Bi-fold screen door for Scamp 19 Deluxe

[NH-Boomers]

Greetings,


So we own a beautiful 2017 Scamp 19 deluxe and we love it or at least most of it but there are a few things we need to find a remedy for 1st. being the new style screen door, having also owned older models (Scamp 13/Scamp 16/Casita 17) with the bi-fold doors we miss them on this camper even if you clean out the track it is still so hard to open and close, we would love to put in a bi-fold style door has anyone done this mod?



2nd the upper bed area feels claustrophobic with the cupboards so we plan on taking the front one out as we never use it and modifying the shelf so thats shallower. Anyone done any of this to your Scamp? if you have pictures would be great Thanks in advance!!!


NHBoomers

[gordon2]

Before you give up on the Plisse screen door let me submit this post from a Scamp Facebook group from today..

Just finished re-stringing our Plisse retractable screen door on our 2015 Scamp after two of the tension lines snapped. Would like to give a huge shout out to Randy Roberts for being the only other person I know of to have done this and for giving us advice and tons of moral support. Folks, we are not handy and if we can do it, you can too. It is a one day project and is a $15 repair kit from Plisse to restring and they have lots of instructions. I would also like to encourage those of you with the Plisse screen to read the care instructions on their website. Lots of things that we did not know about such as keeping the door retracted when not in use. We did the opposite, Ooopps!

[NH-Boomers]

Hi Gordon,
Thanks for the advise, on ours the track fills up with dirt so it doesn’t work well and we have to keep cleaning it out. I will check out their website though.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by NH-Boomers

Hi Gordon,
Thanks for the advise, on ours the track fills up with dirt so it doesn’t work well and we have to keep cleaning it out. I will check out their website though.

I see that some with mine.. but overall I think it is a good design. Try lifting up a little when you open or close it it.

[patrick crawford]

at one time scamp would sell you a bifold screen door. i checked with them looking far a solution to no screen door in my 16' casita. turns out they were way out of my price range (shipping to sc was more than the price of the door). so, in a "how hard can it be?" moment i decided to build one. the project was time consuming owing primarily to the total lack of anything square or plumb in the casita. but, i prevailed and if you can't loose your passion for a bi fold i'd be happy to share my thoughts with you...

p@

[Radar1]

Last (and only) time we passed through Backus in 2018 they still had the old style bi-fold screen door assemblies in the parts department. Might check to see if they still have any.

[NH-Boomers]

Originally Posted by patrick crawford

at one time scamp would sell you a bifold screen door. i checked with them looking far a solution to no screen door in my 16' casita. turns out they were way out of my price range (shipping to sc was more than the price of the door). so, in a "how hard can it be?" moment i decided to build one. the project was time consuming owing primarily to the total lack of anything square or plumb in the casita. but, i prevailed and if you can't loose your passion for a bi fold i'd be happy to share my thoughts with you...

p@

Thanks for that we do like the bifold style much better, and my husband is happy to build one so yes pictures would be helpful.

Nhboomers

[NH-Boomers]

Originally Posted by Radar1

Last (and only) time we passed through Backus in 2018 they still had the old style bi-fold screen door assemblies in the parts department. Might check to see if they still have any.

That’s a great idea they might, we went to the factory once as well it’s a long haul even from NH. I will give them a call Thanks

Nhboomers

[Radar1]

Originally Posted by NH-Boomers

That’s a great idea they might, we went to the factory once as well it’s a long haul even from NH. I will give them a call Thanks

Nhboomers

Interestingly, we headed to NH back in 2018 after visiting the Scamp hatchery.
Our son is stationed there with the USAF.

It was just one stop on our little road trip from GA, to TX, to a rally in OR, then the Boler 50th anniversary rally in Winnipeg, then to NH, and then back home to GA.
Scamps are made to travel.

[patrick crawford]

Thanks for that we do like the bifold style much better, and my husband is happy to build one so yes pictures would be helpful.

I’ll get some photos together and post. In the meantime, does your scamp have a flat door (as opposed to the curved door on my trailer). If so, your screen door would be much easier to construct.

P@

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by patrick crawford

I’ll get some photos together and post. In the meantime, does your scamp have a flat door (as opposed to the curved door on my trailer). If so, your screen door would be much easier to construct.



P@

All Scamps made to date have curved doors, but they are working on a flat door design for possible introduction sometime in 2021.

[NH-Boomers]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

All Scamps made to date have curved doors, but they are working on a flat door design for possible introduction sometime in 2021.

It would be awesome if Scamp made a flat door design it would be so much more useful especially when the Scamps get older the doors don't work so well.


thanks Jon



NHBoomers

[NH-Boomers]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

All Scamps made to date have curved doors, but they are working on a flat door design for possible introduction sometime in 2021.

It would be awesome if Scamp made a flat door design it would be so much more useful especially when the Scamps get older the doors don't work so well.


thanks Jon



NHBoomers

[Jon in AZ]

It’s a toss-up for me. Having a conventional screen door will be nice. A more reliable weather seal is good.

Disadvantages of a conventional RV door include lots of pieces to come apart over time and aging differently than the rest of the trailer due to being made of different materials (look at pictures of old molded Bigfoots and Casita 17’s). This concurrent thread shows that flat doors have issues too: https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...ad.php?t=93096

And of course loss of the classic egg profile.

I’m sure folks who have had issues with their curved doors welcome the change. I haven’t and I don’t.

[Brian5305]

I made a fairly simple plywood screen door for my 1994 Scamp 16 out of some salvaged paneling I had laying around, based on a design I saw here on FGRV some time ago. The screen is sandwiched between two layers of plywood paneling which are then bolted together in a dozen or so places. The hardest part was creating and attaching the curved-one-side and straight-the-other-side board to attach the door to. The door stop is a piece of solid PVC doorstop (from Menards) attached to the fiberglass exterior of the hanging closet with two-sided tape, the "latch" is accomplished with high power magnets inset into both the stop and the door panel. It works well for our use. Unfortunately the screen got damaged when I removed our dead refrigerator last time out. Oh well, always another project:-).

[patrick crawford]

Thanks for that we do like the bifold style much better, and my husband is happy to build one so yes pictures would be helpful.

nhboomers: it'll be easier to take this in sections so, here's where you'd start.

you need to determine how far back from the door opening the screen door has to be (see photo 1). then, knowing that, check the interior walls and make sure you can put some kind of fasteners into the fiberglass there. then get some cardboard or gatorform sheets to cut a mockup of the door for sizing. these templates should basically be a cardboard door but solid so you can easily move them around. you can use tape to join where the door panels meet. tape the door onto the wall where you want to mount it (i used the wall on the left when you enter the trailer. then you can check for clearance by opening and closing the cardboard door. don't expect to get this right on the first try. you can trim & tape to get the final shape that works. you may make more than one of these cardboard doors before you get a good fit and motion.

once you're convinced you have a good template you can actually build a door frame. i used 2x2's connected by piano hinges. the door mount at the wall the frame mounted directly to the door with another piano hinge. rather that drill a bunch of little holes into the fiberglass i mounted that hinge with VHB tape and only drilled a couple holes at the top, middle and bottom of the piano hinge.

after your door frame is hung to your satisfaction you can take it back down to finish the wood (i used stain to match the woodwork in the cabin but you could easily paint it any color you want). at this point you can install the screen just like any other wooden hole you want to fill with screen.

remember that there will be a lot of fitting and adjusting during the build to make sure the thing is gonna work when you're finished.

this is a good place to stop this tutorial and let you do some work. post back if you have any questions and we can deal with the finishing up details once you've made your door.

[Jon in AZ]

Nice tutorial, Pat! I’d seen pictures of your screen door before and never noticed it was wood. Beautiful work!

It can also be built of regular aluminum screen channel if one lacks the woodworking skills. Adding perforated aluminum panels on the bottom 12-16” would make an aluminum frame much stronger. The bottom of a screen door tends to get the most abuse.

[NH-Boomers]

Originally Posted by patrick crawford

nhboomers: it'll be easier to take this in sections so, here's where you'd start.

you need to determine how far back from the door opening the screen door has to be (see photo 1). then, knowing that, check the interior walls and make sure you can put some kind of fasteners into the fiberglass there. then get some cardboard or gatorform sheets to cut a mockup of the door for sizing. these templates should basically be a cardboard door but solid so you can easily move them around. you can use tape to join where the door panels meet. tape the door onto the wall where you want to mount it (i used the wall on the left when you enter the trailer. then you can check for clearance by opening and closing the cardboard door. don't expect to get this right on the first try. you can trim & tape to get the final shape that works. you may make more than one of these cardboard doors before you get a good fit and motion.

once you're convinced you have a good template you can actually build a door frame. i used 2x2's connected by piano hinges. the door mount at the wall the frame mounted directly to the door with another piano hinge. rather that drill a bunch of little holes into the fiberglass i mounted that hinge with VHB tape and only drilled a couple holes at the top, middle and bottom of the piano hinge.

after your door frame is hung to your satisfaction you can take it back down to finish the wood (i used stain to match the woodwork in the cabin but you could easily paint it any color you want). at this point you can install the screen just like any other wooden hole you want to fill with screen.

remember that there will be a lot of fitting and adjusting during the build to make sure the thing is gonna work when you're finished.

this is a good place to stop this tutorial and let you do some work. post back if you have any questions and we can deal with the finishing up details once you've made your door.

Thank you for these step by step guidelines! Allot ow work to be sure. We will let you know how it turns out we bought all the parts and wood today.

NHBoomers

[Slocamper]

Thank you for yor idea on a folding screen door for a Casita 16. I would consider building one so any plans or pictures would help.

[patrick crawford]

Thank you for yor idea on a folding screen door for a Casita 16. I would consider building one so any plans or pictures would help.

scroll up a few post and you'll find a description with a few pics. since apparently there are no 2 casitas that are identical any plans with dimensions would probably be of no use. the door must be built to fit your specific trailer. one problem area is caused by the location of the air conditioner and depending on which a/c you have must be taken into consideration. that's why i chose to build a cardboard mock up of the door to check fit and operation before i started sawing wood.

p@

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