Two Fuel Hatches Conversion

Previously in Chapter 10 of Gigi’s Log book, I wrote about the lack of fuel access from both side of the coach:

The Scania has a massive fuel tank and it has inlets on both side of the bus, but for some reasons unknown to me, the manufacture (Austral) decided to install only one Fuel Hatch and to make matter worse they picked the driver side.

That mean that every time you stop for fuel in small towns, the bowsers are on the other side, and therefore you are forced to enter the servo from the wrong side of the road… Sorry! That won’t do it for me…

I also wanted to have lockable hatches for everything in this vehicle, so even the existing fuel hatch had to be replaced. The search started by obviously looking online at most RV website… I couldn’t find anything even remotely designed for fuel… Plenty of hatches for water, but lockable fuel.. zilch… nada…

So here we go again looking searching now on overseas website and I did find one or two…

http://www.pakindustries.com/addrv.html

https://www.etrailer.com/comparison.aspx?pc=UF48-979010&pc2=UF48-979009

http://www.arizonarvpartscenter.com/locking-rv-fuel-hatch-polar-white-p/31-8193.htm

The first two seemed a good deal until you find out the cost for the delivery…  :o I did find others, but the delivery story was always very similar ($30-40)

The last one is made of plastic and that wouldn’t really work with diesel. I also wanted all my hatches to be accessible using the same key (key alike). So I started to look for alternative hatches and Bunning came to the rescue…

I did throw away the box they came in but as I said it is a Bunning product, and they only sell few different size. This is 200 × 200 mm made of metal and with a blade lock that can be replaced with a proper lock.

They also are listed in white on the Bunning website, but once you get there, you can see that they are beige and not white..

Bunning also do sale the standard 19 mm lock for these hatches but don’t provide locks with same key. I actually had to buy my locks from a locksmith (they were the same price as Bunning anyway)..

The lowest prices are just the beginning my $%# !!!

So in the end, after two coats of white and the new locks installed, this was the end result..

Two white metal hatches with same lockable key left and right hand (they are reversible obviously) for less than $100 dollars… I couldn’t beat that online, since the cost of the delivery can be easily more than double the cost of the hatch..

Another thing that I really like about these hatches, compare to the rest, is that they don’t have screws hole in the frame and that allows me to maintain the same look as the rest of the vehicle…

But the cherry of the cake was to find out that by adding another fuel hatch on the passenger side, I have also gained access to the visual fuel gauge that unknowingly has always been there but hidden behind the panel. Another happy surprise from Gigi.. Not bad…

Today I actually managed to finish the job and therefore I’m adding the rest of the modification below:

This is the left side of the coach and the arrow above shows where I need to install the new hatch. Because I already have a hatch on the other side I just measured the distance from the top and from the right end of the panel, so that both hatches are mounted in the same spot. I did however double check that both fuel cap where in the same spot in relation to the outside panel..

Now that the location is chosen, I use the actual hatch to mark with the pencil around it and then I apply masking tape so not to scratch the paint with the jigsaw..

After checking that there is nothing behind the panel that could be damaged, I drill the 4 corners with a bit large enough to take the blade of the jigsaw..

Once the panel is cut, I double check, before removing the tape that the actual hatch does fit..

Before inserting the hatch completely, I use Sikaflex (that’s fuel resistant) to glue the new hatch to the frame. Once the Sikaflex is applied, is just a matter of pushing the hatch flush with the panel.. Job done…

Now I can fill the tank from both side and, as mentioned above, I also have a visual gauge to confirm the fuel level..