Gas Strut Danger

[halfdome Danny]

Don’t get me wrong I love our galley gas struts.
Monday we got back from my Reverse Total Shoulder Replacement and I was asked what I wanted for dinner.
I asked Jane if we could have blueberry pancakes so she went to the 40 degree garage to get a Lodge cast iron frying pan.
She opened the galley lid, pulled out the stove and got the pan.
Upon closing it unbeknownst to her the lid was creeping down upon her trapping her back.
It was if it was trying to eat her.
Fortunately I was in the house and heard her blood curdling screaming and rescued her.
You’ve got to pump the lid up and down after sitting closed especially in clod weather.
The teardrop will be 10 years old next year and I might need to replace the gas struts.
The ones on my Chevy Trailblazer were acting up in 2022 and I replaced them.
I’m sure glad I was home when this happened.
Danny

 

[philpom]

Glad everyone is fine, you are lucky to get 10 years out of those struts. 5 or 6 years seems to be the norm before they start getting flaky.

 

[Greg M-TNT]

It’s supposed to be Hungry, Hungry, Hippos, not Teardrops.

 

[Tony Latham]

 

[Tom&Shelly]

A few years ago, when our teardrop was in a place that got cold (our fault, not it's) we had similar problems. MickinOz pointed out to me that PV = nRt applies to gas struts, meaning what holds up a hatch at 70 might not at 30. Sure enough it was repeatable whenever we found cold weather and went away when it warmed up, and/or we got some sunlight on the struts. Our solution was to buy some clamps that screw onto the struts.

Might have been these; it was something similar:

https://www.amazon.com/Struts-Clamp...d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&psc=1

Tom

 

[halfdome Danny]

I replaced the struts yesterday. They cost almost 4 times as much as I paid ten years ago, YIKES
Danny

 

[Tony Latham]

I was in the house and heard her blood curdling screaming and rescued her.

Good grief. The theme to Jaws is starting to loop endlessly around and around in my brain.

Tony

 

[DJ Davis]

I, too, had the "hungry hippo" game played with me! The 85# struts on the original build were about three yrs old at that time of my first "really cold" outing - they slowly closed on me. I braced the hatch with some sticks I scrounged at the campsite to compensate. Later, I decided to give my teardrop a "butt-lift"/renovation to improve the gally area. The new hatch was lighter and the 85s performed just fine...except for cooler weather. I cut a 1/2" wide, length way slot in some pieces of PVC pipe that slip over the exposed strut shafts on each side. Sine the hatch is light enough to lift now with the assistance of the old struts, I hold it up with one arm and slip the PVC braces in place. I use the braces all the time now for safety from a sudden gust of wind as well as their cold weather performance.