# 21RS door open holder



## hyewalt34 (May 9, 2004)

The plastic arm that holds the door open on my 21RS is a real pain! It's already been snaped off once. For those who don't know, on the 21RS, if the awning is deployed, the door cannot be open all the way back to the side of the trailer. On mine it can only be opened just a little less than even with the side of the steps because of where Keystone placed the bracket.







So, I'm doing a small mod. I'm moving the arm and bracket about 2 inches toward the front of the trailer, which will let me have the door held open as much as it can without interfering with the awning arm. To cover the old bracket holes, I've got a piece of diamond plate that I will put over the old mounting area and the new mounting area with the bracket attached. Hopefully it will look nice.

Walter


----------



## Ritter (Mar 10, 2004)

Walter, instead of moving the whole awning have you tried just taking the arm off and setting it on the ground and putting a tent stake in it when your set up.

Gary


----------



## hyewalt34 (May 9, 2004)

No, I hadn't thought of that. That's how the awning arms on my pop-up had to be put out so I guess I could do it that way. Keeping them attached just seems so convenient.

Thanks,

Walter


----------



## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

My bracket is mounted to a 1 inch thick piece of plastic right over the center of the water heater. I can only use it with the awning closed.

When the awning is out, I remove the awning strap, wrap it around the strut a few times where the door hits it for padding and use what's left to loop around the inside handle to hold the door open. Not the best solution, but it works. A friend mentioned adding another bracket closer to the door to hold it open, but like Paul has experienced, I was concerned about wind pulling the bracket off of the door or side of the trailer.

Mike


----------



## kimacobb (Apr 4, 2004)

Hi Im not sure if this will work or not but we had considered a bigger awning and we would have run into the same problem. so we were brain storming on ideas to hook the door.one of the ideas was to put a longer plastic arm( the dealer thought we could get one aftermarket or to use the exsisting plastic bracket and just make an adapter to make it longer...I probably would have make this out of wood or vinyl lumber.

Kim


----------



## outbackgeorgia (Jan 28, 2004)

All,

I agree that the door holder is junk!

I am working on a mod that uses a large spring to hold the door in place. If I inadvertantly attempt to close the door, nothing will break! The spring works fine, I just need to replace the plastic brackets with aluminum.

Outbackgeorgia


----------



## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

I noticed some of the 2004 Prowler models have a hydraulic door closer on the door. It was very nice opening them, because if wind came up it wouldn't get ripped out of your hand and slam into the side. I am not sure if on a Outback that can be Modded in or not. With this same closer, it would keep the door open. Great idea I thought.

Kevin


----------



## Ymryl (Mar 2, 2004)

I ordered a pair of Car Port Awning Arm Anchors this morning so that I can place the awning arms in a vertical position which should allow me to put a straight armed bracket as a second option for holding the door open.


----------



## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Ymryl,

I have been considering making my own from a block that has the bolts in it but also has holes drilled in the corners so that I can pound stakes in to hold it down instead of the screw stake. I am not sure exactly where you camp, but here there are lots of sites that are gravel and hard as a rock to try and screw into, sometimes even to hard for a stake and 3 pound hammer. On grassy sites it may work till you hit a huge rock, which we also have many of.

Good luck,

Kevin


----------



## Ymryl (Mar 2, 2004)

Kevin,
That is a good idea. I will have to see if I can get one of my customers (or a machine reseller) to mill out some aluminum blocks for me for use in those situations. I still have friends in a couple of the machine shops I worked in when I was younger, perhaps I can persuade one of them to undertake a "government job" for me.


----------



## strongj (Aug 2, 2004)

My solution: Bungee cord

One end through the stake down hole in the awning foot, other end around the door latch.


----------



## Mgonzo2u (Aug 3, 2004)

Strongi,

Like the simplicity of your solution.

I haven't taken delivery of my unit yet but I will certainly keep your suggestion in mind.


----------

