BAC Forum
General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: Carol Moffett on August 06, 2015, 11:07:46 AM
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Hello all!...and help! :-[
We are in dire need of some ideas on how to best lock down our shower door before it bounces off the track, yet one more time (it's done it twice in the last month), and shatters! It jumped off today due to a slamming of the brakes to avoid a crazy driver. We've never had this problem in the two years we've owned this coach, but obviously it needs to be addressed!
It is a curved shower with the door on rollers at the top. Any and all ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Carol
:^3=~
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Good Morning Carol,
We purchased a spring clamp from Home Depot and place it on the shower door. We open the door and clamp it to the side of the shower. So far we have not had any issues with the door moving. I have attached a photo of the clamp we use.
Randy
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The Shower is Italian made VERY expensive , no longer made and I to would like to find a source for a lock and parts too! ( the plastic rail insert specifically ) but I did see a plexiglass piece that fit over the door in some way that was the answer. But it was in the Newell website when I was coach shopping last year and I paid little attention ( they also used the same shower enclosure ) but info is blocked to all but Newell owners ,who register via coach number . I haven't called to see if they had parts or would sell them. I do know the plexiglass piece was very expensive for what It is , in the 75 dollar range. I tried the clamp ( my wife did without telling me ) and first good bump the door came off .. Lucky not to break .. So far it stays put if closed properly. I was told eventually the cross rail will fail due to the heavy weight bouncing on it, hope that's not true.
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I have had my door bounce off but it luckily did not break. Here is a link to one solution. The best place to park the door is over the large fixed panel, it is well supported there and does not make indents in the usable section of plastic track that impede the rollers over time.
The strap holds the door from rolling and the clamp made of starboard material keeps it from jumping off the track vertically. A couple tight wraps of a Velcro strap over the left roller and then around the bar at the top of the opening, while the door is parked over the fixed panel, might do the same as the clamp. The Velcro would go around the bar where the clamp is now in the photo and up over the closest roller to lock it down.
I travel without worry now about the door, well worth the effort.
http://beaveramb.org/forum/index.php/topic,2658.msg19885.html#msg19885
Later Ed
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Thank you, Randolph and Ed!
Ed, thank you for the link! I was trying to access this same link off the original forum posting, last night, but it wouldn't work. :D
Randolph, I was thinking of this same idea! This might be the "quick fix" solution till we get somewhere to do something more permanent...unless THIS works good enough to be permanent! Lol
I may also try the spring loaded refer bars as I do have a couple of those already.
Thanks for your help and ideas, guys!
Carol
:^3=~
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Carol,
The strap is located so that you push a little against the door and just slip the loop over the roller and there then is a little tension on it and it stays in place perfectly.....once the tension is right you never have to unsnap it. We mounted the male snap through the strap, drilled a hole in the flat aluminum shower extrusion and screwed it in place. We then ran the strap around the roller and carefully marked where the female snap would go and pulled the strap and had that female snap mounted at a canvas shop. The Starboard clamp that locks the door down was a draw, cut, trim, and sand kind of project. I think there must be a simpler method, maybe a Velcro strap or some kind of clamp is the answer. I was reluctant to use a small metal bar clamp in case it came off, it could fall into the glass. These doors are so expensive and perhaps unavailable that some solution is wise before the "big one".
Later Ed
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Ok folks!
We tried the spring adjustable refer bars...they had potential but needed some sort of modification as there wasn't enough of an edge on the shower frame, or door frame, to keep them from slipping off if we hit a bump or if we had to hit the brakes suddenly...nix the bar.
Keith really cringes when contemplating putting screws into anything where there were no screws to begin with...so...nix the strap over the roller idea.
We DID purchase two spring clamps and applied them to the brass edge on the door and frame, not on the glass. We traveled from Centralia WA to Bend OR with the clamps on and they worked great! Door did not budge! BUT...We were very nervous because the clamps seemed to be a bit too tight and visions of too much torque on the glass/frame were to real and disturbing to bear...so nix the clamps, too!
After much roaming of several stores for creative ideas, THIS is what we came up with! I think it is a permanent fix! What do you think?
:^3=~
Carol
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Novel approach, had not seen that one before. Time will tell..... I have had good luck with suction cups and bad. I would consider buying a duplicate and use two of those. If one was to drop, the second one would hold until I could take care of it. Then also consider the same approach with a strap from the inside glass face up over the top bar and down to the glass on the other side to keep the door and rollers from jumping up and off of the roller bar. That is the one where the door breaks loose and can crash. It will look like spider man was there but it would be safer:-)
Regarding the strap over the roller approach, you are just drilling one hole into a two inch+ wide aluminum extrusion for one snap. No glass nearby...really not a problem.
Later Ed
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Yes Ed, you may be right. Another suction bar and strap set might be wise! I will give the up and over the roller a try. FYI, while at BCS, we inquired about an extra roller and were quoted the price of $375 bucks! :o Yup! For ONE roller! The company in Italy has a serious bad attitude and every time BCS calls to order parts, they raise the prices. So, take care of those rollers! Also, the little black tabs at the bottom are no longer available...at ALL! >:(
:^3=~
C
P.S. Screws are not an option...Lol
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Carol,
That is unbelievable! It would seem that our best bet might be coaches that have made their way into a salvage yard. Companies that take desperate measures to make money like Cesana seems to be doing soon find they have no customers...
Have fun creating your cure. It is fun to solve problems for yourself when you can. Kieth is a man of conviction :-)
Later Ed
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Lol! You can say THAT again, Ed, on every point! :D
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Carol my experience with this came when we replaced the 4 rollers on our shower door for our 07 Contessa. Each roller is adjustable in order to insure the door fits flush against the frame and rides firmly in the top and bottom tracks. Note the bottom rollers ride on the upper inside track not the lower track. Monaco still carries these rollers.
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Carol my experience with this came when we replaced the 4 rollers on our shower door for our 07 Contessa. Each roller is adjustable in order to insure the door fits flush against the frame and rides firmly in the top and bottom tracks. Note the bottom rollers ride on the upper inside track not the lower track. Monaco still carries these rollers.
Hi Bryan!
Is your shower a Cesana? We have two rollers on the top and two "tabs" on the bottom. Are your bottom rollers actual rollers or are they tabs? Our coach is apre-Monaco coach and is likely a totally different animal than yours.
It would be very interesting to know if Monaco has them, and at a decent price. The "tabs" on the bottom no longer exist anywhere, I have been told. I think they would be relatively easy to manufacture...pretty simple things, really. But the rollers...?
Here are a couple pics...
:^3=~
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Carol our shower has 4 rollers two on the top and two on the bottom. Looks like ours is a different configuration than yours. Best of luck.
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This picture shows how are shower door locks. It was like that when we bought the coach so I am not sure how they came up with it.
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Rick,
That was the standard "lock" added by Beaver. Three issues with it. It leaves the heavy door parked over the unsupported curved bar on the top that uses white metal extrusion couplings inside that piece of aluminum tube that can be stressed and broken over time. Also the rollers being parked with the door closed over time will indent the plastic runner inserted on the top leaving depressions that cause the door to not move easily, like rolling over bumps. You can replace that plastic insert if you have that problem. The biggest issue is the door can jump having the rollers come up off the round track rail on severe road humps/bumps while driving and literally crash and break. The safer thing to do is find a way to park the moving door over the fixed panel and secure it from rolling and rising off the rail. The forum has some personal solutions posted if you search.
Later Ed
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Hi Rick,
Because of Ed's advice earlier in this thread and having had my curved door jump off the track and not break and not punch a hole in the shower pan, I installed a 3/16 knurled pin thru the bottom track and into the lower door extrusion. It prevents horizontal and vertical movement. The best part is that the door is stored over the fixed panel for support. Kudos to Ed. Enclosed is a pix. Regards Fred
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Rick,
This is the exact lock that was installed on ours and it is NOT good!
I suggest you utilize one of the great solutions the others have come up with, or do like I did (we didn't want to put screws anywhere) and come up with your own.
Fred,
This is an interesting solve! How long has this been working for you? My concern is that this door is SO heavy, and it seems that the first roller to jump off the track during a quick stop, is the one on the curve of the door...the one closest to the wall when open...and your pin seems a bit far from "problem", if ya get my drift. A long kitty corner distance...might'nt the roller still come off, torquing the door and twisting the pin?
That is why I'm curious to know how long this has worked for you. The DH might go so far as to try THIS, lol, if it is a proven fix, like Eds! So far my suction cup idea is doing very well but does not put any downward pressure on the door.
Thanks!
Carol
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Hi Carol,
I did this about 2 weeks ago and then went on a 1000 mile journey with the 2 grandsons. The trip included the return trip to Palm Desert west of Indio Ca. Perhaps you know how bad I-10 is in California. The shower door is pretty much trapped vertically and horizonally as well as laterally.
I considered all the options and chose the one I did primarily because my wife is vertically challanged (5' tall) and I don't want her climbing step stools and having an accident.
I'm going over to the coach tomorrow and check out your concerns and get back to you.
Regards, Fred
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Fred,
I had considered something like that but I was concerned (chicken) about drilling a hole in the metal frame of the curved glass door thinking I might knick the glass with a drill bit. I could not tell exactly how deep the glass went into the metal frame edge.
Did you drill all the way through the frame piece of the glass door and what diameter was the hole and pin? If you slide the door toward closing or if you went all the way through the door frame, can you take a close up photo of the hole location from the inside or outside of the door, whichever gave the best view. That would help anyone willing to give this a try.
Nice simple secure method of locking the door, good job Fred.
Later Ed
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Hello Fred,
Wow, that does sound promising! I am also interested in all those things Ed brings up. You may have just completely solved this problem for everyone! "The standard in RV shower door locks"! Cool!
:^3=~
Carol
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BCS still has the plastic strap locks just like Rick's picture shows. Just ordered 2 this spring.