By George Stoltz 2000 U320 12/22/09
Russell Lantier had the simplest and very effective approach. Here is what I did:
1. Lightly sanded the area where metal would touch the fiberglass.
2. Used my electric drill to ever so slightly round out the opening where the rivets pulled free.
3. I did a dry fit to make sure I could push the latch with existing rivets back into the four holes.
4. Cleaned the area with solvent. Also cleaned the contact surfaces of the latch.
5. Removed the “stud” onto which the latching mechanism makes contact.
6. Mixed JB Weld epoxy. Used one of DW’s orange wood cuticle pushers as a tool to fill each of the four holes with some epoxy. Next — generously spread epoxy on each of the four rivets.
7. Pushed into place. Waited 10 minutes and wiped off any epoxy that sagged.
8. Let it sit overnight with the door closed.
Next day reassembled latching mechanism. It works like new.