Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am now at the point that I need suggestions for and about door securing for driving down the road and and opening the door and to secure the door for "keeping the animals honest" My door is two inches thick foam with a trued 1x2 around the edges. So that is 3/4 inch of wood on the side. here is the Basic door not covered yet in canvas.

Mary , I’m going to use just a regular exterior door lock and handle ... Like on the house ... All I need ... maybe a keyed deadbolt too ... just trying to keep mine Simple and Thrifty ...

Will it hold in the foam? do I need to put some wood to hold it in place. I have changed the locks on my house but never installed one. I do have a large hole saw, my question is is the foam strong enough to support the door handle.

Mary C.

Just for safety sake and if a Gorilla gets ahold of your door knob , it might be a good idea to reinforce that area with some scraps of thin plywood on either side ... many ways to go about that ... Having a lockset hole saw(s) is half the battle ... I’ll be making my Door for the FS soon enough and it will be very similar to yours in construction ... so you can see if my lockset comes out as you like ...
Be sure to check out how KC framed in for his locks ...

For security sake I'd mount them into solid blocks. You could glue and screw the block to the perimeter frame. To make it a bit stronger, a brace board could be run from the block to the other side of the door. Door knobs and the latch pins tend to get some strong loads on them. Even hollow core doors have solid wood where the door knob goes.

The two pieces of 2x4 at the latch location are biscuit joined into both the window sill and the jamb, as well as to each other (one of the 2x4 pieces has some black over spray on it from its former life). You could use dowels instead of biscuits, or even screws if you make sure to put them where they won't be in the way for the latch cut out later.

I would like to think that these will close securely and be rigid enough to compress the door seal without warping.

Thanks KC and others, Any more suggestions of some other way to latch/lock/shut the doors?

Mary C.

This is how I did mine

I used those same handles as Planovet (actually borrowed his idea) and incorporated solid blocking into the frame I made for the door. The rest of the door is foam, but the wood blocking will ensure a solid door knob mount. If you don't mount the door knob into something solid, I fear you may eventually have it rip out of the door. I think it's almost impossible to mount a door knob without the proper hole saw. I've done many of them and can't imagine trying to mount a door knob without the proper hole saws.

I'm looking into some door latches but my door is only 1/2" thick. How thick are you doors Mark?

Planovet, where did you get the door handles. They are sweet.

celticquetzel wrote:Planovet, where did you get the door handles. They are sweet.

I used the same handles on the Road Foamie. Though you can get them from lot's of places on the internet, I got mine from Dyers' Here's the web link:
http://www.dyersonline.com/ap-products-chrome-travel-trailer-lock-fastec.html

These are also available in black or white finishes. They are designed for 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" thick doors. If I recall Planovet's build, he made his doors to the right thickness. If I had to rebuild my doors, that's how I would do it. Since I had 2" thick doors, I had to inset mine into the door to work. To my eye, this is the ugliest part of my build. Poor workmanship! I couldn't get it to look just right. If you're using a thinner door, I'd put some sort of mounting block onto the interior side of the door to get to the right thickness and do the same where the bolt fits into the wall of the trailer and then mount away. It is a very solid door lock/handle. I recommend it...

I got my door latches at rvsurplus.com. But as pointed out above, you can find them at many places online. The one reason I picked RV Surplus (at the time) was the option to key the two latches alike for a small fee. I went and checked and don't know it that is still an option.

My doors (and walls) are about 1 3/8" thick. Since that latch is for a 1 1/4' to 1 1/2" thick door, it turned out perfect.

The walls are made as follows: the outer skin is 1/2" ply, the frame is 1x material and the inner wall is 1/4" ply. I used a 1x6 (see 1st pic in previous post) where the door latch is (and hinge side also) to make sure the latch (and hinges) was surrounded by solid wood.

What about a padlock and a hasp ? That's what I used on my Foamie #1... works great , simple , Thrifty... It's a Foamie !!!

Thanks I was talking to someone today he suggested what we used to call po box locks. I will see if I can find a picture. I like the hasp idea quick and easy. Thrifty too! Pictures of your locks and closers and security for your doors are muchly appreciated.

Mary C.