Shower door adjustment

[Larry C]

Can any of y'all give me an idea of what the most simple way to adjust the glass shower door in our '96 34' Classic?
Thanks in advance.

Larry C

[Foiled Again]

Larry, wear and tear will let the shower door sag. The easiest way to fix is to get a piece of heavy plastic, pry the door upward and insert the plastic under the hinge. From what others have posted it looks like a modern white plastic sink cover has been cut up and a piece anout 1 inch by 2 inches long has been used. I am guessing tjat it has veen glued or caulked in to keep it stable.

I with a bit of help from an experienced tech went down another path and installed a new door.

Www.stoett.com

[DaveP]

2x Stoett shower door. My glass door fell to the floor last fall on a gravel BLM road. The hinges were so worn that they could not be fixed and I did not want to just replace with a new glass door. Also, the Stoett door is about 25% of the weight of the glass door.

[Foiled Again]

Stoett makes a Nautilus door that is original equipment in some Airstreams.

It only takes 20 min. To install.
See you tube video.

Removing the old door - about 2 days. Grrr.
Hints:
Inside six visible screws are square head drive, not phillips, though corrosion makes it hard to tell. The side pieces are all gunked up with caulk. Herculean effort and foul language are required to free these pieces.

Removing the door itself, which can and probably should be done first, is accomplished by finding the screw at the top of the hinge, removing it, grabbing the white plastic tube that serves as the hinge pin and pulling it out then carefully taking the door outside. It CAN shatter.

There are actually two pieces of trim on each side.. stop pulling when you reach the WHITE metal -THAT is the base to imstall the new door on.

The new door has double sided tape on it, but on my shower the white aluminum was screwed on with round top phillips head screws. We replaced these with counter sunk flat headed ones, sometimes drilling new holes.

From that point it was fairly easy to dry dot the sides, pull off the cover on the sticky tape and install them

The top and bottom rails have to be cut to size, so be very careful... a too short rail and your shower is out of commission until you order and receive replacements. My slilled help cut tje second one an imch long... only a moment of Duh to redo.

What a pain in every region to get the old door out, but LOVE the end result. No more "door wars" between the shower and WC door. Need a place to stow stuff while making the hellish side queen bed? Want a granny cart for laundry, beach balls, etc - but found it difficult to wrestle im and out of the shower? Well tah dah. It almost feels like my 25 grew into a 27 footer.

But OMG AIrstream factory PLEASE stop using 6 lbs of caulk to put in the glass doors. 3 oz should do it. OR just use the Stoett Nautilus.... it weighs a lot less too.

Paula

[Larry C]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

Larry, wear and tear will let the shower door sag. The easiest way to fix is to get a piece of heavy plastic, pry the door upward and insert the plastic under the hinge. From what others have posted it looks like a modern white plastic sink cover has been cut up and a piece anout 1 inch by 2 inches long has been used. I am guessing tjat it has veen glued or caulked in to keep it stable.

I with a bit of help from an experienced tech went down another path and installed a new door.

Www.stoett.com

After reading your response, I'm gong to call Stoett today. We've owned 4 Airstreams over the years, and between the hinge problem and the latch, it seems like we're constantly repairing something in the shower area.....
Thanks so much for your response.

Larry

[Larry C]

Originally Posted by DaveP

2x Stoett shower door. My glass door fell to the floor last fall on a gravel BLM road. The hinges were so worn that they could not be fixed and I did not want to just replace with a new glass door. Also, the Stoett door is about 25% of the weight of the glass door.

This sounds great, as I mentioned earlier, I'll be giving Stoett a call this morning......The glass doors have been a constant problem for years....

Thanks for your help and advice.

Larry C

[Larry C]

After taking the advice from Foiled Again, and DaveP, I measured and called
Stoett and ordered a new retractable door, they said it would be here within 2 weeks and were excellent to deal with.

So, this afternoon, I decided to get on with the part of the project that I dreaded most, removing the old door. As it turned out, it was a piece of cake!
Just loosen the two screw on the top and bottom of the old door, and soaking the channel on the frame on the top and bottom rails of the door frame, the door just slipped off the hinges.
Cleaning the old caulk off the fiberglass went well.

I guess the main thing that amazed me was how heavy the glass door is, especially when you consider how it's held in place. No wonder they "sag" after a few years......

Anyhow, thanks again to both of y'all on the advice....now it's time for a cold beer!

Larry C

[Foiled Again]

WELL, how is the new door working out?

I found that it took a lot more caulk than I expected on the inside and around the bottom rail on the outside. Warning: make sure no water can get into the wood below the door or, over time, you'll have delamination start. I also need some small corner trim on the outside just for appearance (currently dithering between the plastic stuff they use in the edge of the overhead cabinets where they meet the ceiling and the chrome where the bathroom counter meets the wall. Your opinion?)

Paula

[Larry C]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

WELL, how is the new door working out?

I found that it took a lot more caulk than I expected on the inside and around the bottom rail on the outside. Warning: make sure no water can get into the wood below the door or, over time, you'll have delamination start. I also need some small corner trim on the outside just for appearance (currently dithering between the plastic stuff they use in the edge of the overhead cabinets where they meet the ceiling and the chrome where the bathroom counter meets the wall. Your opinion?)

Paula

It's working great! It took about a half hour to install, everything fit very well, and the color was a dead on match for the shower in our 1996 34'er.

We haven't used it yet, but I feel confident that it'll be just fine. The people at Stoett were great to work with...

Larry

[DaveP]

I love the Stoett shower doors. Much more contemporary look than the glass doors!

[Trailbob]

I found this thread after our shower door fell apart during a cross country trip in June. Our door was damaged to the point that none of the recommended repairs would work. As others have said, the factory shower door is poorly designed for an RV that travels down our not so smooth roads.

Based on the recommendations below, I ordered the Nautilus door from Stoett Industries. It was not on their web site, but I was able to custom order the height to within a 1/2". I suggest calling them if you want a custom height. It arrived in about 3 weeks, and I finally got around to installing it yesterday.

As Foiled Again said, the old door frame was a bear to get out. The only thing I would add to her (very helpful) post is that you will destroy the old frame removing it, so don't bother trying to save it. I ended up using various pry bars and pealing the old frame away from the calking.

Installation was pretty straight forward once I determined the alignment for the primary side. This door should hold up much better than the original one.

Thanks again to all who posted their experience.

[Ray Eklund]

There was a Forum Thread concerning the shower door not clearing the lower frame. Could not find it, but had a scan of the small part that breaks and drops the door about 1/4" and it will hang up forever.

There is a section of nylon, maybe 5/16" or more that can break off.

This I removed from the door, with some effort, when I modified it so it would swing freely. The Casino Craps die is .750", aka 3/4". The small piece missing is to the LEFT of the screw. I have a feeling, not a great feeling, that this screw holds a 1" or so nylon part of the hinge as the pivot. The male extension must fit into the hinge nylon strip. If you can discover the supplier, this part cannot cost more than $1,000 in Airstream Cash. Or using yours... a couple bucks at worst.

If this makes no sense... take two aspirin and play some Video Poker.

Now I can sleep tonight....

[RamblinRose1]

Hey guys, I hit some bad road going through Tennessee and sure enough the plastic bit at the top has busted and the door has "sagged" in my International 28. I took a look at the Stoett products and am feeling like sticking with the original instead (athough those are very cool). Question now is - do I have to order a new shower door through a dealer and take it there and wait for repairs or do you think I can have one shipped from the factory and install it myself? I'm handy enough for an install - just wondering about logistics in ordering, etc.
Thanks in advance.