The caravan gas locker door replacement has finally been completed after a couple of years. As we were about to leave a campsite several years ago the gas locker door was “thrown upwards” violently by the gas struts. This pulled the top hinge out of its screwed fittings and cracked the door badly. In order to travel we removed the gas struts and with longer screws (always carry a maintenance pack!) the door was secured again. Gaffer tape used over the crack. For a long time we just muddled along with the door gaffer taped and using a short prop. If raised too high (above horizintal) it came our of the hinge.
Reason for failure of the gas locker door
The design of these Elddis gas locker doors is poor. Even though there were many failures within a few years the company would not take on responsibilty and carry out warranty work.
The gas struts are very strong causing too great a force upwards. Something has to give. In our case it pulled out the screws securing the hinge for the door and twisted it as it opened. One large crack appeared that was very sharp as well.
The hinge design also is poor and it can be compared to 2 x U shape that clips together. Damage also occurs here and anyone who tries to refit the door will find it extremly difficult
The fix for the caravan gas locker door replacement
Options –
1- Buy a new door from Elddis. Cost was £1000 or more and the same problem would occur.
2- Buy a door from another company.
A) No doors existed in 3 years on caravan scrap dealers – I wonder why!
B) Buy a new door from Caravan Panels Ltd at £500 https://caravanpanels.com/products/elddis-caravan-locker-lid-013 These are made of fibre glass and not thin plastic. You still have to buy a hinge from Elddis as you will find you cannot get existing one off the door. Even if you did it is probably already damaged. Then there is also the cost of spraying the door and fitting.
C) Make your own for about £160 as described below.
The repair
The caravan is in storage which meant I had to do this in stages. If at home it would be a lot easier and quicker.
1. I removed the existing door to measure up – the following were taken from the caravan and not the door
A. 1.658 m x 590 mm height for minimum size for aluminium sheet.
B. 50 mm wide wood fitted internally behind the existing caravan body where the hinge is fitted.
C. Using a level across the face with the seal removed, the seal lip is 15mm proud of the lip. With the seal fitted it will be more. This is very important when hinges are fitted later.
D. Weigh the door so that you can compare with aluminium sheet replacement. (Approx 8 kg)
2. Refitted the door which was incredibly difficult even to part match up with the existing design hinge.
A week later –
3. Purchased 3.5mm plywood 607 x 1827mm for making a template.
4. Returning to the caravan I removed the door.
5. Caravan folding table with a cloth over it for protection used as a work bench.
6. Key locks and gas strut fittings removed.
7.Original door laid on top of the plywood marking around it with a pencil.
8. Mark position of the key lock holes. These are square but a 19mm flat wood drill is the correct size. This fits neatly in the square hole
9. Power supplied from caravan battery with an inverter I had already fitted previously. (I am at the storage facility with no mains power)
10. I cut the plywood using a jigsaw with aluminum blade – about 14 TPI (teeth per inch) will make a good cut.
11. Drilled out the 19mm holes for the key locks which are positioned 95mm from the bottom edge. You then have to file them to create 4 corners for the locks to fit. (Note these locks actually pull “inwards” to reduce the distance and make a good fit when the key is turned.)
12. Fitting the locks in the wood in a closed lock position, I rested the wooden template on the caravan locker door hole seal.
13.It is ONLY now that you can see the situation at the top in relation to the hinge position.
14. I found the height of the template too high. This was to be expected as it included the existing hinge. I then cut a further 30mm from the height and tried again. (Later it was found not to be enough)
15. This time with the seal still fitted on the door position I measured the gap as 19/20mm between what would be the inside face of a new door and the caravan strengthened wooden strip for the hinge. Also it should be noted that the 2 faces are not parallel which will cause a small problem if not allowed for later.
16. Now that I have a template I can order the aluminium tread plate for a new door.
17. Locks refitted to the original door and refit it to the caravan. This time it was found impossible to fit after trying for ages. Plan B went into action.
A. This was fitting the door onto the caravan resting in the seal on the locks as I had done with the template above.
B. The door was now about 10mm lower than previous clearing the ridiculous Elddis U hinge connection.
C. Select 3 exiting screw connections for the original hinge/or locator pieces for the hinge. Remove these screws which entails lifting off the door again. Putting the door back again line up and drill 4 mm holes in the lower part of the hinge still on your door.( I removed the door again to drill these holes so as to ensure I did not drill the caravan front!)
D. Put the door back and use exiting screws to secure the top of the door. (see photo) You now have a secure door. Note that in this photo you can also see the caravan body protrusion with the 50mm back support wood for the hinges.
18. I ordered a piece 17560 x 600 mm from The Aluminium Shop a 3mm thick checker plate 1760 x 600mm which I calculated would be a bout 8.85 kg before cutting to size. The original door was approx 8 kg.
In order to get a nice straight edge top and bottom they cut it for me to my requested width of 565 mm. This was a mistake as in the end I needed less. You should not order the aluminium cut to size until after you have fixed a new support bar for the hinges at the top. See item 28 below before ordering.
19. Remove the old locker door again which is now very easy with the 3 screws at the top.
20. Remove the fixed part of the hinge from the caravan and the small locating squares for the trim. About 6 screws.
21. Clean up all the old sealant below it. Carefully check for a small cracks on the front panel. These must be stop ended using a 3mm drill. Failure to do this may mean the cracks continue later and the cost of a new complete front is £1500 plus all the work fitting! These cracks have been a common fault on the caravan with repairs carried out by stop drilling.
22. For a new securing bar for the door at the top I was lucky to have cut offs from a house maintenance project.
Basically you need to fill in a gap of 20mm.
23. I used an Anthracite capping facia board from FloPast cut to a length of 1.7m. Together with a anthracite soffit board of 10mm thick to fit behind. You have to cut the lip so that it fits over the 10mm wide protrusion that the existing hinge fits on. The width of the capping board was cut to 80mm so that it went below the existing caravan hinge position. Again my soffit board was cut to suit which was 70mm.
You can buy 2.5m lengths of 18mm thick capping board.
24. I fitted my new support bar using 4 screws into the existing wooden bar in the gas locker. Plastic anthracite caps where used.
25. Then using the wooden template with door locks fitted I put it in position. In order to stop it resting on the caravan front frame I put some distance pieces under the hinge barrel between it and the rubber door seal. I used 4 x 3.5 mm off cuts which enabled me to adjust this height. It is easy to fit these by putting the template in position and tilting it outwards away from the caravan. You can then reach down the gap and fit them below the key barrels.
26. Mark your wooden template height to the new anthracite hinge securing bar
27. Cut the template to this new width and check correct.
28. Order the aluminium cut to this width.
29. When you get your aluminium lay the template on top and mark it out. I did this at home before going to the caravan and finding it was still too big as I had used the full template size.
30. Mark the position of the key locks 95mm from the lower edge. I only had a 12mm metal drill bit so after drilling I used a jigsaw and metal file. Make sure you do not make too big otherwise your locks will turn!
31. Having fitted your locks, position the door again as in item 25 with the distance pieces ensuring the door is close to the anthracite bar and a clearance at the bottom so it will open.
32. Having found all is Ok and you do not need to adjust anything remove the anthracite bar. Use caravan sealant on any crack stop ends and all screw holes previously used.
33. Use a thick coating of caravan sealant on the back of the anthracite bar and refix to the caravan with the position screws.
34. The hinges that I brought are shown below and it is critical where the first screw hole on the aluminium door is. The securing b olt must fit in the gap between the hinge anthracite support bar and the top the the caravan door seal. This is shown in the second photo below.
35. I then screwed the hinges to the anthracite support bar using long screws. I used 5 mm x 50 mm long stainless steel screws. The hinges were position below the centre gap of the middle and outside front window.
36. The aluminium plate was then put in position using the distance pieces below the key barrels again.to hold it off the bottom. Stand back and check it looks correct and up close to the anthracite bar.
37. Using a 5 mm drill mark the position of the first bolt hole. Remove the new door and drill it on a flat surface and refit with one bolt each side. Once tightened use the drill bit through the other hinge holes to mark positions.
38. Again remove and drill the holes.
39. Before fitting the door you have to isolate the the stainless steel and the aluminium because of galvanic reaction and corrosion. I did this by using off cuts of shed bitumen roofing felt. Any rubber or bitumen type product will do. Don’t forget the bolt threads and nut on the back either. Plastic 5 mm washer below the nut and sleeve the thread.
40. I used Hex head countersunk stainless steel 5mm bolts with nyloc nuts.
41. The new gas locker door opens up fully 180 degrees for easy access to change the gas! For my 10 kg Antargaz fibreglass bottle life will be so much simpler to change. At present I have not fitted a stay/support to hold it up and using the extended cleaning pole or the wife! Be careful if you do this in the wind. I do not think the caravan body is strong enough for heavy duty gas struts. I think the best way forward will be to decide what angle you want the door to open to and then fit manual stays that will clip on to a fitting on the door and the old gas strut fitting on the caravan
42. I finished the ends of the anthracite support bar off using a thin film of caravan sealant. This hid the fact they were 2 parts.
TIP – Use a spot of washing up liquid on you finger to spread sealant smoothly.
Costs
Aluminium plate (free 2 cuts allowed) on 1750 x 600 mm £115.96
Stainless steel hinges x 2 £27.76
5 mm x 50mm long stainless steel screws Pk 10 (only need 6) £3.89
Hex head 5mm x 16mm long stainless steel bolts Pk 10 (only need 6) £3.06
5 mm nyloc stainless steel nuts Pk 10 only 6 needed £3.53
Jigsaw blades x 5 £ 7.95
Total £162.50
Possible extras
Anthracite 2.5m x 175 mm x 18mm thick if you have to buy approx £32
Wooden template if needed £16
Would I do it differently?
Like most things having completed a job you stand back and consider other ways. These still may not be the best solution however!
1. Buy the hinges first ensuring they fit on the 50mm support bar and the first screw hole for the door is in the gap as shown above.
2. If you can leave the gas locker door off at home / in a secure area then i would do all the work fitting new anthracite support bar first.
3. Having fitted it check again the hinge fits in the correct area.
4. Measure the distance between the bottom of the door and 10 above the caravan front slot where the door fits.
5.You need not make a wooden template but just put existing door on the aluminum lining up the bottom edge and then cutting the two ends. Otherwise make a wooden template.
6. I would still not seal the anthracite bar to the caravan until I have made the new door and checked all is correct.