Caravan door change

The door to the washroom was always a nuisance It opened into the passageway, and so cut the caravan into two. Having the door closed meant we lost the light from its window, didn’t have the extra sink accessible for handwashing etc, and the hand-towel, which hung behind the door was not useful at all. I was quite glad when it fell off !

Caravans being caravans, – they use the lightest materials, often just fit for purpose, so any modifications have to be carefully planned. The flimsy balsa wood door was modified to a sliding door. It took a few designs, but we’re pretty happy with it now, don’t understand why it wasn’t part of the original design, it’s so much better

Glued and screwed track behind, (bought it from a kitchen shop !) . The track is a hanging track, and takes the full weight of the door. I bought a piece of right angled aluminium, which I bolted to the top of the track which shielded the castors etc. Bit fiddley, small nuts and bolts, but certainly worth it for neatness sake
Here’s the top, the track is the bit behind, and the castors run along the grove. The track we bought had stops, which as you run the door up to them hold the door gently in place. I glued the hinges to the door as well, its balsa wood. Channel was cut to size, the right angle I bought was a cm short, but left it, you can’t notice it
I screwed and glued a small aluminium channel to the floor, along the door run.
Behind the door I glued a rubbing strip , to stop rattling and hopefully wear. I need to fill the holes in the door. or cover with fablon.
Used the original handles, but cut a small length of copper tube to hold the inner handle in place. The block stops the door from rising whilst in transit, which can disengage the castors at the top. Door did flex in transit before I fitted this and came off once, so this prevents it
I need to make this a bit prettier
For transit, I cut a length of wood to hold the door open, this and the afore mentioned rising stop hold it securely in place, and so far no problems with this arrangement
And here’s the finished article