[VAC] Rear compartment door.

["Nick Novia" <nnovia@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Polly
Sorry to hear about that damn door! 

The door from Inland, at $225 before taxes and shipping....fit.  One of the
problems I found was with the opening in my Safari's framework.  It was a little
elongated, mostly because of small tears at the bottom corners.  The bottom
frame was dropping down some. I think because of all the road travel/vibrations.
 I screwed an "L" bracket in the corners to stop further tearage.  (is that
a word?)

Then....and I thought this was pretty slick...I went to my local plastics source,
and bought a 1 inch thick, 39 inches long, 5/16" thick piece of plastic.  It
was HDPE.  I could have bought teflon, but it was 10 times more expensive. 
I paid about 2 bucks! I located the strip on the top of the bottom frame opening,
made it flush to the aftmost edge, and drilled six holes spread evenly into
the old aluminum frame.

I countersunk the holes and screwed in 6 flush stainless screws to hold it down.
 

Then...the door from Inland fit pretty good.  This might have saved my original
door too!  It mae the opening just a little smaller, which keeps the door from
sliding up and down!

The door from Inland, while it does fit, it is not of the same quality.  For
one thing, there is no framework around it.  It is just two thin aluminum skins,
riveted together, with a bit of insulation foam in the middle.  It is about
3/4 inch thick, except at the edges, where it is just two skins thick, about
1 inch all around. 

It did slide into the top groove OK, but the "T" handle latch is crap.  Once
you caulk, and screw it in, it still wiggles too much.  Then, when you locate
the lacking adjustible latch arm on the 5/16 shaft, it too moves too much. 


 This adjustible latch arm needs to be thicker, or made of stainless.  As it
stands now, once my door is latched, you could pull it right out if you yank
hard.  The latch will just bend out.  I still duct tape it for safety, at least
until I was gonna replace it.(but now it's sold)

Also,  there is no facility for the license plate.  I guess he(you know who)forgot
about that.  You can't just drill a hole and bolt it, because you would crush
the door! There's nothing in the middle to support the pressure.

It needs some riv-nuts, or something squeezed into the exterior skin.

So there..it fits, but it's just a cheap  (figure of speech) facsimile.

Nick
PS, I'm still hoping someone finds mine, and the plate!