Fixing Driver Door Entry Step – Part One

In my last post I asked if anyone could see what was missing on the drivers side of the motorhome.  Well, it was the driver’s step, seen here on a table in Arny’s garage. 

This picture shows the area in red which we had to take off the other day.  It was held on with a dozen automotive screws and a couple of bolts and nuts which had to be cut off to remove.  The portion removed was all fiberglass.

Arny then cut off a small area of the fiberglass, just to find out that inside was particle board!  The board had swelled over the years and caused the end attachment to break.  He ended up having to remove the entire bottom to get the remains of the particle board out.

Above you can see the bottom side after it was cut, but with the pieces temporarily placed back on. 

Here you can see the broken area where the step started to separate from the body of the motorhome.  I am holding the first small section that Arny cut out.

This hole was the source of the water seeping into the particle board causing the swelling.  Arny said that it was created when they manufactured the step, and forgot to seal it up.

I spent many hours chipping away and then sanding the remnants of the fiberboard from the fiberglass inside the step area.  It was a lot of “grunt” work, which I was thankful Arny let me do.

With the fiberglass ready to accept the mounting material to hold the board in place, we found and cut OSB sheathing, which is highly water resistant, to replace the particle board.  Over the next few days we, should I say Arny, will mount the board, stabilize the broken area of the fiberglass, cover with the old fiberglass and laydown a new layer of fiberglass over the old, put new non-slick tape over the topside of the step, reattach the step, and reseal the underside…all of which will be part two in a few days from now.  I will be there to lend a hand, but this is where his expertise comes in.  Sure is nice having a brother-in-law who so good with fiberglass….all those years owning a Corvette body shop.