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Old 01-31-2016, 11:23 PM   #1
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Bathroom door won't latch

Been having lots of trouble finding wifi and keeping the computers charged so haven't been on the forum. We are on week 6.5 of our 7.5 week journey. Mostly going well. Though I'll have LOTS to report.

Issue of the day. YIKES! Don't remember anything particularly torquing the trailer. Hope we didn't BEND it somehow. But the bathroom door does not latch. It closes fairly firmly, but the latch passes the strike plate without catching. As though the hinges got bent.

Stands to reason they DID bend because the door, at some point, was swinging, unlatched, as we were driving for up to three hours.

Puzzlement is... they don't LOOK bent! The door is fairly firmly close to the wall on the hinge side.

Solution is probably to unscrew the handle and re-attach it closer to the edge of the door. Or to unscrew the strike plate and re-attach with a shim... (Which I'm really excited about doing while we are parked here in a casino parking lot with the wind buffeting us at 30 to 60 mph. NOT ) But i want to understand what happened.

Clues from your experience?

Smiles,
Amy
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Old 02-01-2016, 01:20 AM   #2
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Glenn from Chase BC had experience to share and his high tech solution worked! Lol. I hit the door hard behind the hinges with the heel of my hand. It now latches!!!
(Guess the hinges were bent!)
Thanks Glenn!
Amy
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Old 02-01-2016, 07:58 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by Abeltaine View Post
Glenn from Chase BC had experience to share and his high tech solution worked! Lol. I hit the door hard behind the hinges with the heel of my hand. It now latches!!!
(Guess the hinges were bent!)
Thanks Glenn!
Amy
You're welcome, glad it worked. Sometimes the easiest solutions are the quickest and most effective.
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Old 02-01-2016, 09:59 AM   #4
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Old 02-01-2016, 10:44 AM   #5
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Unscrewing the strike plate and adding a shim... (since you're on the road, cutting up some shirt cardboard) ...should do it.
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Old 02-01-2016, 11:01 AM   #6
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Unscrewing the strike plate and adding a shim... (since you're on the road, cutting up some shirt cardboard) ...should do it.
I have never heard the term shirt cardboard used, but I knew right away what you mean.

I have used similar material for hinge shims all the time.
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Old 02-01-2016, 11:21 AM   #7
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Ya, I thought about calling it corn-flakes-box-cardboard but it just didn't sound right.
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Old 02-01-2016, 05:26 PM   #8
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Our bathroom door slightly changes size and shape with rapid changes in humidity. For example, driving from Northern Oregon (wet!) to Arizona (dry) will cause the door to warp. It will go from operating nicely to being hard to latch, often popping open. In a few days it settles back to its' normal size/shape again and latches well. I made one adjustment to the latch clearance that seems to have reached a good compromise position where it at least stays shut during these changes.
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Old 02-02-2016, 03:11 PM   #9
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My door worked fine for a week and then it did't. I shimmed the strike plate and all is well since.
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