like Brandi's...
I'm sorry Robert, but no... the Document Center upload app is still broken I haven't been able to upload anything for 10 months.
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