Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum - Wanted top portion of door

Quote:

Originally Posted by Becky (Post 17667)

We had previously rebuilt this door but we had a break in and they destroyed it.
No rebuilding. Door size is 26 1/2 inches wide.

Becky,

If you can't find one, consider making a new one. I used to have a conventional travel trailer years ago that needed a new door. I could not afford a new replacement and could not find a used one.

I started out by figuring out the door thickness. From that I subtracted the thickness of two thin sheets of plywood for the faces. This left me with the thickness of the wood necessary for the inner door structure. I bought some cedar 2X4s because of its low weight and rot resistance. These were ripped in a saw to 1 1/2 X the calculated thickness. I screwed and glued the wood to make the frame and included a support for the lock.

Then I got some Styrofoam insulation to fill in the dead spaces, make it more rigid, and help insulate. The foam I could find was about 1/4" thicker than I needed. To fix this I put it between two plywood sheets and walked on it, jumped on it, etc, until I compressed the foam to the required thickness.

One plywood face was screwed and glued on to the frame. Then I glued the foam pieces and installed the second face. After it was all dry, I made the holes for the locks.

To finish the assembly I mixed up some marine epoxy with a bit of thickening agent and gave it a few coats. The idea was to encase the wood completely. After that I painted the door, installed the locks, installed the hinges, and mounted it.

The door ended up being stronger and more rigid than the original.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it actually did not take much time.

Raul