Aluminum Camper Forum

Honestly IMO you wont be happy with any fix other than replacing the door.  I had this issue on a compartment door and had it professionally repaired with bondo and repainted.  That "fix" lasted 2 months and the bubbling reappeared.  Once the water gets inside of the door. coupled with the garbage Luan, it is game over.   Why in the world Challenger thought Luan was a good material to use in a door is a mystery to me.  Just sharing the reality with you so you are fully aware of the risk of throwing time and money at any kind of repair rather than replacement....


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First, seal the window frame and top of the door to stop the water leak that caused it. The entrance door and compartment doors on certain year Camplites are made by Challenger doors and had lauan plywood in them. That gets wet from leaks and corrodes the aluminum skin. The typical leak is at the bottom of the outside black plastic trim around the door window. There is a small joint there that lets water inside the door. I used clear silicone on the crack after a good cleaning. Once the door no longer leaks it will take weeks, if ever, to dry out even in the hot sun. Once dry, a light sanding and spray painting the door is one possibility. Others on here have replaced the door, but that's expensive. It is a standard size RV door, so do some on-line shopping for a good price.

Edit; on my compartment doors, removing the blisters left holes in the aluminum skin, so I replaced all 3 doors. .

Just bought the trailer with the door like this and wondering how to approach a fix. Thinking of taping off the white line then stripping and repainting below the line. Then remove blisters and spot paint the areas above the line.

I bought the product on Amazon.  Since I needed it soon, I decided to buy a "non-Honda" product.

I had to put it on backwards!  The instructions say to put "the wide end of the bracket toward the gas cap (with the shorter tab).  The rub is that the wider end of the bracket has the longer tab.  I was able to get it on, but the rear portion of the handle is not a protected as it could be. 

I felt like I was on Candid Camera.  I left a review on the website.

The ugly old beer cooler is perfect! Great theft deterrent.

Next would love to add solar system to run entire camper and all our things but not sure I understand enough about it. Looks like there is a family owned company in Texas called I think Big Beard who will design and install or help you install, etc.

There are several older couples on youtube who have gone to mini splits and have used them for several years and they have had great success with this setup. Whatever mods we did which wasn't many, was well worth it with actually staying cool/cold in 100+ weather and very warm with negative numbers. We use a waterproof cover over the unit when we travel and we have an aluminum cover for when we are parked to keep hail from doing any damage and also for a place to add a heat lamp if needed to keep the unit from having to over work or anything freeze when it is -7 or below.  We are also those campers who purchased the heated water hose and septic hose for winter from Nofreeze. The original cost was a shock but it has been well worth that purchase now since we have been using our camper as a remote office as we travel.

My mistake... I do have Wi-Fi calling turned on.

Thanks for the part number... I just ordered one. 

The idea of making it less appealing is interesting, but... I just tuned it up (including clearing out the carburetor jets) and thought that it looked like new!  It would be a shame to make it look ugly.  Of course, if it gets stolen I'll likely think otherwise.

When I'm not using it, I keep it stored in a ugly old beer cooler with a braided steel cable running out the side... the generator barely fits if you rip the insulation out.

Thanks for those 2 great links!  Maybe there is hope for air conditioning at my off-grid cabin now that heat pump manufacturers are considering how to run them with solar.