Bay door project

One of the challenges with a Newmar Motorhome is that our bay doors are, uhm, sometimes problematic. When we were at the Nappanee service center last August, other owners talked about the "Newmar slam" - the hard slam required to get the bay door latch to catch - and the fact that the latches often get bent as a result, and then require replacement when they get mangled. 

Some of our neighbors in the "campground" at the service center had newer coaches and they were built with a plastic guide that would guide the catch into the latch. This was supposed to mean that the latch would not get bent as easily or often. (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2023/08/day-2-at-mothership.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2023/08/day-3-at-mothership.html)

While we were at the service center, we got some replacement latches, and we checked the prices for the plastic guides -- Newmar is rather "proud" of these plastic guides and has them priced at $40 each. With 10 bay doors, this would be a $400 investment for plastic parts (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2023/08/day-4-at-mothership.html). We had seen a video of a fellow who indicated he was making them for himself from a plastic cutting board (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2GZAltaeiQ), so we decided to give it a try. 

We had the tracings of the two plastic shapes that Carl had created at Nappanee, and we had a plastic cutting board that we bought at Walmart. He had thought he might be able to use the wood shop here at Venture Out to cut the pieces out, but decided to get a scroll saw to use for himself. Harbor Freight was running a clearance sale one of their scroll saws, having it on sale for $85 (comparable to a $299 unit) - so he ordered it and we got it a few days ago.

Setting up scroll saw

Cutting one of the plastic guides

He had put blue masking tape on the cutting board and traced the shape of the plastic guide onto the tape, and then he could cut along the lines with his new saw.

Initially, he found that, although the saw cut the plastic, the saw blade got so warm that it melted the plastic so once he had cut a portion, it welded itself back together as he continued on with his sawing. He realized he needed to use a wider blade, and run at a slower speed so as not to generate as much heat...

Three finished of one type

The two tracings he is using to mark with

He hasn't had a chance to try installing them yet, but he has 4 cut of one type, and has 5 cut of the other. If they work, he will cut a couple of extra of each type for us to carry with us as spares.

It is nice to have such a handy husband!