One of the reasons I keep very little in the door is the fragility of the door retainers, one was already cracked when the van came over from Holland and I managed to crack another one when I absent mindedly went to close the door and grabbed it by mistake.
I have on and off pondered a way to remedy this, buying new ones would probably be difficult and expensive ......... and would only leave me with the same fragile retainers all be it not cracked

The recent topic on door storage jars has got me thinking about it again,the first thought was to glue strips of thin plywood inside them but glueing wood to plastic might be a problem.

Meanwhile I had been out for a measure to see what size was needed, and discovered a thin spline of plastic on the inside presumably to add strength as you can see from the reflection in the mirror placed in the door.


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A long look at the www staring at A3 size sheets and wondering how to cut them into 20mm strips when I came across some plastic window trim strips if I could find the right size and thickness all I needed to do was cut them to the right length.

And suddenly there it was 20mm wide 5mm thick and even had a nice rounded edge all along one side.

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A trip to my local glazing company today saw me come away with a 5 metre length for not too much money and its nice and flexible so rolled up small enough to fit in the back of the car.
Cut to 14 3\4 inch (375mm) lengths with a hacksaw blade and the ends tidied up with a file it fits nicely 2 to each retainer.

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Not glued them in yet as I need to remove the tape and clean off the residue first and if I leave it until its a bit warmer the glue will have a better chance to do its work. (I have some superglue specially designed for plastic)

Measurements 5mm thick 20mm wide 375mm long 2 per retainer, total weight of 8 strips a little under 6 ounces.

This is a really good way to reinforce the shelf/retainers Hob.
However another weak point is where they attach to the door. If you now accidentally pull on the stronger strips you may actually detach it from the door!

Well the first attempt earlier in the week had to be aborted as the super glue had gone off in the tube
A trip to the shops saw me return with some plastic cement (the sort we made airfix model aircraft with when we were kids)

Meanwhile removing the tape from the lower cracked one revealed it was broken in half and flapped about when unsupported by tape.
First job was to put glue on the ends and tape them in position to dry, then get a support in behind it to help keep it together.

I have a few little model clamps to hold things in place while the glue sets but not enough to do all, so several trips to the van over the last 2 days to glue in another one or two at a visit.

The broken one repaired
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A mirror shot showing where the bits go and some holding clamps.
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Top ones clamped.
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Finished door.
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Now I need to find some nice fancy tape to cover the front of them and then its job done.

I find it hard to accept that Eriba would continue to put these fragile and frankly worthless retainers in doors for around 25 years without coming up with something better.
I understand that they only stopped fitting them after the 2009 re-design, I have seen a number of them taped up in the past and even one van without them and another where an enterprising owner had replaced them with alloy ones

Hi hob we saw some funky duck tape when we went to our local Range one looked like metal checker plate and it looked the correct width for the shelves ,well done on a great job

Caz and paul

I thought I might go for this one.

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25 miles each way to get a roll of tape today, and when I got there the retail park was gridlocked with traffic so I gave up and came home again

Still it got me out of the house for a while and the car needed a run to charge the battery up a bit.

Soddit I will get one from ebay

Oh dear sounds like one of our shopping trips, but which style are you going for ?
Caz and Paul

Quote: Journeyers55 wrote in post #9

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Oh dear sounds like one of our shopping trips, but which style are you going for ?
Caz and Paul

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Tape has arrived and first for the treatment was the containers

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Next I did the door.

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Full length pic in gallery

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I think it looks peachy

Adorable!

Nice Job Hob, looks very colourful and arty.

Looks a real 'peach' Nev.

Looks really good, think this is the way to go both to brighten up and strengthen the doors.