Rework screen door & main door latches
Couple of roundtoits,
Our screen door, when slide is in, access to cover and latch difficult.
We now store portable solar panel behind dinette which made limited access impossible. On the road, having lunch etc,
we had to leave the cover partially open. Swear, middle of nowhere, that 8" hole must be visible for miles to bugs...
As inconvenient it was, it was the daily in and out, and having to open/close the sliding cover that really motivated
me to look at it, especially with hands full-hated it. Nothing new here, stumbled on some older threads of this mod, Hey..
Folks have been bending up coat hangers forever...
Some use a lever, like toilet lever, Camco sells a flip lever if you have access to front of cover, though it flips up to
open door. I used brass (brazing) rod, heavy coat hanger would work (better) and many use in different configurations.
Many ways this can be done. Simplest if your slide cover is like our old one is rod straight thru top and bottom of cover
in front of recess ridge, one loop bent to push lever, one loop bent to slid in recess of cover so it doesn't rotate. But
changing cover...
I took the screen off -easier to imagineer and work on door out in the shop than balancing on the bumper.
hanger would be better). Drilled hole in handle, I had a stop so used but simple dogleg bend will work thru handle.
Inside spacers I ended up taking off later-not needed.
Short video of new latch in shop then camper https://youtu.be/RsFDJsjgL90
wonder why we cant embed videos?
..then I decided to change the cover to clear one...
New bar just easier to use. Cover, no real reason, old one worked fine-cheap enough to open up view.
Slight trim to fit, trimming for door opening height expected,
was 1/4" gap. Maybe why so cheap...Minor, though kinda gripped me, trimmed & installed on door.
Push new release knob, wont move. errr
Redrill handle 1/2" over and all the way to top, rebend rod, remove unneeded spacers- works.
Reinstall screen door on camper.
Slide cover close and push the door closed- um, it wont.
panel storage strap. Almost reinstalled the old cover then realized simple to move the strap up.
Moved strap up 2", door closes. Go inside, pull door behind and played with new release. Too simple-
I had seen this mod before but just didn't register how easy simply going in and out would be.
Plus for us on the road now can keep cover closed, still being able to open. Never have to play with the cover again.
Especially if door is open you can bring in without stepping outside.
It would really be nice to use screen to pull it and main door when hooked together. But our main door has never
slam-shut, meaning to close you had to hold latch in open position and close, then let go of latch.
When inside the camper this was a 2 handed process....
No amount of slamming or force would cause door to latch. Why? Most doors you can shut without releasing latch...
That explains recent development of if slightly pulling on door before opening handle it would catch.
But looking at the striker determined why its never closed without opening latch.
It contacts on the very edge of striker. Mostly because the latch angle is very shallow.
Then I removed the main door latch. I was going to just clean up the groove wore into latch but looking at it,
it just struck me as odd. The latch other than very shallow angle is dead flat. Went to the house and looked at several
doors verifying what I thought, all of the latch faces are round, not flat.
I only removed maybe a 1/16" from length (insertion into striker depth). Balancing on bumper to take pic, its skewed,
looks like more. Worse case though, striker could be shimmed out if too much material removed. Took opportunity to
clean/re-grease internals of door latch with synthetic waterproof lube before reinstalling.
Reinstall latch on door. With honestly little hope of latching, lightly swung door in from about 1/2 open - IT LATCHED!
In disbelief I repeated. In 17 years this is first time door has self latched. From a few inches lightly swing in it, 2 finger close.
Camper on jacks, 4" nose high so door wants to swing open. I imagine once level will close even easier.
Hmm even if latch is key locked...keep spare keys in truck but think I need to hide a door key on camper somewhere.
Accidentally closing door if handle locked, locking myself out, was never possible before.
Short video of main door closing, self latching https://youtu.be/mfIbR_Eyw2M
17 years..never looked at it, never assumed it could or would self latch.
Now going into camper pulling on new screen bar when snapped to door that can be easily reached,
pull in both to close- one hand. Just like a real door...
Went from reworking screen door as matter of convenience to open without playing with the sliding cover, then
adding an easy to grab bar and clear full view cover to inadvertently leading to a functioning easy to close main door.
- Add a latch release that doesn't require opening the sliding cover on screen door.
- Replace cover with a clear one since I'm here.
- Add full width screen push bar
- Look at main door latch to see if closing could be made easier
Our screen door, when slide is in, access to cover and latch difficult.
We now store portable solar panel behind dinette which made limited access impossible. On the road, having lunch etc,
we had to leave the cover partially open. Swear, middle of nowhere, that 8" hole must be visible for miles to bugs...
As inconvenient it was, it was the daily in and out, and having to open/close the sliding cover that really motivated
me to look at it, especially with hands full-hated it. Nothing new here, stumbled on some older threads of this mod, Hey..
Folks have been bending up coat hangers forever...
Some use a lever, like toilet lever, Camco sells a flip lever if you have access to front of cover, though it flips up to
open door. I used brass (brazing) rod, heavy coat hanger would work (better) and many use in different configurations.
Many ways this can be done. Simplest if your slide cover is like our old one is rod straight thru top and bottom of cover
in front of recess ridge, one loop bent to push lever, one loop bent to slid in recess of cover so it doesn't rotate. But
changing cover...
I took the screen off -easier to imagineer and work on door out in the shop than balancing on the bumper.
hanger would be better). Drilled hole in handle, I had a stop so used but simple dogleg bend will work thru handle.
Inside spacers I ended up taking off later-not needed.
Short video of new latch in shop then camper https://youtu.be/RsFDJsjgL90
wonder why we cant embed videos?
..then I decided to change the cover to clear one...
- Change cover to clear, full width push bar
New bar just easier to use. Cover, no real reason, old one worked fine-cheap enough to open up view.
Slight trim to fit, trimming for door opening height expected,
was 1/4" gap. Maybe why so cheap...Minor, though kinda gripped me, trimmed & installed on door.
Push new release knob, wont move. errr
Redrill handle 1/2" over and all the way to top, rebend rod, remove unneeded spacers- works.
Reinstall screen door on camper.
Slide cover close and push the door closed- um, it wont.
panel storage strap. Almost reinstalled the old cover then realized simple to move the strap up.
Moved strap up 2", door closes. Go inside, pull door behind and played with new release. Too simple-
I had seen this mod before but just didn't register how easy simply going in and out would be.
Plus for us on the road now can keep cover closed, still being able to open. Never have to play with the cover again.
- Installed the push bar.
Especially if door is open you can bring in without stepping outside.
It would really be nice to use screen to pull it and main door when hooked together. But our main door has never
slam-shut, meaning to close you had to hold latch in open position and close, then let go of latch.
When inside the camper this was a 2 handed process....
No amount of slamming or force would cause door to latch. Why? Most doors you can shut without releasing latch...
- Rework main door latch
That explains recent development of if slightly pulling on door before opening handle it would catch.
But looking at the striker determined why its never closed without opening latch.
It contacts on the very edge of striker. Mostly because the latch angle is very shallow.
Then I removed the main door latch. I was going to just clean up the groove wore into latch but looking at it,
it just struck me as odd. The latch other than very shallow angle is dead flat. Went to the house and looked at several
doors verifying what I thought, all of the latch faces are round, not flat.
I only removed maybe a 1/16" from length (insertion into striker depth). Balancing on bumper to take pic, its skewed,
looks like more. Worse case though, striker could be shimmed out if too much material removed. Took opportunity to
clean/re-grease internals of door latch with synthetic waterproof lube before reinstalling.
Reinstall latch on door. With honestly little hope of latching, lightly swung door in from about 1/2 open - IT LATCHED!
In disbelief I repeated. In 17 years this is first time door has self latched. From a few inches lightly swing in it, 2 finger close.
Camper on jacks, 4" nose high so door wants to swing open. I imagine once level will close even easier.
Hmm even if latch is key locked...keep spare keys in truck but think I need to hide a door key on camper somewhere.
Accidentally closing door if handle locked, locking myself out, was never possible before.
Short video of main door closing, self latching https://youtu.be/mfIbR_Eyw2M
17 years..never looked at it, never assumed it could or would self latch.
Now going into camper pulling on new screen bar when snapped to door that can be easily reached,
pull in both to close- one hand. Just like a real door...
Went from reworking screen door as matter of convenience to open without playing with the sliding cover, then
adding an easy to grab bar and clear full view cover to inadvertently leading to a functioning easy to close main door.
