New patch for the power inlet.

As I discussed on the blog earlier, the PO had cut a nice big hole in the rear panel to install a shore power cord box. The box looked horrible, wasn't water proofed, and had no keys. From the start I had planned to install a Marinco power inlet, and wanted to at least get my patch completed over the weekend.

Box and Hole

My next question was simple. Where am I going to get my aluminum from? I haven't ordered any alclad yet, and didn't want to use something from the hardware store since it wasn't alclad. When I gutted the trailer, I had to tear out the bathroom stall since it wouldn't fit out the door, and because I planned to redo the bathroom anyhow. I grabbed the electric Milwaukee shears, and went to town getting a nice chunk of aluminum.

Mangled Bath Stall

I applied a liberal amount of paint stripper on the piece, cleaned the paint residue off with MEK, and cut it to fit the hole. I wasn't going for anything fancy (No Missouri shapes, no stars, no pointing fingers).

Holes laid out for drilling

Holes Drilled

After laying out and drilling the holes, I used clecos to hold it in place temporarily while I drilled holes in the exterior panel. I then took the clecos out, laid a liberal bead of Sikaflex around the exterior of the new patch, and riveted the patch in place with Olympic rivets. It was only holding a patch in place, and I figured no need to use buck rivets. I let the sikaflex cure overnight and went outside this morning to wipe off the excess with MEK. All I need now is a rivet shaver and to install the plug.

Lots of sealant

Ready for the plug and rivet shaver.