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Old 07-25-2005, 04:39 PM   #1
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How do you Travel (one or two locks)

Ok, we just had some fun on our last trip. I now want to ask people if they lock one or both locks on their airstream main door when traveling.

We locked just the door lock, not the deadbolt. We drove up through Pennsylvania and I commented as we were driving that the road seemed awfully rough for a 65 mph speed limit. No problem when we arrived at the campground but at about four in the morning the dogs wanted to go out and my wife woke me because she couldn't open the door.

I got up and looked and the interior door handle was swinging free. I took apart the lock from the inside (since we were now locked in the trailer). The latch had sheared off and was being held in the locked position by the spring inside the lock. It took me a little while to figure out how it worked but I managed to get the spring out and then slide the latch out of the locked position.

Yesterday when we returned I was able to remove the parts and weld it back together so I think I am ok in that department.

What I want to know is do you lock both locks and do you think having the deadbolt locked might have relieved some of the stress that the lock went through from the pounding it obviously took.

-Alden
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Old 07-25-2005, 04:43 PM   #2
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I use the deadbolt only,it is a real sturdy lock
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Old 07-25-2005, 04:47 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alden Miller
I now want to ask people if they lock one or both locks on their airstream main door when traveling.
I lock both of them.

I also wear a belt with my suspenders.
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Old 07-25-2005, 04:51 PM   #4
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Read somewhere that you are suppose to lock both when traveling. My door lock is not very sturdy so I always lock both.
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Old 07-25-2005, 04:53 PM   #5
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I lock both. While the deadbolt is primary, the latch also provides something else to hold that door closed. If someone pulls on the outside handle, and the deadbolt is thrown, the door will not open but in some cases the door has moved slightly to the open position and the latch is no longer providing its effort to keep the door shut. If you push on the door at that point you will hear the latch click as it slides back into its closed position.

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Old 07-25-2005, 04:57 PM   #6
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While driving, I use both locks. When the trailer is parked for a while, I'll typically only use the top (non-deadbolt) lock. On our most recent trip, we did have a couple times when the door was hard to open once the locks had been undone. I attributed it to minor flexing of the door frame. I just had to pull harder to open the door, but my wife (who is tiny) had more difficulty.
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Old 07-25-2005, 05:26 PM   #7
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I took the trailer into town to see about an ac unit. when I left I forgot to walk on the passenger side and check the doors, just drove 25 miles home with the door wide open. I normally lock both. Wife says I can't take the trailer off anymore without her. lol
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Old 07-25-2005, 05:34 PM   #8
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We only have a deadbolt...the doorknob is just a passage set.

Shari
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Old 07-25-2005, 05:38 PM   #9
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dead bolt only

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Old 07-25-2005, 05:46 PM   #10
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Dead bolt only

I usually only lock the dead bolt on the 85. On the 58, and 67, I use a rope too.

Rob
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Old 07-25-2005, 05:50 PM   #11
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We always lock both. With the way the door opens I am afraid too much damage might occur if it opened at 60+ MPH.
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Old 07-25-2005, 05:58 PM   #12
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deadbolt only

Our door latch has no lock, so the deadbolt get locked before moving the trailer.
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Old 07-25-2005, 06:03 PM   #13
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I may not know what I'm talking about, but my trailer only has the lock that is in the door handle. Is this considered the door lock or the deadbolt? I'm assuming it is the door latch. Am I supposed to have a deadbolt? My handle also did exactly what yours did Alden. I removed part of the screen retaining material and reached my arm out the window to open the door from the outside. I also discovered this in the morning when the dogs were begging to go to the potty. It scared my wife a little when the door wouldn't open, all she could think about was "What if the AS had caught on fire". I really need to fix that latch, thanks for the reminder.


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Old 07-25-2005, 06:16 PM   #14
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I only use the dead bolt, I have heard a few horror stories of people forgetting that the door lock was locked or someone tried too hard to open it and broke the mechanism and given the replacement cost of around $700 for the unit I have I DO NOT WANT IT BROKE! I think the deadbolt is more than sufficient to keep the door closed while in transit.

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Old 07-25-2005, 07:08 PM   #15
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Question

$700.00 Lordy,Lordy, is that just for parts ?
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Old 07-25-2005, 07:14 PM   #16
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From experience

If the door does open, like my 67 door did on my way towing it home, it will bend the door, and put a nice whole in the side of the trailer from the round house like door handle....and ruin your day! Oh well, live and learn.

Rob
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Old 07-25-2005, 07:17 PM   #17
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Locks

The wife is paranoid,she uses both locks.

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Old 07-25-2005, 08:28 PM   #18
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Thumbs up Door, what door?

I just wish Moby had a door to lock. It's sitting next to him in the barn. It's sick and needs an operation (hinge redrilled).

I'm sure when we do get on the road, the dead bolt will do just fine.
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Old 07-25-2005, 09:36 PM   #19
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We use both the lock and the deadbolt. The door is a suicide door, meaning that it opens into the wind. Not that we think it would come open in transit, but since it's there, why not use it is our feeling. Gives me an extra sense of security that if one should for some unknown reason fail, there would be a secondary device holding the door in place.
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Old 07-25-2005, 09:55 PM   #20
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Both

I wa told when I bought my first Airstream to lock both locks and I have done so ever since.

A lot of our unit members who have older (pre-wide body) units have made wooden blocks that fit in the assist handle and block the door from coming open. They won't move the trailers without that block in place. I don't think anything like that is necessary with the modern lock and deadbolt.
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