adding a storage bay door

[Floridafran]

Hi all,

Has anyone had a new door added to access an existing area under their coach from a different side? Let me explain our situation and maybe that will make what I'm asking, clearer.

We have a 2011 Vista 30W (gasser). The only full-width under storage area we have is across the back, but it's only full-width in the upper part. The lower part is full-width about 3/4 of the way across, then steps up to a "shelf" that's at the floor level of the coach (even has the vinyl on it). In addition to the rear bay door, there is a door on the passenger side. There is no door on the driver side to access that "shelf" area.

We'd like to turn that "shelf" area into the place where we could keep the litter box for our cats. We know how we could give them access to it from inside the RV and how we could close that area off to prevent them from getting into the rest of the storage bay. The problem is having access to the litter box for cleaning and re-filling purposes. While we could make it work with the set-up we have, it would be a real pain in the rear. The ideal would be to have a new access door installed on the driver's side.

Had we thought about this before we ordered the Vista, maybe Winnebago could have done it has it was being built. But we didn't. I know we'd need to check with Winnebago first to be sure there was nothing in that sidewall that would be damaged if a hole were cut, or if there was any other reason not to do it. But assuming there isn't, we come back to my original question.

If you have had a new bay access cut into the side of your RV, did you take it to Winnebago in Forest City, or have it done elsewhere? If elsewhere, did you get Winnebago to supply the bay door so it matches the RV? Do you think is a bad idea and we should just make it work out some other way?

Thanks for any help and guidance you can give me and please forgive the length of this question.

Fran

[tiggertoo]

I would talk to the factory before I tried anything to make sure that you don't void the warranty.

[offthewall]

Sounds like a lot of expensive work for a litter box.

[John Hilley]

Take a look at this Storage Access Door, That type of door is fairly inexpensive and would fir your needs nicely

[Floridafran]

Thanks for the replies.

tiggertoo,

We'll definitely contact Winnebago before we do anything.

offthewall,

Yes, it is an expensive fix, but we're just tired of moving the dang thing and can't find a good spot for it anywhere else. And, truth be told, one of the deciding factors for buying an RV was so we could take the cats with us and stay gone for more than the 2 weeks we had limited ourselves to. So these cats are already expensive. Since we seldom had to pay for our airfare, our old way of traveling cost less than what we pay now when you figure actual $$$$ spent. But, like the credit card ads say, some things are priceless and so can't be used to balance the costs. If, God forbid, something were to happen to all 4 cats, we wouldn't sell the RV and go back to our old way. We like the freedom we have now to travel on our schedule.

John,

Thanks for the link. Even if Winnebago tells us there's no reason we can't put the door in, I don't think we'd have the nerve to do it ourselves. In his misspent youth my husband glassed surfboards before realizing college wasn't such a bad idea after all and more recently did minor fiberglass repairs on our last two boats. But cutting a hole in the side of the RV? I don't think he would do it himself. (Needs somebody to blame if things go wrong, you know. )

Fran