[VAC] Re: Dometic M52

["Gary Quamen" <gquamen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Jim:

Here's a description I sent a friend on the list (FWIW)

It's fastened to the floor with 3 - 3/8" bolts. Then the counter top is pop
riveted to the sides of the fridge via two sheetmetal pieces that are also
screwed to the under side of the counter top.  Kind of like a saddle.

You can't drill out the rivets (3 ea side) on the sides of the box without
removing the panels on either side. In order to remove the forward panel,
the bunk must be partially dismantled.  On mine, the panel is screwed to the
edge of the counter top and the end of the towel cabinet and overhead bin.
It is also screwed to a wooden strip that is attached to the front/side of
the fridge. After all the screws are removed, the panel can be slid out of
the aluminum flange at the wall and removed toward the trailer door.

The other panel was a real pi.....  It is pop riveted in 8 places to the
side of the box (4 in the front - 4 in the back).  Of course, you cannot get
the drill to all of them without removing the midline bed in it's entirety.
I was not able to do that.  I could't get the first big floor screw to
unscrew.  So I ended up forcing a wooded strip between the side of the box
and the panel and pulling the rivet heads through the plywood where I
couldn't get to them with the drill.  It still would not come out.

So I removed the towel cabinet (not an easy task). Still no go.  No matter
what I did, this #@*! panel would not let go.  Finally after several hours
of this, I put the pry bar under the front of fridge and cranked up on it
and it went up and over to the right and the panel came loose.  Then I could
drill out the other 3 rivets that were holding the counter top on.

In retrospect, I think the fridge, that panel, and the counter top could
come out in one piece.  The aluminum flange on that side only had a few
rivets and they were all where you could get at them.  I think that this
would come out with the other pieces as well.  Perhaps mine settled.  I know
that the top of the panel was hung up on the bottom of the plastic vent
housing among other things.

Now the problem that I am waking up in the middle of the night thinking
about is how to intall the new one.  I've made a gruesome discovery about
the new one.  The box is not made of steel, rather aluminum and not very
thick.  For instance, in an attempt to make a lifting rig, I wrapped some
5/16" nylon 3-strand rope under and over the top and attached lifing handles
on each side.  Just cinching down on these ropes caused four small dents as
they pulled down on the upper corners of the box.  I had to duct tape some
aluminum angle over the corners to reinforce them enough to take the force
of the rope.

They used this for the outer skin of the foam "sandwich" that makes up the
box.  I suppose that being lighter is better, but I can't screw or pop rivet
anything to it as they did before.

It also does not attach to the floor in the same manner.  Rather than 3
bolts it attaches:

1.  Two long screws diagonally down through the front base in a kind-of
toenail fashion.

2.  Two screws from the top front into the front edge of the counter top.

3.  Lastly, two screws down into the floor at the ends of the support rails
near the outer wall of the trailer (back of the fridge).

The presumption is that there is a substantial structural "box" or rigid
opening to install into.  So although the fridge is the same overall size as
the old one, there are a number of issues to overcome and modifications to
the installation scheme will be required.  Certainly a good deal different
than what was there before.

Also, it might amuse you for me to confess another example of how I screwed
myself.  In the heat of the moment, I uncrated the thing.  Of course, I
threw away a lot of the packing material.  Yesterday, it occurred to me that
I could't transport the thing from my house down to where the trailer is,
laying down.  When I brought it home, it was in the crate.  So I spent a
good deal of the day yesterday making a wooden "skid" that will allow me to
slide it into the back of my truck myself, for the trip.  An experiment with
my wife concluded that she was not strong enough for the lift (hence the
lifting rig above).  I suppose I could rent a truck or trailer, but I'm a
cheapskate, plus I have plenty of time.  Additionally, this arrangement
provides time flexibility to find someone strong, but not too bright, to
help me get it in the trailer door.  I'm going to check today, but I don't
think I can skid it into the trailer the way I have the skid attached (to
the side).  The total width is around 25 or 26 inches the way I would have
to do it.  Better to have 2 people and shove it in the door the narrow way -
vertical.

Today, I'm going to try to put the trailer back together as best I can and
maybe imagineer a way to install this monster.

Of all the things I've had in my life, I haven't had a hernia yet.  Maybe
tomorrow.

Later,

GQ