Locker doors

[Pete-B]

 

Good afternoon, Does anyone know where I could buy two internal locker doors in Autosleepers lime wash?

 

It just doesn't make any sense that AS provide two internal lockers with no access other than lifting the seat tops up which is very awkward with all the cushions in place!

 

I will try, but I'm almost sure that if I ask AS themselves for two of the doors they fit on other models, they will say we can only supply your dealer and they would no doubt charge a small fortune to supply and fit.

 

I've done a lot of joinery in my time so fitting two locker doors wouldn't be a problem.

[Keithl]

Pete.

 

A typical exterior locker door uses a frame with an infill panel and that infill panel is actually the piece cut out to make the aperture! So I would guess an internal locker door is made likewise?

 

But looking on O'Leary's website they do seem to also offer infill panels for exterior doors so they may also do interior...

 

https://www.olearymotorhomes.co.uk/motorhome-caravan--locker-doors-68-c.asp

 

Keith.

[Derek Uzzell]

Pete owns a 2020 Auto-Sleepers Warwick XL.

 

I think what he is looking for is a couple of extra doors in the same material and colour/finish to the doors of his motorhome’s INTERIOR storage lockers. The extra doors would then be fitted to the outside of the motorhome’s seat-bases to allow access to the seat-bases’ interior without having to lift the seat tops.

[Keithl]

Pete, Derek,

 

The point I was trying to make was that if the aperture was cut out carefully it could make the panel for the new door.

 

A friend has a VW conversion and it had a large barely accessible space down below a waist height door and he cut out a new door aperture lower down and used the cutout piece to make the new door. This way the wood grain was perfectly aligned. He trimmed both inside and outside edges with knock on edging. IIRC he used something like a 3 mm diameter router cutter to cut out the panel.

 

Keith.

[Pete-B]

Keithl - 2021-03-31 8:38 PM

 

Pete, Derek,

 

The point I was trying to make was that if the aperture was cut out carefully it could make the panel for the new door.

 

A friend has a VW conversion and it had a large barely accessible space down below a waist height door and he cut out a new door aperture lower down and used the cutout piece to make the new door. This way the wood grain was perfectly aligned. He trimmed both inside and outside edges with knock on edging. IIRC he used something like a 3 mm diameter router cutter to cut out the panel.

 

Keith.

Thanks a lot Derek, you usually come up with some good ideas

[Derek Uzzell]

Keith

 

Having looked at online images of recent Warwick XL interiors, it’s plain that my assumptions were wrong regarding Pete’s requirements as the high-level locker doors for this model are curved and clearly unsuitable for fitting to the bases of the rear seating.

 

Despite Pete’s joinery experiience, it would take a lot of skill to accurately cut out apertures in the seat-base fronts and make doors from the material that had been excised. The principle is fine and, if the seat-base fronts could be removed and the task performed on a workbench, with the right tools it should not be too difficult to do - but carrying out the task with the seat-base fronts in situ would be much riskier.

 

Plainly, if Auto-Sleepers fit to other models suitable doors that Pete could use (obviously he’d still have to cut out access holes in the seat-bases) and ‘face fit’ those doors, that would make life simpler. My Rapido has an empty seat-base with a lifting top and there’s a face-fitted hinge-down door in one end (photo attached below) that’s handy for inserting smallish items (bulky stuff still has to go through the top). The end of the Rapido’s seat-base is made of strong thick plywood, so the edges of the access hole don’t really need any extra protection and the door would disguise any minor damage in any case. Before cutting holes in a Warwick’s seat-base, It would be wise to establish what material Auto-Sleepers uses, particularly if the plan were to have the doors let into the seat-base fronts rather than face-fitted.

 

Despite Pete’s misgivings, it would be worth him exploring with Auto-Sleepers what the cost of obtaining suitable doors from them might be. Or to see if he can source the same material Auto-Sleepers uses for the seat-bases. Lightweight ‘caravan’ plywood is available if Pete wanted to scracth-build doors and - if he submitted the work to MMM Magazine as a candidate for a “My project” article - he might well be able to cover the cost of the exercise.