Filling in the holes

So we found out the breaking strength of fiberglass. It is exactly one hit under a breeze grabbing the door from your hand and flinging it into the door stopper at full speed. You can see the damage caused in the pic to the right. I did the repair at night - sorry for the photos. :)

Anyhow - I wasn't sure the best way to proceed with the fix. Just put fiberglass over it and it would look rough, mismatched and probably would just happen again. there is no way the kids aren't getting the door ripped from their hands on the beach - no way that's not happening. It looks like the problem stems from the fact that Glendale didn't match up the stopper with the plastic piece that has the door catcher on it, though they did on the back door. Regardless, something has to be done here.

So I got an idea about using aluminum in a fair thickness to not only cover the hole, but also provide a base for future problems. The front door will be used all the time and will very easily take the most abuse. If I fix it right the first time, I won't have to think about it again, right? Now, where to get the materials.

First we (I asked Adam to fix it, since he broke it) tried to cut up an old sign I had laying around, but it was clear we neither had the tools, nor the correct materials with this one. I looked at going through the materials shop I used for the desk, but that was a lot of overkill in material, and then I'd still have to paint it and hope that it held up. Something made me look into sign shops, and I'm glad I did.

I ended up going with .08 aluminum signage, which is coated on both sides pure white. I was told if I wanted to do it from fresh stock that they had a minimum charge, per piece (I wanted to do both doors) of $30, and that was just too much - I could buy the material for 1/5 of that, maybe less and while I'd have to paint it, it seemed much more cost effective. The owner of the shop said that they might have material from past jobs in the back since I needed only small pieces (about 3" x 4"). I ended getting them to cut me two sizes - one 4 x 5 and the other 3 x 4. The pieces were a little beat up, but for what their purpose was I didn't mind a little scuff here or scratch there.

To put them on I unscrewed the door holder, then drilled the holes into the aluminum to match it. Since the thickness of the material wasn't that great, I wasn't worried about needing new screws. I covered the back of the aluminum with butyl tape, filled the hole the best I could with silicone sealant, filled the screw holes with silicone and reattached the door holder exactly where it had been, just with a plate of aluminum under it. I also added two screws to the two far corners of the plate to help with any kind of flexion, so no water would get under the tape. In the photo you can see the butyl tape squished out under the screws, and what it looks like after being scraped and cleaned (top right corner).

Overall I think its a great fix. The aluminum is thick enough not to dent or bend, it matches the outside of the RV, and I think it dissipates the energy from a door fling so that I don't have to worry too much about it. I didn't put on the other door plate yet, but probably will before we leave, just in case. Of course, I could just carry the extra with me as a precaution - it'll just depend on how much free time I have before we leave.