Doors & Door Locks…

Update to locking situation – Mar. ’23

Earlier I mentioned the trick I used to prevent the lower lock to slip down and lock the lower lock. What I was using was a zip tie. That worked fine and I used that method for several years…until a woman happened to mention that a pony tail elastic band might work better. And boy was she right. I never had any experience with those so didn’t consider it when I was looking for a fix or work around. And it works perfectly. Dollar stores have them in their women’s sundries and they are $1 or so for a pack of 10. They do wear out, so I put one or two there where the zip ties used to go (see below picture) and they work for months or longer holding that lever in the unlocked position. Much longer then the rubber bands I tried for awhile. When one wears out, breaks or stretches too far, I pull a new one off the card of ten and I’m back in business.

The big benefit of using those elastic bands is that now I can lock that door as I leave and it stays locked. I don’t need to remove the zip tie and replace it when I get home. So I use that lower lock for day to day locking, like when shopping, going to the clubhouse, that sort of thing, and I use the deadbolt just when I go to bed. Very convenient.

The other change I’ve made, is I did eventually find a 3 step ladder and tossed the step stool. The new ladder fits into the basement compartment just south of the front door so now I can easily pull it out, climb up next to the door, work that small window open, reach around and unlock either or both of the locks, like if I forget my keys when I walk out of the house and flip the lever locked, or lock them in the car. Easy breezy. As I mentioned years ago, I always leave that one compartment unlocked after I’ve checked out where ever I’m parked so I can grab the ladder if needed.

Screen Door Latch – Feb. ’19

Heading outside one fine warm day in Yuma, Arizona and ‘ping’ my plastic screen door assembly broke.

So did some internet searching and ordered a new one for $55! Yikes!

Installed it easily enough and got it working though it wanted to mis-latch with the door occasionally. This caused the screen door to stay shut when you opened the main door. It’s suppose to open with it so it’s not in your way as you try to step outside.

Installed the new lever type device that I’d ordered separately even though the old one looked fine and when I took off the old one, discovered 4 mounting holes behind it.

Apparently there was some difficulty adjusting the thing in the past.

I’ve tried every screw hole behind the catch but so far I haven’t found the secret to making the screen door open when you open the main door. Still working on that.

Update: Mar ’20

I did not find any trick to installing this latch mentioned above for the screen door, but in March of ’20 I did go back to the flathead stainless screws that were there when I started working on this and viola’, this attempt it worked! Don’t know what I did differently from the other times I’d used them, but now it latches and unlatches fine, most of the time. It’s really a sensitive setup.

 

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This Winnebago Journey has pretty much the same door lock assembly my Bounder did…

and it has the same problem of mysteriously locking the lower lock on occasion. When my brother traveled with me for a few days, it would lock us inside occasionally. I’d open the little window next to the door, reach around, and open from the outside. Weird. Seemed as though my brother was doing something unusual to the door when he was closing it. Slamming it too aggressively or something. Thing was, I hadn’t had a problem with it doing that for the 3 months before he joined me on a trip, and I’ve not had another problem with it mysteriously locking in the 8 months since. Well, whatever, I had problems with the lock assembly in my Bounder made by the same manufacturer, and this lock mechanism is the same style, so I wanted to get ahead of any potential issues. The upper lock is the deadbolt, the one with the potential issue…is the lower lock.

When I bought this Winnie in February of 2016, the dealer didn’t have a key for the deadbolt. Since I wasn’t having problems with it, except that short visit by my brother, I delayed trying to get a new key for it until I got here to Mexico. Once I got down here, I called a mobile locksmith,  he came over and checked it out, but gave up on it. Saying he couldn’t work on it. Lack of expirience with that type of lock is what I suspected. And I put the whole idea on the back burner. I had a lock that worked, why worry about getting both of them working?

And then at this RV park, I had some neighbors move in next door in a 1 year old Winnebago Vista. And I happened to see the owner struggling with the lock, actually got locked outside. Had to knock for his wife to open the door. So I talked to him and turns out he’s had numerous problems with this RV, and the lock is just one of them. Randomly locking them inside or outside. His wife told me the story of her having to crawl inside through a window one or two times to unlock the door. So I did my little stop gap fix on it for them…and that was the impetus I needed to get keys for my dead bolt. Here’s what it looks like from the outside. The upper lock is the reliable deadbolt, and the lower lock is the problem lock. It has a spring that breaks, or weakens from use, or came weak from the factory, whereas the deadbolt just slides in and out with a key or latch turn…simpler with less to go wrong. And unlikely slamming the door would ever move it. I needed a key for the deadbolt so I could apply my magic fix to the lower lock.

There are 3 star head screws that have to be removed on the inside, and then this plate assembly can be worried off the outside of the door then out of the door. There’s some sticking going on after a few years of sitting in place but it eventually can be pulled off the outer skin if you tug a bit. Then you work the assembly out of the slots and cutouts in the door made for it by carefully working it up/down and side to side. Here’s a shot of the backside. Note that little spring at the bottom left? It’s hard to see in the picture, I know, but you’ll find it easily enough if you pull your latch assembly off. That’s the spring that gets weak or breaks. If it breaks, it can lock you out. If it gets weak, and you slam the door, that’s enough to allow the lock arm to drop down slightly, locking you outside or inside.

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So, pulled that assembly off, and went searching here in San Felipe, Baja, for a different locksmith…one that could figure out how to make a key. I figured carrying the lock assembly with me would be much easier than trying to get a mobile locksmith around here to work on it successfully in the RV park.

And I found one. He had a hell of a time finding the right blank, but eventually, he found the right one in his stock. In the picture below, you can see that small rectangular hole on the left of the lock assembly. The locksmith poked a tool in there, and the key tumbler mechanism popped right out the front. Then it was a simple matter (for him) of figuring out the keying, than notching the blank at the right places with his files. He did the work by eye but didn’t waste a blank. All that cost me $200 pesos for the work and the 3 keys, around $10 USD. Excellent. 

So now that I have the key for the upper deadbolt, I can stop using the lower lock and just lash it up in the unlocked position so the spring will never go wonky on me and lock me out (because it’s never being used). Problem solved before it occurs.

And that’s what the zip tie there below is for, looped over the lower ‘Lock’ lever and going up over the door latch. It’s not the least in the way, and I have a red vinyl cap for that lock arm so the zip tie will stay put, and I can easily slip it off so I can use both locks. Though why anyone would want to is beyond me. The dual locks are not going to keep a determined thief outside. They will just break a window. And using the deadbolt is better than using the lower lock anyway.

And that’s what I did to the neighbors door lock, add that zip tie. Convinced them to use the upper deadbolt exclusively, when out shopping, and when inside, and keep the strap I installed right where it is and not worry about it ever again. Pretty sure they’re happy with that idea because who likes to be locked out??

 

So why do this? Because reading and personal expirience had made me aware that the lower lock can actually lock people out of their RVs inappropriately, or in my case, locking my brother and myself inside, and that it happens often enough (my new neighbor in a nearly new RV is an example) that it’s just best to take care of it now rather than have an emergency and have to break a window or something. There’s nothing worse than to be in a strange town just returning from the shower in the RV park in the dark and find your RV door is now locked when you know you left it unlocked. That’s the problem with that lower lock, slam the door a little, and the weak or worn out spring allows it to lock itself.

[Update – July ’20: Locked out]

This morning I went outside to extend the awning to block the morning sun, and gently swung the front door closed. After finishing that chore, tried to open the door…opps, the pull handle feels all loosey goosey. It’s not actuating the unlocking mechanism. Doh! Locked out of my own house.

BUT…I have dealt with this issue before, so I always leave the small window beside the door unlocked (except when the RV is in long term storage). As you can see, it’s not easy to tell that the locking latch isn’t latched.

Then what I always do is leave the basement compartment unlocked that has my camp chairs and step ladder inside. This usually after I’ve got a feel for any campground I’m staying at…whether or not it’s safe. Usually they’re safe enough to leave that compartment unlocked.

So I pull the step ladder out of the basement, and now with it’s help I can usually slide the window open, reach around and unlatch the door from the inside. In this current parking situation though, there was a dilemma and though I got the window and screen open far enough, I didn’t have enough height from the step ladder to get my arm in far enough…because I’m parked on a hill and I’ve used the jacks to lift the front of the RV to get it close to level.

And the solution to that was a bit dangerous, but I had no choice. I pulled out my expensive, and therefore strong, camp chair.  Using the step ladder, I straddled the camp chair, one foot on each arm of the chair. A bit scary but had I been all that worried I would have waited in the heat for the camp handyman to wander by and ask for help. Didn’t want to do that, so attempted this stunt instead.

Carefully inched my way onto the chair, and it was nice and stable. Helped that there was a nice cement pad underneath. Than with that extra height, I was able to hang on with my right arm/hand to the pull handle, and reach in around and unlatch the door from the inside with my left. And the door opened easily. Whew! Had visions of being stuck outside in the heat for hours working on it. Only took a few minutes because I was prepared.

Now I had to worry the assembly apart and out of the door. Did not find anything broken. It seemed to be the boss on the outside pull handle had come unconnected from the unlatching mechanism. The assembly didn’t seem all that loose and couldn’t find anything worn or broken to account for it so it must just have shifted somewhat allowing it to get discombobulated. That black handle there had somehow come loose from the latching mechanism. So apparently, this is another failure mechanism that owners of this particular door latching assembly run into. If the latching boss on the door handle slips out from under the mechanism, you are really locked out of your house. I couldn’t see any way of getting it back under the lever from the outside! So basically, there’s no fix for this. The only help is to keep the mechanism lubed and those 3 star head screws inside tight so the outside door latch can’t move out of position. Good luck with that over the years and ambient temperature changes.

I lubed everything with spray lube and put it together and it’s working fine now. Made sure the screws are nice and tight.

I’ll tell ya though, I’m going to get a taller step ladder.

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Louvered Washer Door – Apr ’18

This Journey has a double louvered door in the toilet that normally covers what would be the Washer/Dryer combo that was an option for this model year. The washer/dryer didn’t come with this rig when I bought it. I just use the space behind the double doors for storage. And it’s plenty of storage so I’ve come to like having it. The doors are hinged in the middle and then the two doors are hinged to the frame on the right side.

I found shortly after I bought the rig back in Feb. ’16 that the right side of this double door assembly was drifting apart. And many of those slats dropped out of their slots. Probably because of the extra weight the 2nd door added to the first doors frame. So I took it apart and carefully got it all back together. Took a couple hours and it’s no fun. But…it doesn’t take much room to work on it and you can do it on the kitchen counter with a couple of pieces of wood underneath it while you bang on it. A year later, I noticed it was drifting down again and the wood seams were opening. “Well, I’ll get to it next week”, I thought. But poor roads changed that idea. It drifted so much that several slats came out of their slots so the door couldn’t be closed all the way, and it became difficult to maneuver in there. Which meant the next trip I took, all the stuff on the shelves could work itself out and end up on the bathroom floor. Not good. So I made time to work on it, along with working on the bedroom drawer that had bounced out and I’d smooched it bad when I extended the slide. Added a day to my stay in some RV park in Gallup, New Mexico.

I knew that all the repair entailed was to mesh all the wooden pieces back together and hope it stayed that way OR to add some brackets to the back side of the door to keep the doors joints from pulling apart. Last time I repaired it, didn’t use any new glue or anything. So it was a friction fit. The OEM just used minimal glue on the wood dowels used at each corner that over the years had given up. That glue didn’t do the job. I planned on finding some brackets after the first time I fixed the door but soon forgot. It did last over a year so not bad. This time though, since I don’t like fixing the same thing over and over, I made up some brackets (two of the four circled in the picture below) and screwed them into the backside of the hinged door with the opening joints so it would be stiffer and not depend on luck and glue to hold the door pieces together.  Took me a couple three hours to get those slats back in their slots since many had shrunk and slipped out. Not fun at all. Those brackets are some old timey curtain rod holders I modified for this job by cutting off a section of each with some tin snips. I’m miles from anywhere so no hardware store nearby to get some real ‘L’ brackets. Maybe someday I’ll replace these with the appropriate parts.

The other door doesn’t have as much stress or weight on it so I’m not sure it’ll ever need brackets. I’m pretty sure this fix will last for years, but I’ll keep my eyes on it to make sure…

One of the weird things I ran into (happens every time with an RV, doesn’t it?) is that the flathead washers that were used for this door assembly were too small for the holes in the hinge shown below, or the holes in the hinges were too big. The screws just barely cling to the metal of the hinges. Well, whatever, there’s 6 of them and what little contact there is X6 should hold them, I hope.

And here’s the first door remounted and hinged to the frame. The other door attaches on the right side of this door. You can imagine that before the brackets were installed the extra weight might cause separation of this door’s joints.

Here’s a close up of the hinge and bracket. The wooden joint that opens is spanned by the bracket and screwed on either side to hold it in place for years I hope. You can see where the wooden slats have shrunk since it was built and stained. I have been staying in the desert for months now so not too much of a surprise.With the new brackets holding the door’s wooden joints, don’t think I’ll have any new troubles with these doors. And hopefully the contents of that compartment stay in place.

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Bedroom Door…

My Journey has a traditional door into the bedroom that when opened, swings into the bathroom. Newer models did away with that style door in favor of a pocket door. I prefer the traditional door as it allows the placement of 3 handy access switches. When getting up in the dark to wander into the bathroom, they’re handy to have right there at hand level.

But there was a problem. And that was the door would not stay closed and latched when on the road. So it would start swinging and banging as I drove. Just slightly annoying. After several road trips with it happening, I tried to come up with a way to hold it closed, or hold it open, but nothing appealed to me. I didn’t want a bungee strapping it to the wall, or a plastic safety strap, so usually I’d just jamb something at the bottom of the door to hold it closed while I kept looking for a solution.

Then one day at a Dollar Store, I noticed a package of 4 stick on hooks. Just the thing for what I had in mind for the kitchen. Bought them and installed 3 of them. And realized that the hook was just about the right size to hold the bathroom door handle.

Sure enough, it was just right to hold the door open. Push down on the door lever, and the outside lever could be hooked over the hook. Perfect! So I no longer have to mess with the door before a trip.

Inexpensive, attractive, out of the way. An excellent solution to the banging door syndrome.