Screen door latching problem

[Steamboat_Willie]

On our 22FB I had a problem where the screen door itself wasn't staying closed. The plastic latch for the screen door was barely making contact behind the black plastic 'keep' plate that keeps it closed. There was, maybe, a 16th of an inch 'bite' for the latch to grab hold of. So with any nominal movement of the trailer, let's say while walking around inside the trailer, the screen door would pop open.

So I took two simple plastic washers and raised out that black plastic latch plate maybe an eighth of an inch and then the screen door remained closed just fine. HOWEVER ...

I then discovered that when I closed both the outer door and the inner screen door (both mated together) I was unable to open the 2 doors from the outside because the outer door latch mechanism was only releasing itself and NOT the screen door latch. I had to resort to a good tug on the outer door itself to get back inside the trailer.

I repeated the same steps again, this time inside the trailer and was able to clearly see the problem. From the inside of the trailer I had to and was able to hold the screen door latch handle in the 'open' position with one hand and then with my other hand I could release the outer door latch and thus open both doors.

From what I observed, the outer door latching mechanism seems to have no interaction with the inner screen door latch. So with the spacing adjustment that I made with the washers to provide a more secure 'hold' for the screen door when closed, I've created this new problem.

I'm scratching my head wondering how the latching mechanisms for both doors are supposed to work together when the doors are mated. Anyone have any experience with this particular issue I have described? I must be missing something here.
Thanks.
Eddie

[NewCamperOldTimer]

Well I also have a 22FB and after reading your post you got me to wondering how it works. When the screen door is latched and you close the outer door there is a latch that unlatches the screen door and then captures the screen door handle so that both doors open. That capture latch (which is attached to the outer door) is adjustable so that it unlatches the screen door just before the outer door closes. That way only the outer door is latched when both are closed.
Hope that helps and is not too confusing.

[DocBrown]

We had the same issue on our old '03 Kiwi 17a. It was fine for years until the plastic latch broke off when we were in West Yellowstone. Fortunately there is a little RV parts shop in town and were we able to replace it. Unfortunately after that we had exactly the same problem you did. It took several times of fiddling with it to make it work properly with both doors closed and just the screen door. And our new X20E isn't much better. I had to adjust that one the first weekend we used it because it wouldn't stay closed either. This design has been around for at least 30 years. You'd think someone would have come up with a better design by now.

[Bobx2]

There is adjustment in the screen door latch, the striker plate and the latch on the main door that catches the screen door latch. It's a balancing act to get all three adjusted correctly, and patience is the key. A careful study of how they all work together will help you to figure out what adjustments need to be made. They all have a couple of mounting screws in slotted holes for making adjustments.