[A/S] Door closure, Panel replacement etc

["Alan P. Owens" <apolaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have had a long continuing problem with the door on my 89 Excella 34.
Unless it is on a flat and level surface, I am unable to lock or unlock
either the dead bolt or lower lock. Last year on the way to Sarasota, I
discovered that while going down the road the door popped open even though
the lower lock was secure.  Apparently what is going on is the trailer
torques on uneven ground and when travelling down the road.  My first
solution was to make a wooden bar that hooks into the grab handle and
crosses the door to keep it closed.  This weekend I was in Williamsburg had
locked the door before leaving, I was on an uneven spot and could not
reopen the door so had to hook up pull out to a flat area to unlock then
return to my assigned spot... as you can imagine this gets tiresome.  In
addition, depending on the amount of torque sometime the door will not
seat.  Also a problem because you can not close the door tightly, therefore
unable to lock for either interior security or while leaving the trailer
unattended.  While at international I had the Airstream guys look at it,
they thought the door and jam were in good condition and crawled around
underneath to see if they could see anything that would be causing the
problem.  Not an item that they could deal with there.  Am looking for help
and wondering if anyone has had the same problem and or had the same
problem corrected.  There has been some replaced panels on the curb side at
some prior time.

	I keep the trailer in a warehouse and after three years of successfully
negotiating the roll up door, having to pull out on an angle I hit the door
frame with the rear support for the bedroom awning, this caused the support
anchor to move backward on an angle and leaving a vertical dent paralleling
the bedroom window.  A major crease, also managed to scrape out a piece of
the rub rail.  the vertical crease is in the rear rounded segment, so
expect it is a major job. I know of noneone local, Norfolk, Virginia
capable of doing the replacement.  Am now trying to figure out my best bet.
 The three closest dealers  appear to be located Dover, Del., and North and
South Carolina.  Has anybody had experience with  these people doing body
work.  Jackson is a long way from Norfolk , particularly in the winter...
sorry for being so long winded...don't want to spend time today telling of
my tribulations with the Hensley on Sunday, I'll save that for another day.

Al
89 Excella 1000 34
Dodge TD