Door swinging the wrong way?

[bass-o-matic]

Building a Canned Ham/Airstream mutant.

I have a door frame from an old donor canned ham. Before I install it don't you want the door to open from the left? hinged on the right? from the outside?

So that when you're driving down the road the wind won't catch it and make it fly open?

[m.hony]

Airstreams have "suicide" doors.
They open from the right and are hinged on the left.
Other brands usually have doors that open from the left, hinged on the right.

[reinergirl]

The opening of the door can also interfere with awning arms so if you are planning one please take that into account. Weld love to see pictures of your " mutant"

[dkottum]

You probably want the door so it can open fully against the trailer without hitting the awning arm. That's the main factor. If you're concerned about it opening when going down the road, no matter which way it opens, put a rubber door stop through the grab handle alongside. Attach it to the grab handle for convenience by tying a lanyard through the stop and looping it through the grab handle.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by bass-o-matic

Building a Canned Ham/Airstream mutant.

I have a door frame from an old donor canned ham. Before I install it don't you want the door to open from the left? hinged on the right? from the outside?

So that when you're driving down the road the wind won't catch it and make it fly open?

Basically, if you have an awning, you don't want the open door to smack into the awning arm before it swings fully open. With the typical Airstream having an entrance door at the front, and the door under the awning, the door has to be hinged on the left side so that the door swings away from the awning arm, not towards it.

Since your trailer will be a hybrid, consider where the door will be relative to the awning arms, and then decide which way to make it swing.

There are several posts here on the Forums that detail different approaches taken by people who wanted to wedge their doors shut in transit to prevent the door from opening while underway. I'll leave it to you to search for them. Keywords "door" and "wedge" should do it, I think.

On edit, Reinergirl and dkottum have already said the same in fewer words. Dare I say, great minds…

[bass-o-matic]

Thanks everyone! I'm enjoying every little detail of this "little" hobby.

[bass-o-matic]

I have some time to decide on this one. Curious. If I wanted to buy a Door Frame (would need to handle a screen door too)… is there a supplier? or should I just refurb the one I got? It's not bad. Aluminum. flat. My sides will be flat.

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by bass-o-matic

I have some time to decide on this one. Curious. If I wanted to buy a Door Frame (would need to handle a screen door too)… is there a supplier? or should I just refurb the one I got? It's not bad. Aluminum. flat. My sides will be flat.

Dear Basso-

PICTURES. We want PICTURES

You want advice, we want PICTURES
Connect the dots.

Seriously, if it's in good condition, why not use it?

Please pretty please, post some pictures.

Paula

[bass-o-matic]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

PICTURES. We want PICTURES

You want advice, we want PICTURES
Connect the dots.

I'd love to but there's nothing to look at yet. Just the pretty new deck. Or 500 feet of Aluminum C Channel?

It's totally being built from scratch… and my imagination. My imagination doesn't photograph well.