Side hatch repair

[Martin P]

I need to repair the inner skin of my small cargo side hatch. 1200mm x 400mm approx.
Has anybody ever dismantled one?

 

[r4dent]

Never heard it described as that, do you mean a locker door?

Photos would help clarify what you are after.

 

[Martin P]

Yes locker door. The one at the back. They seem to have various names. The inner skin has suffered water ingress and is in pretty poor shape.

 

[Boris7]

Think photos of the inner skin would be useful. Also where has the water got in?

 

[Martin P]

Will get some pictures tomorrow. The door panel has an aluminium frame around it which seems to be made from 2 parts with no visible fixings to hold them together. I'm going to have a go at it tomorrow. Wish me luck!

 

[Martin P]

Here is the hatch in its component parts. The panel is a sandwich made from an aluminium outer skin polystyrene inner and plywood back. Water had got in and badly damaged the plywood and where the locks went through the plywood had completely collapsed . The lock washers had lost grip allowing the entire lock barrels to spin. The nuts on the back of the locks had seized up solid and had to be sawn off.

 

[Martin P]

Splitting down was probably the hardest part of the job. There were no visible fixings apart from a plate like this which was riveted from the inside. These I drilled out

 

[Martin P]

Then it was a case of running a blade around the ally section to break the sealant seal then once I could pull the end apart I could prise the inner section off the hidden clips

 

[Martin P]

I had some 3.5mm ply and some .75 ish laminate so laminated up both sides of the ply.

 

[Martin P]

After cleaning off the failed ply from the hatch panel it de laminated down but left its face veneer still firmly stuck to the polystyrene . This suited me well as I was able to contact my new panel to this.

 

[Martin P]

I re riveted the joint plate, refitted the clips and smagged everthing up including the edge of the repaired panel.
The inner ally section just presses in and is caught and held by the clips

 

[Martin P]

The finished panel and re fitted.
Better job than the original

 

[Robmac]

Nice job Martin!

 

[Martin P]

Nice job Martin!

Thanks Rob. Very kind of you. I have benefitted many times from the wonderful knowledge base on here so I am very happy to share the project on here and hopefully contribute something to that base.

 

[trevskoda]

Nice well sorted job, you could have also used glass fiber with infill, your job will prob last 20 years anyway.

 

[Martin P]

Thanks Trev. I think I'm probably like you and go for what I've got in stock first

 

[trevskoda]

Thanks Trev. I think I'm probably like you and go for what I've got in stock first

Waste not want not.