This afternoon I got my engine door repaired as said above with method explained. He cut the aluminum flat stock into several pieces that match the size of the inside hinge plate. He drilled out the rivets in the original hinge. He installed along with the original hinge 2 additional plates each of 1/8 inch thickness and 2 inch width and securing with new rivets. He added one additional plate to the other side after we examined the work (I did help!!!!
) and saw the need for adjustment on the left side. He also adjusted the right side rubber bumper thing (isn't this what non mechanical minded people call it --- a thing? :K) ).
Now I can lock the darn thing and I know now it won't come loose.
Here's the killer. I never asked his hourly rate --- he's a workamper -- isn't that what's it's called? A nice guy whose forte is actually working on big boats.....pleasure craft. Nice guy. After working for me 1-1/2 hours on this job I asked how much ---- he said $25. I said, you are joking, right? No, he was serious. He said that a lot of campers don't have money to pay and he gives away a lot of his time. You know, this really is a good world we live in as long as we come across the good people in it. I wrote him a check for several times that as I was expecting to pay lots more --- in fact, I was scared he was going to say $150. I did supply the material. But I am happy.
Here are some pics --- sorry, have no before ones. You can clearly see the work and it's not that pretty from the outside, but it does the trick. And, it's quite obvious the previous owner did some weird things to correct it and never did. He never tried this guy's method. Camping World is only 4 miles from here and I'm not sure they would know how to fix it. But, up close, again, you can see the stacked plates. But a car behind me would never see it. I'm told that fiberglass changes shape after time --- 11 years for this coach. It was probably right when it was new, but things changed.
