Door Hinges and Rear Hatch Hinges

A layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy is applied to both sides of the hinges.

The photo appears out of focus, but that's because of the epoxy in the cloth near the edges of the hinges.  Groups of hinges are attached together, to be separated later.  The manual implies that you epoxy one side, then flip them over right away and do the other side.  I tried this, but I don't recommend it unless you have really smooth plastic to lay them on.  I'll have quite a bit of sanding to do on the side that was flipped down onto the plastic.  Better to let one side cure to the point of no longer being tacky, then flip them and do the other side.

While the first coat on the hinges is curing, I applied a second coat to the inside of the doors.  As you can see, all this work is being allowed to cure inside my kitchen.  In fact, I did the epoxy work on the hinges on my kitchen table.

Contrary to what the manual says, I applied a second coat of epoxy to the hinges while the first coat was still tacky.  The second coat reduces the chances of sanding into the cloth. 

The hinges have been rounded off and sanded--BTW, they are sitting on an old throw rug I use on my bench to keep things from getting scratched up.  I'll apply epoxy to the entire hinges after they are mounted.  They are going to be out in the weather so need plenty of sealing.  The manual leaves out that you should apply epoxy to the insides of all the holes--a must!

I am going to set them aside for now and move ahead a bit--here's why:  The shell is sitting upside down right now and it needs to be flipped before installing the doors.  The way the manual is laid out, you flip it right-side-up to install the door sills, doors and "eyebrows" over the doors, work on the rear hatch, etc., followed by mounting it to the trailer.  After that the bottom is painted, so you have to take it back off the trailer!  (That's also when all the final sanding is done all over the shell.)  I think I see their reasoning for mounting to the trailer before painting the bottom.  The holes for the trailer mounts are supposed to be drilled too large, filled with thickened epoxy, and then the smaller holes are drilled within the epoxy plugs.  This is to protect the wood from water infiltration and it would be difficult to do this properly with paint in the way.  Here's what I'm going to try:

I already have the unassembled trailer.  I'm hoping I can assemble just the part that mounts to the trailer and set it on the bottom upside-down to locate the positions for the mounting holes.  After that I'll drill-fill-drill the mounting holes and paint the bottom.  At that point, if the trailer section is light enough, I'll go ahead and mount it to the camper and attach it to the remainder of the trailer later.

I hope all this works out--don't know enough about the still-boxed trailer to be sure--so I'll keep you posted.  I think this is a much more sensible method if it turns out to be viable, especially since I don't have anybody to help me flip the trailer--I roll it over on furniture blankets.  (I will have to get help when it comes time to lift the camper onto the trailer.)  So, stay tuned!