Fold Down Step

	“As found” condition. Note the missing metal to the right of the step.
Judging by the nesting material cleaned out, varmints had apparently been living in the outrigger for a while. Although being surrounded by metal kept them from getting into the interior (thank goodness!), believe it or not they managed to do some severe damage to both the outrigger, and to the area of the frame where the outrigger attaches. The frame damage is discussed on another page.
	The simplest solution would have been replacement of the outrigger. But that would involve welding, and since I had no plans to remove the decking, the task could not be accomplished at my shop with my arc welder. There were no other shops within reasonable distance I trusted with the job. Since the upper portion of the outrigger was still in good shape, I scabbed in new metal with rivets & JBWeld to support the damaged area. Then a new cover was installed to complete the repair. The 20 gauge galvanized metal cover, scab, and cardboard scab prototype are shown at left.
After wire brushing, the whole step was treated with rust neutralizer before primer & paint. The black traction strips in the top photo came from the local home improvement store.