I know I’m simple, but I’m not going to admit more than that.
So I was just in my camper messing with the tent pads and put the configuration into bunk mode. I’d like it if I was camping alone. The single pads work well downstairs for cabaña mode in my setup. BUT, I became frustrated trying to latch the rear door. Is there a way to latch the rear door from the inside? I don’t have any problems pulling it closed, but it didn’t seem to want to latch on either side from the inside. So for all those who don’t utilize a ladder, how do you close the rear door once you’re inside and are about to climb upstairs? Thought about fashioning a loop to go around the inside part of the latch. I didn’t really get after the latch trying to close it. It seems that closing from the inside would have been the original way, right? Didn’t the side door and ladder come as a later iteration? What am I missing?
Maybe I didn’t search the right keywords, but I had no luck with that.
Wow. Really. This seems so basic. It’s kind of like not being able to close the front door of your house from the inside, only from outside with the key. I’m fine fashioning a system to hold the rear GFC door closed, but I’m surprised. I must admit that it never occurred to me that there may be a difficulty closing the rear door from the inside.
Hope there is some light shed on this. Maybe we’re just missing something?
no the latches are ‘one way’ - if you are worried they will blow open, i think the struts can handle that, but as a security wise, best bet is some kind of self made fastener
If you run a ladder, you can close your panels and latch them shut, then open up your tent and climb in. Also, you don’t have to latch your panels to keep them shut, so if you’re inside and want them close, just close them! They’ll stay shut even if you can’t latch them shut from the outside.
So… For me the scenario that I’m thinking about is camping in inclement weather. Times I may not want to use the ladder. If its raining and windy, for instance, and i just want to secure the door against rain and wind, climb upstairs, and sleep.
I used: small springs, colored house key covers, and some random screw/nut hardware.
The springs were secured to the door using the holes on either side of the door. Thanks GFC!
The springs work nicely to hold the key covers out of the way when closing the rear door. The key covers work to fit into the slot on the frame. The springs stretch to give some tension to the setup. The springs are light (maybe 2 lbs.), so they don’t provide a lot of tension. A 4 or 5 lb spring may be better, but its what I had lying around… This setup isn’t strong in its current state, but upgrading the springs wouldn’t be too hard. I’m hopeful it will stand up to a little wind if need be.
Damn this is the first I’m hearing of this ! Another thing to be worried about!
I can’t believe there’s no way to close and lock the GFC from inside without hanging out the back of it… it’s a camper, so one would assume that you would be able to lock it up from the inside. The ladder would be a good idea if GFC ever got them back in stock.
I picked up a ladder last year at Expo East. Added a couple of bent pieces of 2" aluminum bar stock to catch the edge of the GFC extrusion which works great. Total cost was under $50.
I don’t have a picture of what I use, but hopefully with the two I post and the description it makes sense. I use a piece of 550 cord tied in the hole on the inside of the rear door and stretches from one side to the other.
The angles keep the cord from falling out and the cord keeps the door from opening. Took a few tries to get the length right but simple cheap and functional.
Very nice. Probably a lot stronger than my " junk around the house" engineering. Ha!
I did find some stiffer springs left over from another project that I didn’t find yesterday. I swapped out the springs. Kept everything else the same. Feels a lot stronger. I had to modify the new springs slightly by lengthening them.
I’ve been looking for a ladder that has angled steps.The only one I have found that says it has the angled steps is the ikamper spare ladder. I cant tell from the pictures if they are really angled or not but it costs a bit more. https://www.ikamper.com/products/spare-ladder-2-0
