Replacing Bay Door Gaskets
I have recently purchased a roll of gasket material to replace all of my bay door gaskets.
Originally, FOT installed them by using one piece to cover the left, top, and right sides; with a separate piece for the bottom. Most of the failures I have seen, seem to occur in, at, or near that bottom gasket section. I do not think they originally used adhesive to install them, but many who have replaced the gasket have used adhesive, at least on the bottom corner interface with the three-sided piece.
I am considering an improved installation process. I propose to replace the gasket, with one piece of gasket material. It would start at the middle of the rearward side, continue all the way around the edges, and connect to the starting end with adhesive securing the joint connection. I also plan to cut a miter into the U-shaped part of the gasket at the corners, but not the bottom part of the "U". My purpose is to keep the metal-reinforced part continuous all around each bay door opening (except the *one* joint).
This would have the gasket joint, the weakest link, at the rear edge of each door opening. This eliminates the current problem areas of the two joints at the two bottom corners. The rearward side appears, to me, to have the least assault from the forces of nature and physics. Having the only connection there seems beneficial to the attempt to keep rain, sleet, snow, etc., from entering the RV.
Has anyone replaced their gaskets using this attachment protocol?
Do you see any problems (other than labor time) from using this method?
What would be the best method for cutting the gasket material apart?
What would be the best method of removing the triangular notches at each corner?
I would appreciate any suggestions or other observations about my Engineering Change Proposal.
Thank you,
Trent