1968 Travel Queen Resto Mod - 13. Exterior, Skin & Openings

Lil' Queeny is not a big camper. Even so, she has her fair share of unique features needing just that little bit of cover-up, in the form of exterior trim. While some of these are in original locations - walls as opposed to roof surfaces for example - my chosen trim (and really, a wider trim at the factory might have helped a lot of lost Travel Queen campers of old) would not bend as simply as the original smaller stuff. And then I also had some surfaces with more staples, or staples lines which had crept further into the sheet-metal field than they did originally. And that meant placing the wider screwed-on part to surfaces that had swooping curves.

I had intended to trim out the lower straight sections of the camper first, getting practiced up and working up to the trickier "bends" and "cuts" required in some of the gypsy-wagon rounded areas.

But you know me! I scrimped (meaning frugal) on my purchase so I had to be very careful in choosing my trim lengths, making up the big guys first and choosing the excess cut-offs for the smaller areas. And that meant building in curves and cuts from the get go.

But to compound that problem, I was out of butyl tape. Well, there was that small remaining portion of the last roll, and that big glob in the nut-jar from trimming ooze that I hated to throw away. Could that be rolled out, cut and re-used?

I think it's going to be easiest just kind of covering all that in the order it fell out. It's gonna take more than one day.

In an effort to help me plan an order for both rain gutter or j-trim, and more butyl tape, I measured out lengths and planned how many rows of tape per run.



I also decided against an interim choice of placing the wider portion of edge trim (with the screws) along the roof surface, allowing the smaller edge to bend easier around the curve of the front and back wall edges, because of all my structure screws along the edge. I calculated and discovered (what I already kind of knew), each trim screw had an equal chance of going in RIGHT AT a place where it would hit the head of a structure screw. No good. Back to plan A. Make the wide part bend, or cut it to allow a bend.

I started with one of the longest, the left rear wall/roof. These lengths were to be about 6'4" so required a cut off of one of my 8' lengths. You know, leaving 1'8" for a shorter area.

Just as important as where the cuts were located, and the extra holes for screws, were the existing screw hole locations in relation to the ends of the run. So there was lots of holding it up, visualizing, cut the end, start the run, learn the beginning of the curve, plan the holes and cuts, make the cuts, choose which tool best - 1/8" metal blade on the table saw, thin kerf blade on the jig-saw, the hack saw, or the 1/16" blade on the angle grinder, file, utility knife cutting excess from a cut, etc. Each piece became a custom fit and sized "part" for the camper. No longer was it a length of trim to "slap up", it became a "part". Like so much of the rest of the camper.

Then came the curves.



After each cut I pulled the trim in to make more curve, then I'd make another cut and another pull, then another cut until the curve was right and the cut was multiple, meaning if you straightened it out, it would be a wedge.

And that process built me my first test-bed piece at the left rear.



Now that I knew what I was doing, or at least what I was going to do, I built and fit, all four pieces (front left and right, rear left and right), prepped ends and set aside awaiting a polishing and some new butyl tape.



Then I built the opposing style, no cuts, just bends by forming into the cut plywood.





Here's some of the tools used.







And by this point I had my long lengths done, my excess pieces cut off to choose from, and I could put my attentions back onto the short sections, and that glob of butyl tape.

I cut the clear plastic Sam's Club mixed nuts jar in half and used every ounce of my strength to pull the butyl from the plastic insides. Did I mention butyl sticks?

Once I got "enough" I threw away the plastic and its remaining butyl. Then I placed the glob in the center of some waxed freezer paper, folded a length over it's top, held a heat gun over the mess and rolled it down with DW's marble rolling pin. Very difficult. When thin, heat makes it soft. When thick, it takes a lot of heat to make it form at all!

I could only get it down to about 1/4-1/2" thick. But guess what? Butyl sticks to waxed freezer paper! As it had done to the regular waxed kitchen paper I had tried to help "store" it with in the garage fridge all this time.

I finally discovered removing the paper from the butyl with a hot knife or scraper blade made my stuff fairly easily usable.



Providing one method of placing two or three tape thicknesses to a given piece of trim.

Once on the trim, I again heated the scraper blade, and smoothed or pushed and cut, butyl thickness down to "well-spread" and/or "correct-thickness". RV Repair shops don't have time to do that. I think that's why the place I bought mine from sold me that stack of rolls, because it was partially collapsed on one side of the rolls, and my ignorance with the stuff allowed me to let it worsen in my own storage.

But as of yesterday, I've got just about all of the glob used up, and just about all of the short trim pieces installed. I'll finish showing all that on tomorrow's post.

I got the door latches adjusted properly. Dead-lock plunger plunging, as designed. Door latch nice and smooth - single, crisp sounding "click" and then the dead-bolt slid right in. Oh yes! That's nice. And then I added foam tape sealer on the inside edge. Yup, threw the adjustment out of whack. So I still have that to address. I mean after foam tape compression right?



I got the stiffer stuff in 1/2" by 1/2". Maybe a mistake. I might need the even cheaper stuff. In some areas (because of the camper back wall being a "slight out of flat") perhaps a 3/8" or 1/2" wide but by 1/4" or 3/16" thick. I'll play with all that. It's easy and cheap to change.

But time to talk exterior trim.

I bought these aluminum sticks from Vintage Trailer Supply some time ago. The 14' bands are cut into an 8' and 6' for shipping in a PVC pipe tube you buy for shipping. Or you can pickup at the store.



The stuff here on the left is my original, both from Lil' Queeny, and from the parts Travel Queen camper.



Notice the significant difference in dimension.

And remember when I was removing the white paint and silicone and bears - oh my?! From these?



When I originally ordered, I wanted to see if there was any chance they could cut an 8'3" length, but nope. If I had been able to get 8'3", I might have done the camper corners slightly different, but they we designed with the 8' stick in mind. You'll see at the end of this post.

The bigger need was flexibility and bend-ability. Some aluminum trim I've seen described as "extruded" doesn't bend. Some aluminum bends and I think I've seen it referred to as "annealed". But I don't know.

In the days of rounded roofs and canned hams and stuff they bent the trim around the curves. Picture a canned ham trailer. The wall metal is slightly bent over the roof edge and the wide part of the trim screws to the roof covering the metal seam, the narrower shoulder folds over the wall edge and trims it out.

Now picture Lil' Queeny and her round roof. It is the ROOF metal that is folded over the walls, just the opposite of a canned ham. So all of a sudden, the seam to cover is the job of the wider part of the trim with the screws, and it MAY not stretch and bend without buckling!

I've described this conundrum before. But I've finally gotten my head into the game and done some planning.

I need to place a gutter order. This is the stuff I'm planning. It will be used in conjunction with the edge trim on both front and back roof to wall surfaces, and above the cab-over sides, and at the bottom edge of the front cab-over wall.

Because you know, I've found NONE of the old trim - edge or gutter, cleaned, polished and prepped, or not - will be used. Yeah, lots of work for not using. But holes are weird (extra previous owner holes to make it work) and it's pretty banged up. Pretty ugly. And on top of all that, it's too narrow. That's one of the biggest reasons I think Travel Queens got water past their seams. I'm going to try and rectify that.

Here are some "fer instances".

These are Lil' Queeny's original trims at the camper rear wings. But note the clever treatment to make the tighter turn without buckling. I may duplicate that.



And the original treatment for the front of the wings.



Every Travel Queen I've ever seen has a look of "uncomfortable trim". Most looked pieced, "make do", gaps, etc. And most leak and then get some sort of sealer (often the evil silicone) on TOP of the need, never underneath the trim, on top of the seam. Because if you remove the trim you risk damage I guess. But I didn't want that sort of ending to this rebuild.

Therefore, I got bigger trim, am using more butyl tape, will double up trim pieces in appropriate places (i.e. edge and gutter on the same corner in some areas).

Because of Lil' Queeny's opposite form compared to a canned ham, it's as if she's running down the road sideways!

Let's get started.

The first area I had to address was the bottom floor edge of the front wall - where I got a little high on the stapling.



I bought a simple 1.5" aluminum angle in 4'. After a bit of pre-drilling and polishing it looks like this.



And now as I look, I failed to get an installed photo. Look for it in future. The top edge came right up to the top staples, but pretty close. I intend to fasten a row of gutter just above it for that extra bit of seal over the staples, and for water hitting this leading surface it will direct the water runoff to either side of the camper and out of the truck bed drain holes.

Now here's a difficult spot. This is why so many Travel Queens look wonky here. The under-wing, metal jack grid has a steel tab that fits up onto the front wall surface. It prevents the metal from sitting flat visually, even with the Reflectix aluminized bubble wrap underneath.



So I wanted a piece of aluminum trim in here that installed "solid". And just like a rosette you put on a home interior door trim, where you butt trim boards into it, instead of mitering a joint between two pieces of door casing, I made some aluminum rosettes out of some scrap aluminum stock. Then I cut the short trim pieces and got holes evenly located.



Installed they look like this.





I know, that one side didn't go in plumb, isn't that a bummer? If it presents too much of a visual detraction, I'll have to address that.

And remember, these are the areas where the jack grid tabs had worn holes in the sheet metal that I repaired with the epoxy stuff! These are pretty big "problem areas" that are really coming together quite nice.

Now along the wing edges, front to back, this is where I put in my 8' lengths. On both, because of the corner aluminum angle dimension, there is a slight gap to be filled with a little caulking when I get to that point. But these too installed right fine.

Incidentally, because of the existing trim holes, I'm using #6 by 3/4" screws. They seem to be pulling in good. Should they prove too small in any given spot, I can first try a bit longer, and secondly a bit larger, like a #8.

So far so good.



And on the curb side.



Yeah I know, no bending yet. I'm still scared. But I think I'll cut some plywood forms into some inside and outside radial forms. Then I can use the rubber mallet to form the trim around these before laying a piece up on the camper. As Waylon says, we're learning a lesson a day!

Okay my friends - remember yesterday when I was talking about the dead-lock plunger? Well - just try and forget all that. It's wrong.

Well not ALL of it. But that part I was describing early on about how "I didn't know", so I Googled it? Fake News. Yup. That's what it was - hoax instructions.

And like MOST fake news, the Google hits I read didn't even SAY what I had concluded. Ohhhh No! But still, I did the concluding! Isn't that something? There's a lesson here for all of us.

You see I'm fortunate. I have this guardian angel who PMs me. Now had I Googled the subject MORE, and NOT gone into the subject with a conclusion already "mostly established", I might have been able to see the error of where my path was taking me.

A correct path like perhaps the article provided to me by my guardian angel.
Deadlock Plunger stays compressed when working correctly.

Okay, let's get down to the truth now.

The deadlock plunger actually DOES compress into the latch and lock mechanism. It does NOT slip back out (uncompressed) into the strike plate hole! Ha! See that makes sense now. The little plunger being compressed is WHAT causes the larger latch bolt to NOT be able to be pressed back into the mechanism with a credit card or screw driver!

So I'm going to slip back out to the camper today and adjust that latch setting and correct it. Even though on the specialty type framing of the RV door (or even the door stop on a conventional house door) there are other physical restraints to prevent the insertion of a screw driver or credit card, like the door stop for example.

And so, I may or may not, be able to get the effect of a slightly latched door - (for retrieving another beer or the tongs), and the tighter shut (for the locking at night or when leaving the camper), but I'm still confident we can "get 'er done" without the need to slam. And that's the main thing. ;)

Just thought you should know.

And thanks go out to my guardian angel. :)

This is the entry door frame, left side (door latch side) - what's called the door jamb in a home center door. This view shows the manufacturer prepped dead-bolt strike-plate area.



Yeah, unused for the past 49 years. I found the double pre-drilled holes interesting. The screw spacing is 2" center to center. I guess if you are "off" there's about 1/16" adjustment available up or down.

Here's the strike-plate that I found on Lil' Queeny's "latch" area (the door-knob portion), installed and ready to use. Note a couple of things. First is the half-moon wear on the left vertical edge of the opening. Second is the lower mounting screw hole missing shoulder material for the screw head.



Let's talk first about that half-moon wear. When you look at the door-knob side of the latch mechanism, you'll see the "plunger" that fits into this latch hole. Along with the plunger, on many lock-sets, you'll find a small additional plunger, along with the main big one. I had to Google what it is called, and what it is for.

For example, when you set the strike-plate depth, is the small plunger supposed to come into the large plunger hole? Or - is the small plunger supposed to remain compressed, in order for the lock to do it's job? I didn't know.

Come to find out, the small one is called a "dead-lock plunger". It IS supposed to extend into the main plunger's hole in the door jamb. Its purpose is to prevent a "credit-card" style of lock picking, where you slide a credit card through the area and release the big plunger.

(Edit - this take is wrong. See correct use in the next post)

So yes, when you shut your door, you should listen for the "double-click".

Was my strike plate really worn? Or did a previous owner file it to let the plunger work? Or did they come like that prior to a cheaper version of parts contract manufacturing in more recent years?

The second thing I point out is the retaining screw lower hole. Compared to the upper hole, you can plainly see the screw head shoulder is missing in portions of the lower hole. That prevented the plate from tightening down and staying put. It threw off the door latching.

This shows the old plate along with a new plate. Note on the new plate, a bevel on the one edge. That was the first grinding on the bench grinder, to allow the plate to sit flat against the door jamb surface.



But on the old plate, you can clearly see the missing metal shoulder where the screw head pulls it tight against the jamb.

So I required two new plates. About $5 a piece at the RV parts store.



The inside edge of the plate (camper interior side) rests on a raised portion of the jamb frame. That's why I beveled. I ground the bevel as much as possible, (to allow a flat install for the piece), but as little as possible to prevent reduction of strength to the piece.

This shows better, the angle and amount ground off.



All this latch effort was necessary, in order to get both the door to shut right (meaning tight), and to get the new, slightly larger profiled "bulb type weather seal rubber" to properly contact and seal between the door and the jamb.

I think the camper's back wall is slightly out of "flat". Meaning the bottom of the door doesn't press in as tight to the frame as the rest of the door. But with my latch adjustments, I think I have it sealed. We'll find out on the first dusty road we go down.

The adjustments were fine-tuned (now that I had a latch plate whose screws would hold it in place), and by sitting flat on the jamb frame, the screw wasn't tempted to break out the shoulder on the new plate.

In fine tuning, I reached a setting that allowed the door to latch (main plunger only) when barely pushed closed, like you'd do when you're back and forth getting marshmallows, and catsup, or burger buns and plates, back and forth out of the camper and trying to keep out the flies or mosquitoes.

But when locking the door from inside or out, a slight push/pull a little tighter, lets the dead-lock plunger extend, and the dead-bolt portion of the lock (above the door-knob) then easily slides in and out of it's latch plate.

What all of that means to me is, security is working as smoothly as intended, without ever a need to slam the door, bending and breaking parts in the process (I hate slamming doors). I wanted a tight seal when desired, and an easy latching when needed. No slamming. I think we got it.

The last thing to mention is, while we were working out the latching, closing and sealing, I changed out the lock-set. I'm sure I'll find another use for the brass one somewhere, sometime, but for us, the brass just wasn't working on this area. On went a brushed stainless-steel finish for the "aluminum look".



I also removed the brass washers from the door hold open parts (plunger on the camper and cup on the door),which had been placed prior, to help try and pull the brass knob colors into the aluminum of everything else back here. It wasn't working, so it got altered back.

On the inside, the "antique brass plate" and brass handle of the hold-open interior side (which used to be big bolts and nuts) was bothering me too. I cut a piece of "finished paneling" into a plate (to hide sheet metal holes) in an effort to provide a sort of transition from the silver colors found on the door, to the brass and wood found inside the camper.

We think it looks better, but my jury is still out. This thing may still get some attention or modification.



One thing is certain - I like the interior look of the lock-set much better than the previous one in brass.

I have found, building my camper has been kind of like a game of Chess. If you have the ability to think ahead a few moves, your game is going to be better than if you don't.

Take the last photo in the previous post for example. I gave (what appeared to be) a good reason for placing the access door latch on the left, because I'm opening with the key in my right hand. As it turns out, the latch on the RIGHT would have actually been best, as the entry door swing and hold-open position could have actually been allowed WITH the access door latch holding IT open, had the latch been on the right. But with the latch in operation on the left, it hits the entry door prior to the door grabbing its hold-open.

Live and learn. I have an extra latch (they came in pairs). I may place a second latch for this access door so that it has two, and gives me a choice. It just means more holes in the original metal, and that bothers me, but not terribly. ;)

While on the access doors, look close at that last photo - at the bottom black rubber seal. It's complete, across the whole door, and therefore, MAY seal out dust (if the rubber proves any good, which I find suspect due to its cheap nature).

Now compare that to these two access doors - at the propane cabinet, and at the lower fridge vent.

Here at the propane cabinet, note the bottom seal retainer track has been cut out. In this photo you can see where I "cleaned up" the jagged edge to protect hands, by using emery cloth and a file.



The door maker told me that by law they have to cut this, so propane won't "dam up" behind the edge, won't seal in, will pour out, if there's a leak. I didn't know that when I ordered the doors. If I had, I could have mentioned that I have an "escape hole" with screen in the bottom of the cabinet.

Instead I got the cut out edge, and it was as jagged and flesh-tearing saw-like as it could be! They also cut and pieced little black seal pieces back into the three small remaining tabs, that were not only incorrect lengths as often as not, but not crimped in place, so they have all slid out, some even during shipping!

Their black rubber seal was bulk on a roll, and took on the misshapen profile of whatever the heck the cheap roll of seal wanted to take. Much of it wouldn't lay flat. As part of our resolution to my order, I asked the maker to send me several feet of new seal I could use to repair bad portions of what they included. The new seal was just as bad as the first. Mostly unusable: twisted, folded and creased.

I had the same issue at the lower fridge vent door, but again, I cleaned up the edge.



Here's how it ended, with some small pieces of seal cut and placed, and then held in their spots by crimping the aluminum channel ends with a pair of diagonal cutters.





Note the difference between my more attentive 45 degree angle cut of the seal in the corner, and that of the door maker's. And I'm not bragging; I mean, this ain't rocket science.



They said they weren't used to working with regular people. Their customer is the RV industry manufacturer, where they sell bulk orders. So if you buy a new RV, you might want to pay particular attention to the access doors, as they may be made in a way that brings you pause AFTER you sign on the bottom line.

And that's all I have to say about that. :)

Spring has really been trying to interfere with winter jobs here lately. Yeah - it actually got a jump on us the other day and kinda forced us outside.

So this week has mostly been about Spring chores: some yard, some equipment, some spring cleaning (removing paint over-spray dust from EVERYTHING!) - meaning I've been pulling stuff down off the shelves again and cleaning each item - most require damp to wet washing of this paint dust from Lil' Queeny. Thank Odin most of my coffee cans have lids on! Those that don't - well dang.

If I paint again in this garage, it will include a proper ventilation thing - box fan I suppose.

But things are coming along. And need that reorganization every so often on a project like this. Have to step back and look at it from another angle.

Here was one of the bigger jobs this week that I am really pleased with. Snowplow becomes driveway grader.

Not sure if that link will take you to the exact right spot, but may need to scroll to the March 2017 entry, my page 7. Some of the very first posts discussed my original intention of making these plow parts work to both clear snow in winter, and fix and groom the driveway well in Spring and Summer, something I had been doing each year with a rake!

So got the jump on Spring and Summer coming, and prepping the back drive area for a new truck and camper covered parking spot. Still waiting on the bid for that.

In the meantime, installed some of these the other day, and the small door catch yesterday.

When I got ready to install these access door hold-open catches, I realized I had forgotten to make sure wood was behind each preferred location, so I had to choose location based on where the wood was! For the two big doors, they are lower than preferable, but they do the job satisfactorily, which is a big plus. We chose brushed stainless.

Right-rear Propane Cabinet.





Left-front lower fridge-vent and storage cabinet.





Rear dump-valve access and storage compartment.





We're right handed, so all the catches were placed on the left sides. These are something you don't think about until you don't have them. Then you discover they are a necessity.

Okay let's get this entry door onto the camper.

With the interior door trim boards finished - just the side pieces, top board still to do - I got those screwed back onto the previously marked and drilled spots on the interior wall.

Moving outside, I used masking tape to mark approximate locations of the starter screw holes.



Then got the butyl tape onto the door side flange and those four starter screws in through the putty and sticking out like little daggers, butyl covered daggers, but daggers none-the-less.

Then while I nosed the top edge in under the eye-brow, DW started the upper screws while I held the sticky butyl away from the camper surface. Then she went to the lower screws and started them, as I pushed the door closer. With all four screws started, we pressed the door tight onto the opening.

Then I got all the screws in and drawn down mostly tight. As described, the longer side-screws went into some camper wall, in some cases missing the "too wide" opening all together, and into the interior side framing/trim/fastening boards. The top screws all hit camper wall, and are currently the shorter ones. Once the header trim board is done, those shorter screws will be replaced with the longer, just like on the sides.

At the bottom, the screws all went into soft fiber board - they have become decorative only, and are held in with sealer.

To make a retainer strip for the bottom flange, I took Lil' Queeny's original damaged threshold door frame aluminum piece, the one that screws to the camper floor area, and cut me a retainer flange out of it, ripping it on the table saw with a metal blade. But before it could go on to hold that bottom door edge tight, I had to add the new aluminum trim metal to the camper's bottom rear edge.

This stick of trim is part of a complete order I made with Vintage Trailer Supply quite some time ago. I'll describe it better when I start putting it up all around, but suffice to say for now, I mitered corners and added two layers of butyl tape.



Here's a close up of how the retainer trim piece works. In this photo, note the lower edge trim at the bottom. At the top is the bottom frame of the door. In between the two is the retainer strip, kind of bridging the area to apply inward leverage against the lower door frame.



It also uses butyl tape for sealing, but the retainer doesn't contact the sheet metal. I think it will hold that bottom door frame just right, as the retainer's screws are the 1.5", and all go into the floor 2x2 framing across the back. By having effective fastening locations for the door (as opposed to this original failure design from the factory), and by having the floor fixed tightly to the wall (as shown way long ago in the "Structure and New Wood" category far, far away) I think this will correct the fear of having the floor fall off and drag the door down with it - you know - the way I received her!

And incidentally, the rear access door is in the same boat! The bottom flange was short enough, that I hadn't noticed when I put in its screws. But I will make a similar matching retainer for it, to avoid a water leak on its bottom edge too.

And then, to avoid door-knob dings in the sheet metal, the "hold-open" hardware had to go right up.

I had already cleaned and prepped the original part. These are still available. I could have gone new, but I think the older ones look better, stronger, less like copies and more like original design, if you know what I mean.

In the past somebody had put this on with 1/4" bolts and nuts, all the way through the door thickness, so there were holes in the door metal (inside and out) which needed to be covered, as opposed to no cosmetic need that might have simply allowed some wood screw fasteners on the outside only.

I drilled out the door's new wood and we chose to cover the interior side holes with one of our extra, original cabinet handles, with an additional face-plate from another drawer handle, somewhere along the line. I think we might paint that face-plate the cream color like the window screen frames. Here's how it worked.



And here are the big picture views.







I thought this was cute. The view perhaps from a child's eye as they reach for the door to get another cookie from Gra-Ma!



And opened up.



And from the inside, all snugged in.



I could do the top board any time now, but was waiting on deciding its exact shape, until after I get the bathroom plumbing (two copper lines) run across the top here. However, it's shape is determined by not only the water pipes, but also the curve of the ceiling line, the desire to retain as much of the black as possible, an interest in duplicating Queeny's scroll work found in other places, the wood cover all the way to the porch-light hole to act as a wire channel under the board, a planned brass hook, and the flashlight mount. All of those things will be participants in the final design. And you thought art was EASY!



I'm still not sure about the choice of a brass knob, from inside OR out. That might still get changed to a brushed stainless finish. If I can find a use for the brass one, just because I'm so tight.

I am still working on this entry door installation. In fact I got a second coat of poly on the two side-trim boards yesterday. One more hit with steel wool and a final third coat, and that door can go in! So that will probably get reported on, here in two days.

But while waiting, some other parts have been coming in, and getting put on. Let's start with the water heater door.

There were two types of doors available for this water heater (I think - the information was a little cryptic), a door that has hinges on the bottom, and a door called "flush mount", which has two small pins at the bottom and fit into holes in the bottom of the door. When opened, the door is completely removed and set aside.

In my research, I determined the flush mount was my best choice (but due to age, I can't remember exactly how I came to that conclusion). At any rate, it is the one that arrived, and it seemed to fit well, so it got installed.



I verified all was done and set back here.



Also establishing proper setback - heater housing to camper wall - up here, then chose proper screw sizes and total number and placement, then pre-drilled, purposely working toward a straight-in screw shot for the drilled hole, even with a screwdriver needing to be on a slight angle, and fastened it down tight trying to minimize distortion of the housing.



Then I put three layers of butyl tape down, because the metal frame had quite a cavity to fill.



And inserted the three specialty screws to pull the door frame and butyl tape into the camper wall and the heater housing. You can't tighten this very much, as you can see, so I intend to really work the butyl. Maybe a heat gun, before cooling for final trim, and of course, caulking around it as with all the attachments. I also still need to seal/caulk between the inner housing and the inside edge of the frame, according to instructions. That way, a draining water heater won't send water intrusion into the wall from the inside.



So now from the outside, we have a mix of vintage and modern style - retaining the character, while modernizing and adding new functionality and capability. The look is about as exact as I imagined it.



PPL RV Parts in Houston also came through for me. They sent me a battery box vent kit, due to the original order missing the vent grill. No shipping or extra charges, very considerate email coordination. I'd deal with them again, no hesitation.



And then this wheel-well access door, with the two mistake holes? And the latch part that juts out past the camper box wood? I cut a little block and painted it with some of the OD green in a spray can I used on the jack under-grid metal. Located some appropriate fasteners, and got the block installed to prevent the catch from getting "caught": and to fill the mistake holes with something that looks like it's doing an important job!







I've been planning propane. We'll start seeing some work under that category.

When you buy a door from the home center, right where the door knob goes, they nail the door shut. Without a lockset on the door, it wants to swing open, and it's easier to install, not to mention ship or store, when the door is nailed shut.

I found evidence of that on my own camper door frame, where a small screw had been run though the door edge into the attached door jamb aluminum. I put a screw there to help keep it closed and "sized it up" on the camper.

First I leveled and plumbed the camper itself on the rolling dolly beneath. Then with the door in the camper frame, I shifted it up and down and back and forth in the rough opening and plumbed it level, or did I level it plumb - I can't never remember that. And verified all screw holes and imperfections on the rough opening edge were covered by the door flange. Once that was all done, I noted exactly how to place it and shift it and took it back out.

Then I called DW to assist. With her outside, and me inside, we got the door back into place. Now from the inside, I could see all around the edge and determine just how bad it was!

How BAD it was? Yes. You see, back when I built the back wall of the camper, I didn't know NEAR as much as I know now about "birthing baby" campers! Back then, I thought "just use the old piece as a pattern template". It wasn't until it was time to cut window openings in the front Vee-shape nose cone, that I started thinking about cutting the holes to minimum actual size needed!

And after thinking about that, and then actually working on the door, I did the measurements, and I knew the rough opening was quite a bit bigger than it should have been. Now I have to fix that.

I am fixing, using interior structure and decorative boards, that I am calling "door framing" and "door jamb" and "door casing" - or trim boards. The original camper had the same thing in 3/4" plywood strips. That way, the door screws (holding the aluminum door flange to the back wall rough opening edge), instead of being 3/4"-1" long and ONLY going into the back wall plywood, where over time it could destroy the wall edge, will instead go though the back wall 3/4" plywood, and INTO a 3/4" thick solid wood board too, allowing for a screw up to 1.5" long! And that board can be replaced in future if need be, instead of the back wall itself. But with a good build, and using 1.5" screws to help balance load, it is very unlikely any of it would ever need to be replaced. That's the main benefit of a strong, correct build. And it will be solid. And solid means effective weather sealing.

After all that evaluation, I took it down to install the door knob, allowing for both secure shut, and opening for installation pass-though needs.

Remember we chose brass, for the interior. Would have preferred silver on the outside, but cheaped out when it came to the waste of buying two locksets. Instead we'll "talk-up" the brass hardware, like the welcoming message of that red door on your house!





Then with everything ready and within reach...



Up it goes. After plumb and level, I got two screws in top and two in bottom. Then with the hinge side good, and spaced correctly, adjusted the spacing between the latch side door and jamb, and put a small screw in to hold it there.



The next four photos show just how much larger the rough opening is than the door frame. The flange mounting screws are right on the edge of the plywood, setting the installation up for failure. In some spots, the screw would only touch the rough opening edge, not even offering any bite!





At the top, it's not as bad, and I could have even raised the door to lessen it.



But I want the bottom aluminum resting on the strength of the floor, not hovering high, requiring extra support. And you know how people are, they ALWAYS step on the thresh hold. It gets some abuse.



The block of wood is the thickness of our finished floor, so it is there as a spacer while measuring and cutting the new interior trim boards - not yet shown.

And while on this subject, the bottom screws for the door are ALSO going into nothing! Yes, you heard me! Is it any wonder the Travel Queen doors are so frequently in fail state? Remember the floor construction? I copied the original style. Top is 1/2" plywood, then an insulator board, generally used for sound deadening, called fiber board. It is weak and offers no bite for a screw, and it is the next 1/2" layer down before the 2x2 floor structure begins. And the door flange bottom screws just HAPPEN to line up in the fiber board layer!

But I've got that answered already, a fix on the way. With all my plans, the entire door: sides, bottom, and top, will not only be secure and tight for weather seal and functional purposes, but it will be MUCH better than when new. And the parts will be removable and custom built in sizing for this particular camper.

Where those interior boards screw to the back wall, they needed to be away from flange screws. I placed blue tape at the flange screw locations, so I could more easily tell where to avoid interior screw placements.



Then I ripped and sized and marked and drilled for their mounting screws. The exact number of screws were determined for multiple reasons, ranging from "looks" to placement of "plumbing clamps", and DW was involved, as she is in so many of these final "looks" decisions. She's really good at it, and you're going to start seeing that come out in curtains and bedding.

These boards were originally a 1x4 Select Pine. Now one is 1 7/8" wide, and the other is 1 3/8", based on distance from their respective sides (bathroom or galley window).

Also, the wider one on right requires a certain width for fastening bathroom plumbing. Yes, that will be hot and cold copper, are you kidding me? Pex? Now don't be silly. ;)



Now from the inside.





The top board comes later, as plumbing is required first in order to get proper shape and look of the upper board (it will have multiple functions and necessary looks to accommodate such).

And here from the outside you can see how much more bite this will offer the mounting screws.





With both the door and the interior boards in place, each screw hole got pre-drilled.



Then with the door back off, each hole got pre-drilled to it's full "just under" 1.5" depth. Want to start right off the bat keeping the screws from splintering and damaging that back wall plywood.



Then everything was taken down for finishing. We'll see you back here on this job, after stain and three coats of poly. What's next?

Thank you Dak. Yes, those first hurts are hard. I've already got a few from right here in the garage! To be frank, I'm surprised there aren't more! One day I'll make a "damages" post to list them, along with my intended fixes. I guess I already fixed that one with the smoke detector.

But all along I have been trying to build this in such a way that I can make repairs here and there when needed, without a major production. Guess I'll see how that works. ;)

When last winter's long process of restoring windows ended, I was only part way through the entry door, as the last of that sort of item. And I was really tired of polishing aluminum by then. And of tearing each window (and now door) down into small pieces for major work, and then reassembly. Yeah, that was just getting old.

But I had that garden to re-work and a new green house to put up, on a timber foundation, before the growing season started, and we did it too!

Plus I was waiting for the new entry door weather seal to arrive, at first.

But when I got all the parts back out, here a couple days ago, I was kind of discouraged. More steel wool. And my hands had just started feeling better!



Look at all that work! There's the screen and screen spline. That can be put over here. And the new vinyl seal in the bags, and the old that was removed. Even old, it would probably do a better job on those access doors than the cheap, flimsy stuff that came with them. That gets saved over there.



The window unit, the retainer frame and the screen frame, those weren't so bad! A good scrubbing in the laundry sink and a little finish with steel wool, yeah - that's the ticket.







Oh, that's better than I thought it was! It started out pretty good and didn't require dis-assembly. The door was built by a different manufacturer than the windows. Just sub-contractors to Travel Queen. The window sits on the exterior side of the door and the retainer ring frame screws to it from the interior side, sandwiching the door and making the butyl tape seal.

And the inner aluminum frame that fastens to the door, I had already polished that. It just required a touch up, and then the new weather seal.





DW and I got that pulled into the channels.



And then it was on to the first actual cleaning and eventually the finish polishing of, the outer aluminum door framing.

Well nothing gets the job done as well, as just getting started on it.

Okay, now how does this fit the back wall?