Removing habitation door internal trim

[JerryJ]

In a fit of overzealous enthusiasm my wife pulled the curved interior handle right off the inside of the habitation door on our Autotrail Tracker EKS 2006. It was secured to the plastic by two small bolts and the heads simply came through the plastic. Given the customary curvature of the door, it takes a mighty heave to shut it properly. I want to reattach it but at the same time beef up the handle by fitting a plate of some sort on the other side of the door so as to act as a huge washer and spread the load. I can only do this by being able to get at the inside of the door and therein lies my problem. I naively thought that removing the two dozen or so tiny screws that are hidden beneath the door seal all around the door, would allow me to remove the plastic trim. Having taken them all off it made no difference whatsoever and though I can get a finger or screw driver blade all around the trim, it is clearly held on by something quite strong. Has anyone ever removed the interior door trim and if so, could you please tell me how you did it? I'd be massively grateful.

 

[eurajohn]

Not on a Tracker but on a few different motorhome doors.
Different vans I've had to do it on have used several different methods, from velcro like patches to adhesives, usually only in discrete areas not over the whole thing and normally only on the face that also has the screws.
Best tool to use is a wide flat scraper 40mm or so wide and slightly flexible, like some wallpaper scrapers. Carefully get it under an edge and work it along around the whole door edge, take special care around corners.
The plastic they are made of is quite fragile and will crack if stressed too much, you may need to go around several times till you get it free.
You will also need to remove the trim around the lock handle and there will be a screw behind that.