Exterior Door Pops Open?

[Jimisand]

Hi,

I bought a 2013 Springdale 2600TB at the end of last season and haven't had a chance to enjoy it yet (campground closed for the winter) I have it parked at a campground and the owners of the campground contacted me yesterday to say that the exterior door has popped open. The door handle has 2 locks on it, which both were locked. The owner said that maybe from the trailer settling over the winter/now that it could have caused it to shift and pop open.

Has anyone else ever heard of this?

Should I buy a hasp and lock and drill it into the trailer to make extra sure?

This is my first trailer, so all of this is really new to me.

Thank you,
Jimisand

[sourdough]

How closely did you look at it before purchase? Sounds like maybe a combination of the door out of adjustment and the trailer settling possibly twisting the frame....or....someone "popped" it open. You need to do a visual to see what's what.

[dutchmensport]

Two things:

First, even though you thought you closed the door, you really did not. When you close the door, don't just slam it shut. Take an extra second and actually push on the outside near the handle. 99 times out of 100, you hear the "click", meaning the catch actually caught and is now in the hole. Often times, the catch is not really in the hole. So when the trailer moves in the wind, it will wiggle the door and it will come open.

Second, the dead bolt key moves in 2 directions. One direction closes the dead bolt. Turn the other way and it opens the dead bolt. It is too easy to turn the key the wrong way, thinking you engaged the dead bolt, when really, you just turned the key to the open position.

Solution: Shut the door and do the little extra "push" on the door. Wait for it to "click" If it does not click, then it is shut. Second, lock the dead bolt. After locking try to open the door. If the dead bolt hit the hole correct and you did not turn the key the other way, the door should not open. But now, the handle catch is not caught. Give the door another little "push" and you'll hear it "click" shut again. Now, third, lock the pull handle.

More than likely, you attempted to close the dead bolt, it missed the hole because the door was not actually "shut", yet the key turned and felt like it did. The pull handle catch did not actually spring out inside the hole catch. In other words, the door really wasn't shut.

All the above, that just took 15 minutes to write and 30 minutes to read can be one in 10 seconds. And if you start doing it this way, it will be a habit and you won't even think about it any more. It will be automatic. And you'll listen for that "click". You know it's shut.

[Ranchhand]

I just traded a 2019 cougar 369 that twice I went to the campground this winter to check on things and the only thing holding the door shut was the handrail being folded in. I was just locking the handle lock and I know it clicked as above previously stated. After the second time I started locking the deadbolt and didn’t have any more issues. Not really sure why it was opening on its own. Pretty sure there was no one trying to break into it.

[chuckster57]

If the deadbolt was extended, the door won’t open. I’m thinking it either wasn’t extended or the key hole was sideways making you think it was locked.

The “handle” lock is unlocked if the key is in the vertical position and locked in the horizontal position.

The deadbolt key should be in the vertical position when locking/unlocking.

Insert key, turn to left or right to lock/unlock and then return to vertical to remove key.

[gearhead]

I wouldn’t drill into it to install a hasp.
RV door locks are cheap. They are cheap because they are cheaply built.
If you are sure you are operating it correctly, I would replace it. Just about all RV shops sell replacement locks. It’s a 10 minute job at most. Lubricate it well with an appropriate oil. I like WD40 Specialist with PTFE.
I have been locked out before. Sleeping in my truck isn’t as much fun as it once was.

[flyingjack]

dutchmensport +1

[chuckster57]

Just an FYI:

Master keys will unlock the handle, but will not unlock the deadbolt.

I have a set of master keys in my toolbox, but you can buy them on-line.

[Camping family]

Had that happen to me a couple times. After a close inspection of the lock n the door catch. I found the catch needed some adjustment.

[Jimisand]

Thank you very much everyone.

We found out the hard way when we bought and had it moved to the campground area (wasn't at our actual site at the time). The day after we dropped it off, we went back to see it (like kids on Christmas Day) and noticed it was open. Since then, we made sure to test both locks both ways... several different times. It took a few minutes to figure it out, but we think we found the proper way to lock it. I guess it's possible we actually didn't. We will find out tomorrow when we go out there.

Thank you,
Jimisand

[dutchmensport]

Originally Posted by Jimisand

.... We will find out tomorrow when we go out there.

Thank you,
Jimisand

Part of the problem is the fact that RV's ARE manufactured poorly. On every camper (5 of them now), I've had to realign the "striker plate" on the door frame so the door catch actually caught correct. Under most conditions, yea it closes ok. But sometimes, if the trailer is not sitting just exactly right, it causes a slight twist in the frame (which it's designed to do). But this twist also twists the door frame (and cabinet doors inside the trailer too, and everything else).

So if the catch on the door frame has no room for any tolerance because it not exactly centered to the door catch, if the door frame twists even slightly, that catch could miss, giving the appearance of being shut when it really is not.

I don't think its a matter of learning the right or wrong way to shut the door, I think it's a matter of understanding what is happening with the trailer over all.

When you go back to the camper, do a very careful examination of the catch and the striker plate on the door and door frame. Take a non permanet marker and mark the top and bottom of the spring catch on the door side when it just reaches the door frame. Then open the door again and look at the striker plate hole and the position of those marks. I'm pretty sure, you'll find either the top or the bottom is extremely close. So any slight twist of the frame and they won't line up.

Now the other problem is shutting the door itself . Not just up and down, but in and out. This is where most of my problems came from. That striker was screwed too far back. When I moved it forward a little (loosen the screws, it should have room to move forward or backward), my doors started closing fine. I did have one, I had to file that hole out bigger. It was installed so shoddy, it was the only way for it to align right so it would close without me almost breaking the door first.

Anyway, check out the alignment when you return back to the camper. I think you'll find your answer there.

[Kirk's Keystone Outback.]

I have to add to this post, only out of experience of what could've happened had I not investigated and corrected.
When I bought my RV new in 2018, the rear deadbolt would not go in as far as the forward door. I routinely lock the dead bolt and handle when parked, regardless.
This issue has bothered until I made time recently to find out why the deadbolt would not go all the way out. The fix was simple using a dremmel to notch out the material until the deadbolt went all the way out. The moral of the story is that, if the deadbolt does not go full travel, it has the potential to reverse itself and completely unlock, I know, I verified that could happen. Try for your self by opening the door, partially extend to deadbolt and extract the key, then push on the deadbolt and it will retract.

Sorry for the long story, hard to explain without some detail.

[Jimisand]

Hi,
We went out this morning to take a look. The campground owner had a ladder leaning against it to help hold it closed.

dutchmensport - we tried what you recommended, and it seemed to work. In saying that, there is still a bit of a gap when the door is closed and locked. Almost as if the door wasn't pushed in far enough. We also noticed the strike plate looks a little sketchy.

In the attached pictures, you can see where my finger is in between the door and the frame. That is with the door locked. But again, it doesn't seem like it is as far back (closed) as it should be.

In the other picture, you will see the striker plate. It doesn't look like the latch would even fit in there properly.

When we bought this trailer, we never experienced any issues with the door lock. Mind you, we bought it and had it moved to the campground the next day, and it sat in their field for 2 weeks until our spot was open. It was moved there on the day the campground closed. We were only at the trailer twice to see it when it was in the field.

I chalk it up as life experiences.

Jimisand

[CedarCreekWoody]

I've had a camper with the same striker plate. I noticed the dead bolt wasn't going all the way into the opening. I took a wood chisel and cleaned up the opening.