2003 Rockwood Roo 25

[tortfeasor]

This camper is new to me... there are a variety of issues I need to address, but the most glaring is that it appears someone opened the front sleeping area up without putting in the supports and broke the panel off of the hinge.

My assumption is that this is not an entirely unique situation. Does anyone have experience with what it takes to get this fixed? It appears there are 4 internal pillars (hollow square tube aluminum) that were tack welded to the aluminum beam that is part of the hinge.

Also, is there anywhere where I could find a user manual, detailed specs, and/or something similar to a Clymer manual to be able to identify and correct/service issues?

[bikendan]

no, this IS a unique situation that in 9 years of being on Hybrid forums, i've never read of anyone breaking the bunk door off of the hinges.

i've never seen anyone having to do this extensive a repair to the front bunk door.
many have had to replace the bunk door, by removing it from the hinge and replacing the door panel with a new one but not what you seem to be dealing with.

and sorry to add to the negative, there's no such manual or specs out there.
nearly all RV manufacturers only provide a generic owner's manual that's not even RV-type specific, let alone model-specific. no such specs or diagrams

it might be worth calling the Rockwood factory and seeing if you could have it repaired there.

also, pics of the damaged area would help determining exactly how bad it is.

[tortfeasor]

I did talk with a dealer today who indicated it shouldn't be a tough fix to get it functional again... either some welding or some, uh, redneck engineering should do the trick!

If anyone has any other helpful info, that would be great.

[Davylee]

Bikendan had it correct. If you call Rockwood and tell them what the problem is they would most likely be willing to give you a drawing of the area you are working on.

[tortfeasor]

Below is the best pic I could find to explain what the issue is. As you can see, there is an aluminum beam along the bottom. The aluminum pillar you see appears as if it was only spot welded onto the beam at one place. The picture below is not my camper. All of my spot welds have broken off, and the beam (which is the bottom part of the hinge) is still attached to the camper. The rest of the bunk door is no longer connected at all to the beam.

My thoughts are that I can get the pillars re-welded onto the beam a bit better than they were OEM and then address the door as the owner of the bunk in the pic has. I found the rest of his job here: http://tmwoodwardandkids.smugmug.com/Camper-Repairs-and/Rebuilding-the-camper-bunk-end/5361215_MF9ZzC#!i=328096109&k=Kp3LQR7
He did a good job of documenting what he did so I can use it as a bit of a cheat sheet... the only thing i don't have a good idea about is removing and reattaching the beam/hinge to the trailer. Ah... the fun of DIY - don't know what i'm doing, but will figure it out come hell or high water!

[tortfeasor]

Update: I took the door off of the hinge and took it to a welder who was recommended to me. One day and $60 later, the aluminum beam and pillars were welded back together! The pillars were literally spot/tack welded to the beam before.

After I put the beam and door back on the hinge, the fit is pretty good, though not 100% (more like 95%). After some weather seals and some caulk, I'm confident it will be ready to go!

[tortfeasor]

Also, figured out my camper is a 2003 Rockwood Roo 25FDS.

[Roocrew1]

Good job... stinks when you have to do stuff like that; however, when you have an issue that seems big, it is always a good feeling when you conquer it with a little sweat and just a few dollars.