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Old 03-25-2013, 12:23 AM   #1
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1977 31' Sovereign
Fresno , California
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Heavy closet doors....got to go!

Hi All!
We have a '77 Sovereign 31' center bath model. Across the 'hall' from the bathroom are 3 closet doors. These door are so heavy! If a door comes unlatched during travel, you can guarantee the hinges will be bent beyond repair. We've replaced the hinges, which was more difficult than it should be. It's a two-person job.
We secure them now before each trip with blue painters tape, just to be safe, but we always worry about them when we hit a bump in the road.
Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone has removed these heavy doors and replaced them with something better. I'd like to get away from these doors and the hinges that go with them.


Seriously, these doors are so heavy, I'll bet if I removed them, I could tow the AS with my 6 cyl. 4Runner.....maybe.....
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Old 03-25-2013, 12:40 AM   #2
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Have you replaced the latches? The doors should not come open during travel if they are aligned properly.
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Old 03-25-2013, 12:57 AM   #3
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We did replace the hinges and one latch that had broken. I guess one of my problems is that I could tell that the PO had replaced the hinges too and put one or more holes in the brackets for the doors. So the surface the hinge is mounted too is somewhat boogered up. It has made it hard to perfectly align the doors.
I couldn't figure out why more hole were drilled until I noticed that the holes in the newer hinges are in slightly different locations. I guess that what you get with updated parts. Regardless of the additional holes, it was sloppy work.
We have another set of hinges, and those are holes are slight different too. We're running out of places to drill holes since the hinge wraps over the top of the door and can only be at the very top of the door. The doors are in very good condition otherwise.
I was considering removing them and hanging up a nice curtain. Everything in the closet stays put on the road, but I thought we should have something that physically conceals better than a curtain.
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Old 03-25-2013, 04:57 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Mrs.Mod View Post
Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone has removed these heavy doors and replaced them with something better. I'd like to get away from these doors and the hinges that go with them.
Don't know if it's better, exactly, but as long as the stuff you store in the closets isn't likely to go flying, why not take the doors off altogether, and put curtains in their place? You can either put curtain rods just on the top and weight the bottom end, or put curtain rods both top and bottom.

And as a neat trick, you can sew pockets into the curtains to hold shoes or other small stuff, on either the front or back side of the curtains.
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Old 03-25-2013, 05:43 AM   #5
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Ajust the door positions and change to piano hinges and your problems should be solved.

Occaisonally there is not enough space for Piano hinges to swing.
If that is the case you can purchase heavy duty cabinate door hinges that are the same geometry as the original hinges and put two at the top and bottom of each door.

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Old 03-25-2013, 05:45 AM   #6
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Don't know if it's better, exactly, but as long as the stuff you store in the closets isn't likely to go flying, why not take the doors off altogether, and put curtains in their place? You can either put curtain rods just on the top and weight the bottom end, or put curtain rods both top and bottom.

And as a neat trick, you can sew pockets into the curtains to hold shoes or other small stuff, on either the front or back side of the curtains.
Now, that is very clever, Protag!


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Old 03-25-2013, 08:13 AM   #7
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Get rid of the mirrors

Much of the weight in my closet doors came from the mirror glass. I removed the glass and glued bamboo window shade material to the thin plywood that had backed the mirrors. The doors are very light now. I sprayed a few coats of clear on the blind material and it has held up well for years.

My AS originally had 11 mirrors. I hated the look. It now has a single mirror over the bathroom sink and bamboo overlays everywhere else. I probably took out 40 pounds of glass.
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