Log In | Register
Skip to main content
Topic: Cabover Emergency Exit Escape Hatch Cover (Read 20 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.
Cabover Emergency Exit Escape Hatch Cover
Yahoo Message Number: 102363
Has anyone bent the hatch cover back too far and snapped the rivits which led to braking the cover off?  What is your recommendation on repairs?  We contacted LD and they want to sell us a complete hatch vent, including quick ship at a cost of $130 and we would be responsible for sealing and installation of the vent.  Any other options??
Re: Cabover Emergency Exit Escape Hatch Cover
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 102377
rv_mates (is that really your name?),

More details might be helpful to suggest a possible repair.
 If indeed you only snapped the rivets, it would seem possible to replace them with pop rivets.  If you broke the plastic, you 'might' be able effect a repair with Eternabond tape.  I have had Eternabond on my emergency exit plastic cover for several years and it has held up well.  The plastic cracked near the edge where the rivets as far as I remember.

HTH

Barry Where are we?  http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=122
Re: Cabover Emergency Exit Escape Hatch Cover
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 102397
Quote
rv_mates (is that really your name?),
No, it's Ed and Jeanne Gaffney, but we really are RV_Mates says the toad license plate!!

Quote
More details might be helpful to suggest a possible repair.
Barry, thanks for asking!  However, there aren't many details to share.  We were about to leave our CG in the panhandle of FL and remembered that one of the grandsons had thrown something on top of the rig.  We opened the escape hatch and the 6 year old climbed through and retreived the object.  When we got up to about 40 MPH, the vent cover began flapping in the wind.  We took the cover completely off by unscrewing the two screws that hold the crank on.  Tara then had a sunroof!!  When we got home, we inspected closer and discovered that the cover was in good condition, but the rivits had worked out of the holes making the holes in the cover much bigger, but as you said they can possibly be re-rivited with larger rivits.  We called Camping World Saturday AM and they told us they probably couldn't fix it because LD uses brads, not rivits, ...so what's the difference??
 To make this whole senario even more difficult, we were trying to leave Tuesday to start out for Alaska.  We went out to the rig this morning and the 2 week old Shurflo 5.7 wouldn't budge...it's our 4th pump on our 2006 26.5 MB...bless her heart as we say here in the south.

Oh, well, it is what it is....

Ed and Jeanne Gaffney
Re: Cabover Emergency Exit Escape Hatch Cover
Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 102405
"they can possibly be re-rivited with larger rivits. We called Camping World Saturday AM and they told us they probably couldn't fix it because LD uses brads, not rivits, ...so what's the difference?"
 A brad is a wire nail with a very small head, typically used for finishing carpentry, where you don't want a big nail head showing. Lazy Daze does NOT use brads on the hatch cover! They use rivets. Whoever you talked with at Camping World was clueless. (Not unusual with them. ;-)
 I'd suggest you go to a local hardware store and buy a pop-rivet tool--shouldn't cost more than twenty bucks for an inexpensive one, and you don't need anything fancy--plus some pop rivets that are larger than the ones already there. If the old holes are too badly cracked, drill new holes in different locations, but make sure there are just as many of them. Insert the rivets. Don't worry--setting pop rivets is no harder than using a stapler. :-)
 Then cover over the whole riveted area with a strip of Eternabond tape. (You can buy it at Camping World.) That will absolutely prevent leakage, and as others here have already pointed out, will prevent any future cracking.

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Cabover Emergency Exit Escape Hatch Cover
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 102411
A few months ago, I was parked visiting a friend.  It was a very gusty windy day, with the wind from the back of the RV.  The hatch was closed.  Somehow,I still don't know how for certain, the wind lifted the rear edge of the hatch, broke all 8 rivets, and peeled the hatch off the roof, dropping it onto the grass 15 feet in front of the rig.
The plastic appeared to be undamaged.
I went to a hardware store and bought 8 sets of #8 bolts, stop nuts, and washers and used them to reattach the hatch.  So far, so good.
The up side of this repair is that I need not worry about the rivets coming loose again.  The downside is that if the hatch ever lifts like that again, the plastic will snap before anything else gives.
Ken
'08 MB
Re: Cabover Emergency Exit Escape Hatch Cover
Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 102412
"Somehow, I still don't know how for certain, the wind lifted the rear edge of the hatch..."
 If the escape hatch isn't snugged down really well, it can vibrate loose during travel. Once that happens, the airflow over the hatch lifts it upward, and vibrations are able to move the worm drive, allowing it to gradually open.
 On several occasions with both Gertie and Skylark I've found the hatch open as much as several inches after a drive. I've learned to make sure the hatch is down good and tight before driving. :-)

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Cabover Emergency Exit Escape Hatch Cover
Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 102419
Quote
Has anyone bent the hatch cover back too far and snapped the rivits which led to braking the cover off?  What is your recommendation on repairs?
I had something similiar happen with Blue-1990 model, and this was my fix:  we got a bunch of bolts (long enough to pass through all thicknesses, but not much more) nuts (nylon) and washers to replace all of the rivets.  Re-riveting wouldn't work in my case do to the limited space for the rivet gun.
 Took a while to install, but the fix has been sturdy now for almost three years with no loss of hinge ability.  I do notice that the lid will only go to 90 degrees and will flop down more easily.

Lisa and Blue Beautiful AM in Missouri Looking forward to Sedalia
Re: Cabover Emergency Exit Escape Hatch Cover
Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 102422
Ed and Jeanne,
 I see that Andy has given about the same advice I would have given.  The only thing I might add is that using washers with the pop rivets on each side of the plastic (if possible) might give extra strength and make it less likely to break the plastic again.

Good luck.  Keep us informed.

Also good luck on your water pump.

Barry Where are we?  http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=122

.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]