A Quick Modification To Save Time

If your looking for a quick modification to save some time inside your trailer: this mod might be for you!

On every trailer we have owned there have always been panels that needed to be removed in order to access water heaters, water pumps. etc. This really is a pain when you have multiple screws to remove in order to simply throw a valve one way or the other (e.g. winterizing).

I would venture to say the newer trailers have harder to reach areas than the older ones. Why? Well it’s due to all the new features such as slide out reset buttons. In our current travel trailer there are three different areas that need to be accessed.

The slide out reset button (I’ve never had to use this but I know where its located). It is located in the bathroom behind a panel at the bottom of the closet.
The water heater by-pass. This is located behind a panel under the bathroom sink.
The water pump by-pass for winterizing. This is located in the crawl space in the outside storage compartment.

The Water Pump by-pass is the compartment that really bothered me. You need to be a contortionist to get in there. Then you need to remove about 14 screws and the panel to access the by-pass lever.

In addition, the box that the manufacturer created for the water pump area, is shabby. This is due to not having the front of the frame secured to the sides. Lets not forget that over time those screws are going to be stripped out.

The Water Pump Access Panel in the crawl space

So the first thing I did was to build out the frame in front by creating two 3/4″ pine braces. One at the top of the box and one at the bottom. The goal here is to strengthen the structure. This step is not necessary but I want it to be a stronger structure.

The Box now strenthened with supports at the top and bottom.

The next step was to cut an 8″x 8″ hole into the existing panel that would allow me to put on an access door. I purchased the access door from Amazon.com for a little over $12.00.

I then used construction adhesive to attach the access door to the front panel. Then I reattached the front panel to the box. The result is a panel that I don’t have to unscrew everytime I want to use the water pump by-pass. In addition, bracing the box made it 100% more secure. All of this for under $15.00. It makes me wonder why the factory never created it this way!