Battery bay (storage compartment) repair

Post your general and technical information, questions or responses in this forum. Viewing messages is open to all with no registration or log-in required. Prior to posting a new message or a response to an existing message, registration or login is required. Please do not post FOR SALE or WANTED ads in this section!

Moderator: bfadmin

Post Reply
ktobias

Battery bay (storage compartment) repair

Post by ktobias »

While on a camping trip this weekend... arriving at the campground and setting up, I decided to open the battery bay and check them out (no real reason or symptoms). To my dismay, I discovered that most of the compartment had pulled away from the main body of the rig.
The battery bay was basically hanging only from the back wall of the bay. The sides had pulled away
(screws pulled out) from the front of the bay to the back of the bay. The batteries were still secured.

Luckily, our trip was pretty close to my relatives and we were able to do a bit of a field repair.
I will post photos of the damage and the "fix".

We removed the old screws and put in new caulk and screws. We further secured the bay with a metal angle piece on the bottom of the bay... securing it through the top of the bay and into the cargo area above it. It's not going anywhere now.

Has anyone else had this issue?
User avatar
Roger H
Posts: 653
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 7:48 pm

Re: Battery bay (storage compartment) repair

Post by Roger H »

What year and model is your coach?
'06 Born Free 32 RQ Kodiak Chassis
(Former: '01 Born Free 23 RK)
Dinghy: '16 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a Blue Ox Aladdin tow bar.
Traveling with Sir Winston and Lady Rae (Cavalier King Charles Spaniels)
tomzleapin
Posts: 485
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:15 am

Re: Battery bay (storage compartment) repair

Post by tomzleapin »

I had this happen on my '05. I added a couple pieces of angle iron to the sides of the compartment with a bunch of lag bolts and Loctite PL Premium construction adhesive.

Image

Image
Tom
2005 24' RB
Towing 2016 Mini Cooper convertible on tow dolly
New Hope, MN
ktobias

Re: Battery bay (storage compartment) repair

Post by ktobias »

I have a 2005 26RSB

it looks like the screws pulled away... and that there was some sort of wood attaching the bottom of the bay to the door panel of the bay. There were rotten wood remains still screwed in.
Attachments
RVDamage2.jpg
RVDamage2.jpg (145.92 KiB) Viewed 6657 times
RVdamage1.jpg
RVdamage1.jpg (111.63 KiB) Viewed 6657 times
ktobias

Re: Battery bay (storage compartment) repair

Post by ktobias »

the fix...

-removed the bad screws
-reapplied epoxy to the seams
-replaced screws with longer and more weather resistant screws.
(I felt that this repaired the main issue but needed additional support for my piece of mind..)

-drilled holes in the battery bay and cargo bay for support thread bolts
-secured the top of the "bolts" in the cargo bay
-added a piece of steel slotted angle underneath the bottom of the bay (I used a piece of adhesive window seal to prevent rubbing of the metal on the fiberglass bay)
-tightened it up, sealed the holes and cut off the bolts to a manageable size.

I'll look for some plastic bolt covers to help them from becoming obstructions in the cargo bay.
Attachments
RVFix1.jpg
RVFix1.jpg (134.25 KiB) Viewed 6657 times
RVFix2.jpg
RVFix2.jpg (79.2 KiB) Viewed 6657 times
RVFix3.jpg
RVFix3.jpg (118.54 KiB) Viewed 6657 times
John S.
Posts: 477
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:01 pm

Re: Battery bay (storage compartment) repair

Post by John S. »

Thanks for posting the pictures. It helped me understand what happened and a great fix idea.
2015 Royal Splendor on Ford 550 none slide version
Former owner 2007 24foot rear bath painted and 2006 22 foot built for two
Former owner 1994 34 foot 2000 36 foot and 2001 42 foot FORETRAVEL's.
lafons
Posts: 97
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:05 pm

Re: Battery bay (storage compartment) repair

Post by lafons »

Well it looks like a lot of have had this problem, I used a similar fix to mine and it has worked well so far. Some of the fixes shown should be stronger than new. Check your generator compartment, I had to reinforce it in a like fashion about 10 years ago and it has held perfectly.
Steve,2001 26rsb
East tennessee
Post Reply

Return to “General and Technical Information, Questions, and Responses”