The prophecy of the wedge...

[skyguyscott]

Originally Posted by leedav

My door opens the other way. Is it a homicide door?

That is what I call a smart door. When the latch fails at highway speeds, the airstream keeps the door closed.

Hey, that sounds like a really smart way to design a travel trailer! We should make a whole line of trailers designed to stream through the air like that. Wonder what would we could call it?

[leedav]

Y'know I seriously doubt the airstream has better aero characteristics than a brick. I read all about how the resistance is low when you get rolling and only a few more HP for a bigger trailer and blah blah blah. I got 13 mpg with the Bambi. I get 9.8 with the 23. I bet the Bambi was still in the turbulent wake of the TV and the 23 has a big air suck behind it. Not to mention all the stuff sticking out the top. Wonder if a flapping side door would help or hinder...

[maroth]

My trusty door wedge. I wouldn't roll without it. I believe what happens is the trailer frame twists and rocks as you travel, and that has the potential of allowing the door to open when moving. I can't tell you for sure (since I always use this baby), but it has likely saved my trailer many times over the years. Cheap insurance is the way I look at it. (also keeps the young'uns out when parked at the house)

[NVRAGN]

Thus ends the reading of the lesson 😇 Well done!

[SilverWind]

Goddess of Bungee gave us her solution.

[NinaKay]

TxTravelsUSA
I am so with you on the bathroom light switch being under the towel ring. And how many times have you flipped the gas water heater switch instead? I wonder if the designers are having fun???

[Drewkonopka5]

I would expect the door dead bolt to hold since it is not spring loaded. Higher chance of other disasters than dead bolt failure.

[skyguyscott]

The wedge is pretty cheap insurance, just in case. Would you spend $5 to save $3000 and time and hassle and stress?

For example: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f453...ml#post1799599

Trust me, the door will come open under certain circumstances even with the lock and deadbolt engaged. Cost me over $3,000 to replace the door when it opened going down the highway. I religiously use the notched piece of wood in the door handle now. It is foolproof

And another convert testifies here: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f453...ml#post1793716

We were warned about the door coming open. Didn't believe it till it happened to ME!!! Last year after stopping for lunch, I locked the trailer and got back on the road. within a half mile of getting on the interstate I looked back to see the door open and something fly out. The interstate was very bumpy and I had just gotten up to speed. We have the dead bolt lock and the door still came open. Jim was able to repair the door after reading the on line posting here about door repair ( big thanks to all who posted, esp. the photos). Door is not flush but it works.

Not all Airstreams come equipped with a deadbolt, especially older trailers, although you can add one to the door frame in some cases. However, this requires drilling out a sizable hole in the cast aluminum door, and with age, this cast aluminum can become more brittle, risking permanent damage to the door itself, to say nothing of structurally weakening the door where it is drilled out.

The root problem, of course, is the design of the suicide door itself, IMHO, a inexcusably daft and damnable decision. There are reasons AS went with such a design, but not good ones, and not ones that would outweigh the castastopic damage that ensues upon latch failure. For more on this, you can read my earlier post here.

The ultimate solution is for AS to tweak the floor plans to eliminate the suicide door on all models, as they have finally done with the FB models. RB models can also have intelligently designed fail-safe doors that will not catastrophically fail.

[WhereStream]

Oh, wow, something new to worry about!

Before I get out the saw and carve out a wedge, let me ask ... does it booger up the finish on the door and body?

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by WhereStream

Oh, wow, something new to worry about!



Before I get out the saw and carve out a wedge, let me ask ... does it booger up the finish on the door and body?

Not sure. If it does though, it’s probably to a lesser extent than having it fly open when driving.

[ROBERT CROSS]

"And God promised men that good and obedient wives would be found in all corners of the earth."
Then he made the earth round... and he laughed and laughed and laughed!😂

Duth thou not the death rod uze? It cometh on thy door from the Lord.

Bob
🇺🇸

[skyguyscott]

Originally Posted by WhereStream

Oh, wow, something new to worry about!

Before I get out the saw and carve out a wedge, let me ask ... does it booger up the finish on the door and body?

I can see no difference in finish on my door around the wedge. The wedge is made of wood rather than metal and it fits very firmly against the door so it is not constantly rubbing during transit.

I suppose if one was concerned, one could place a soft cloth between the wedge and the door, but you want to make sure that the rag itself would not flutter at speed and itself cause the very damage you were trying to avoid.

[featherbedder]

I made a wedge many yrs. ago used once but after reading horror stories of doors coming open and damage, now I won't leave home with out in place. I firmly believe that so many doors are opening is the sad state that our rds. are in. I did not hear of maybe 1



in many yrs. of AS but rds. were in good condition, not now.If people are concerned about scratching w/wedge, just glue felt on back side but may that would scratch? IMHO wood would not.

[batman]

Excellent thread. Thanks Skyguy. Just goes to show, we can learn something new every day.

Some of those photo on the "WHY" thread are too funny. I love the duct tape and stick.

-Dennis

[batman]

I just made mine yesterday. Thanks for the links. This is great!

[Landshark]

We had an 86 34" Limited whose door flew open twice, guess we were slow learners! First time, fairly slow speed and a car overtook us with passenger waving, yelling, and pointing. Looked and sure enough the door was open. Stopped and locked, went on. No damage.

Next time was the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth: door flew open on an Interstate at 65 mph. The door was deformed: straightened. We bungeed it shut and continued home. We were really lucky that the side of the trailer wasn't dented or damaged in any way.

When home, took the door off its hinges. We had a 500 gal propane tank in the back yard, put some blankets over it as a cushion, then rolled the door over it while applying pressure to top and bottom. Success! After a few tries to get the exact curve, it was good, so we remounted the door and breathed a sigh of relief. All's well that ends well.

Now I have thought ahead: I have been worried about towing my 67 Caravel from SoCal all the way home to Idaho and the suicide door thing. So dear Bubba made and sent to me a set of wedges so now I can sleep at night instead of worrying about weeping and wailing. Thank you Bubba!

Vivian

[Bubba L]

Thanks for the compliment, Vivian. The wedge shown in the Byam photo is priceless in giving a bit of confidence that the door won't fly open when traveling. Problem is, it won't fit all Airstream grab bars. We found it would not work on our '55 because of a different style of grab bar. We had to play with a piece of wood until it worked. The first one is for the '55 and the second for the '66.

[sallye]

If I can ask a dumb question - What keeps the wedge from popping out if you hit a bump? Just friction?

[RivetED]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

"And God promised men that good and obedient wives would be found in all corners of the earth."
Then he made the earth round... and he laughed and laughed and laughed!😂


Bob
🇺🇸

That is funny

Scotts approach to this design 'weakness' is great. Beats plain ole' gripe threads IMO.

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by sallye

If I can ask a dumb question - What keeps the wedge from popping out if you hit a bump? Just friction?

The wedge rests at the bottom of the grab bar and has to be rotated, flipped upright, to get it out. The 55 style grab handle is different and was concerned it would fall out. That’s why I put a clasp. But, have never heard of a typical wedge popping out.