Clamshell galley door not staying closed! SOLVED... (I hope!)

sdpaddlebum

Just picked up our 2015 T@B CS last week and took it on our first trip this weekend. Everything was great... all that we expected and more, except... on the trip home (about 100 miles) we were flagged down by a passing motorist who indicated that our clamshell was open! I pulled off the Interstate and sure enough, open and popped up! I was amazed, as I had made two prior stops, specifically to do a walk around and hitch, chains and latch check: once after a half-mile, once after about 25 miles. (Equally amazing was that the cupboards were still closed and we hadn't lost anything!) The locks were still in the locked position, so I unlocked and relocked them and pulled back on the road.

Five miles down the road... same issue. Now despite my care in locking the clamshell when we first pulled out of camp, and the two walk-arounds, I'm willing to admit the possibility of user error. One time. Not twice in five minutes, and not after double checking- pulling, twisting, etc before getting back on the road. So, out came my trusty orange ratcheting tie-down hook straps, which I fastened to the stabilizer jacks and around the lock handles. No more problems today.

I'll be taking it back in to San Diego Little Guy tomorrow for their ideas on how to fix the issue. (They have been great! From what I can see, the levers that twist behind the "footman's loop" (yes, that's what those things are called) on the inside of the clamshell may be too short, so the inevitable twists and torques can cause the levers to pop over the loops. Perhaps raising the footman's loop with shims, a longer lever on the inside of the hatch, a hook under the footman's loop (instead of a straight lever that goes behind it), or ???

My question is: have others experienced the same thing? and what was the solution?

Other than that, one thing, we're in love with the T@B, love the outside kitchen, thoroughly enjoyed the smiles, the looks, comments and thumbs up that seem to be a part of owning a T@B. Just gotta keep that d#%@N clamshell closed!

Thanks for any suggestions.

Mitch

Normfun

Hasn't happened to us yet.  I have heard of it before though so I also check regularly.  We have not had our tab long only got it in November but we have traveled 4,000 miles with no mishaps of the clamshell.  I hope they get it solved for you ASAP.  Post the solution when you get one please.  

Enjoy 

wizard1880

I once discovered that I shut and latched the clamshell, but then I was able to pull it right open! The foam seal had expanded for some reason (outside temp?), and I had to really push hard to get the handles to "catch" the brackets. Not saying this is what happened, but it pays to test each corner by pulling up, after latching for travel.

sdpaddlebum

Thanks to all for your suggestions. I'll be adding some height under the footmanloops. Same net result as swapping out the lever, except on the other half of the mechanism. Either way, it allows for greater purchase between the lever and the loop.  Sort of like raising the bridge or lowering the water.

sdpaddlebum

I'll be taking it out for a little test drive later this week, I'll bounce the shocks and kick the tires and see if it stays where it's towed to stay. It's not really possible to see how much or how little overlap there was/is now, because it's like the light in the fridge... you can't see because the door is closed. Should be sufficient now. If not, I'll increase the lever length or replace it with a hook that goes under the loop.

Mitch
hook.jpg

Bgkirk

After you brought this up, I wanted to see how well my latch was working so ... I placed a small flashlight in the area of the latch and set my iPhone up on movie mode and filmed it while latching.  Took a couple tries at each lock to get the phone set in the right spot. Gave me a feel for how it was working.

RZRBUG

sdpaddlebum," ...and see if it stays where it's towed to stay."  Thanks for the chuckle.

sdpaddlebum

Great idea about the phone... I had thought of getting two phones and doing FaceTime call...yours is much simpler,

Normfun

You could put a touch of lipstick on the inside of the footman's loop, close the latch an see where the red is on the latch arm.

Verna

Or use chalk if you don't have lipstick.....

Normfun

Real men use bearing grease  >:)

sdpaddlebum

Outstanding ideas all. Got a little bit of white caulk from a different project. That worked too. The lever was just barely behind the footmans loop, catching just the tip of the lever. Raised the loop and now it catches about 1/4". Picked up some longer levers today and will put them on tomorrow. 

I really appreciate all the help! Given the overall quality of everything else, I'm surprised this was the problem that surfaced first... And unless P.V. has recently changed their drilling template or the length of the arms or something, I'm also would have expected more people to have had this happen.  Just my lucky day I guess!

All's well. Thank goodness for tight latches in the kitchen!

Mitch, The San Diego Paddlebum

Normfun

I would imagine that PV has many sizes of lever as they make many different clamshell trailers.  I think sometimes stock gets dropped back in to the wrong parts bin and then assembled wrong.  I know I have seen this on our production floor where I work.  I have changed the way we store our floor stock so it can't happen.  PV in their old plant probably did not have room to separate the stock or the lines.  No excuse just plausible explanation.  Glad you got it taken care of.

sdpaddlebum

That certainly sounds plausible.

Lisa33

The same thing happened to me when I had a Silver Shadow.  I smiled as I read your message, because I think I phrased mine similarly almost 3 years ago.  Despite being sure that I had locked them, at first I considered user error.  However, the second time I was flagged down on I-80 (after I had quadruple-checked that both latches were locked), I knew I had a problem!  I was in the middle of a cross-country trip and stopped at the closest LG dealer.  They changed the levers on the latches and it never happened again.  LG seemed to think that heat was a contributing factor, but that wouldn't be the case for you in January.  Hope it's permanently resolved for you, too!

sdpaddlebum

Our San Diego dealer also mentioned heat as a possible culprit,but like you say... January?.. I now can say for sure that there was very little overlap of the lever behind the catch. It was just hooking the bottom 1/8" or less. I was able to give a tug on the handle and pop it open. Spacers under the latch raised it about 1/4", so now there's a solid catch and I haven't been able to pop it loose by pulling or in the short city drives I have taken it on to test.

its curious to me that this happened on the interstate on the return from our 3 days in the desert... I would have expected that the rougher roads would have been more likely to jar something loose rather than the Interstate?.??? Who knows? Maybe aliens reached down to look in my fridge for beer. Too bad...we drank it all!

mitch