Adding an access door?

[wingnut60]

With some of the reports on them, probably too late to cancel CC charge. Whereabouts are they? Any reviews of them on internet, besides BBB?
EDIT:
Almost every review site I got to showed 1 star out of 5, especially as to the shipping charges--astronomical compared to normal rates.
Good luck getting the door.

[psikora]

Originally Posted by wingnut60

With some of the reports on them, probably too late to cancel CC charge. Whereabouts are they? Any reviews of them on internet, besides BBB?
EDIT:
Almost every review site I got to showed 1 star out of 5, especially as to the shipping charges--astronomical compared to normal rates.
Good luck getting the door.

The saga continues. I called rvpartsnation and they DID get back to me. They said the door is now delayed until 8/15. They said they could offer me a $75 discount. Recall the custom-made door is supposed to cost $160 and the shipping $140.

The original lead time, from when I ordered it on 4/2, was 8-10 weeks. We are now in week 18. All this could be on the door manufacturer. They said I could cancel. So I did. But not before finding what I think is an incredible deal for what I'm looking for. A door 5" narrower and 1" shorter for $65 including shipping.

Check out seller affordablerving_parts. It looks like they have odds and ends and possibly items with slight blemishes. At a savings of $135, I'll make it work. We'll see and report back.

[psikora]

Got the access door installed. Another adventure. Will highlight the trip.

Recall that I wanted to access some of the basement area not usually accessible for storage and and easier way to get in there on the rare occasion that I need that.

If I'm posting correctly, I think I have to add a bunch of pics which appear at the end and then I can talk about them.

OK, I can see they didn't upload in the order that I wanted. Oh well.

The first two pics shows the way I crawl through to get to under the area next to the basement. I had to do this once when I hard-wired a voltage surge protector into the circuit. Small opening, lots of plumbing to move out of the way.

The next pic shows the donor area where the new smaller door will go, between the basement access door and the shore power connection.

The last pic is a template I made of the opening I needed to cut. I first taped it up on the inside so I could cut right on the existing bottom support. Then I drilled pilot holes around the corner to make sure it lined up correctly on the outside where I taped the template up again since I was cutting from the outside. In 1974 I was part of a project that dismantled and moved a log cabin. The carpenters said measure twice, cut once. With all my careful measuring and leveling, for some reason I can't figure, the cut was still a little off.

[psikora]

The first pic in this batch shows the template taped up inside and shows what I found after cutting away the thin wall board, shot from the basement access door on the other side.

Next shows I'm committed now (or need to be). You can just about see the aluminum clad wooded frame member at the bottom of the cut. I wanted to use that to attach the bottom of the door. What I don't seem to have is a pic of the 1" aluminum tubing I used on the other three sides. In the previous pic, once again hard to see, on the right of the template, you can see where I cut away a thin strip higher than the rest of the template. i wanted that 1" tube to attach to the next existing frame member above where the door will be. Kinda like framing out a door or window in a house but since I didn't cut through any studs, it didn't have to be as elaborate. I then just added a piece of tubing across the top, and another one on the left side, using different combinations of L-brackets and T-brackets. On the left of the template you can see another frame member that I thought I could use but it stood away from the wall too much so I attached my tubing to it with a T-bracket. All in all, it came out pretty rigid. I can yank on it and there is no discernable play. It's a small light door anyway.

After the door was installed came the fun part. The next two pics are before and after shots. I wanted to clean up the area. I moved plumbing and wires out of the way to have a more open area and to protect those items. The wooden support you see is to keep the water away from the 120v lines. Even though the lines are insulated, apparently you can get current to jump to the water lines in a house. Maybe it only happens with metal water lines but since they went to the trouble of doing it this way, I followed suit. They did this precaution where you could see it but when everything went through a cutout in the floor to part below, they had everything touching in the hole. So I rerouted the water lines to move them away from the electric lines. Prolly overkill but peace of mind is priceless. And it was easier to do that then change my mind. (8-)

[psikora]

Figure out how to insert pics the way I have in the past.
The pic above shows all my emergency tire changing equipment for the RV in the storage area I just created.

This next pic is more space to the right of the newly created access area. I've already put my extra 25' 50-amp extension cord and extra garden hose in there.

The last pic shows the mostly finished product. The color of the door is lighter than it looks in the pic. I would have liked it to be closer to the body color but for $65... I added part of the original decal in the bottom right corner of the door but it's hard to see in this pic. You can see a bungee cord hanging. That's where I am right now. I found two pneumatic arms to hold up the door but have misplaced them. I could also order two of the magnetic catches to hold it up like on one of the basement access doors. That would be cleaner. I didn't know how the door would fit with the slide above it. It'll work but have to reorient the thumb latch on the left bottom so it doesn't hit the rubber gasket of the slide above it when opened. Might get in the way of the slide flange closing. We'll see.

Final thoughts. I wish I didn't have to cut through that beltline between the bottom J-wrap and body but since I wanted to use the existing frame member for the bottom support, I went that way. I guess I could have just added another section of 1" tubing on top of the frame member.

While this door is slightly larger than the opening I had been squeezing through, passed all the plumbing, because it is horizontal instead of vertical, it's not that much easier to pass through. If it was a little smaller, or I was taller than 5'6", it would be touch and go for getting in and out (not that I plan on needing it that much). The $300 delivered custom door that I ordered would have given me more room, but it would have come in white with white trim, and I know the spray paint I bought would not have held up as well as what I have.

This operation took the better part of three days. As much as I had fun and don't regret it, I'm not seeing a need to add another door next to the 50-amp connector to access that area. I'll just reach over from the new opening.

Mistakes. Scratched the J-wrap a little when cutting with the jigsaw. Should have put some masking tape down. And because I had to shim the door up on one side a little to be level, there was a little daylight I could see in the bottom left corner that the flange didn't cover. Liquid nails and silicon to the rescue.