Side mounted baggage door stops

[Palms]

For some time I’ve been researching a solution to keep the baggage compartment doors open at a 90º angle on our Precept 35S.
I contacted 3 separate suppliers of gas struts and mounting supplies and have seen many, many YouTube videos.
Sometimes when I want them open, the breeze closes them and other times the breeze makes one door hit another.
Problem one is attaching a bracket to the compartment door with screws that won’t pull out. The material doesn’t seem solid enough. Second one is placing the strut on top that requires about a 3.5 shim for the support inside the bin roof (side panels are too flimsy).
I came across a strap solution like the picture below which limits the opening of the door but won’t keep it open, and still would have the screws coming out risk.
Anyone experimented with this?

[Vicr]

Yup, know what you’re talking about. Maybe a strong adhesive on the door rather than screws?

[Palms]

Well I bit the bullet and ordered the Hatchlift kits after consulting with the supplier. They recommended the standard one, using one per door. Their kit has an aluminum plate that is glued/attached on the door itself and then an angled connector on top of that giving a lot of surface on the otherwise weak door. Then there are optional brackets for mounting the other end of the gas strut to the baggage door frame or to the inside of the compartment, for which they also provide a plywood shim and two different types of connecting plates, just in case. Will take a pictorial when completed so others can similarly evaluate this option. Tnaks for your help Vicr, the adhesive suggestion is what triggered this!

[beachvic]

Palms - looking forward to the pictorial, this is something I would like to do to a few of my doors as well.

[Palms]

I received the kits and hope to bring the MH home tomorrow and start installing. Will take pics as I go along.

[Palms]

OK, be patient, I have 31 pictures to explain the process in detail. The first shows the Hatchlift STD Kit ordered and the tools that were initially laid out to start with the 7 installations.
Start by measuring 4" from the side mounted hinge near the top of the door and make a mark. Then take the included mounting plate, line it up with the mark and outline it. After removing the plate, take the included pad and sand really well within the lines. When completed, take the included alcohol swab and wipe it all down. Then break the included primer tube at the mark and apply fully to the cleaned area. Wait five minutes while it cures, remove the backing from the plate and stick to the marked surface.
This will be continued below.

[Palms]

Continuing from above, after the plate has been placed on the primed surface, attach it with eight of the small included self-tapping screws whose only job is to hold the plate while curing. If you're using a drill, only screw in PART WAY. Finish tightening by hand with a screwdriver. This is very important as you don't want to strip out the material behind the door cover which isn't very firm. I've included picture of all this. Then mark the center where you will place the hinge bracket. At this point I needed extra tools including a punch and an extension to access the screws. I placed a towel double folded between the door and the motorhome as you will be exerting pressure now. Then punch the four holes where the screws will be going in. I very carefully drilled four pilot holes and then used the drill to start and finish screwing in the included four larger screws.
To be finished below.

[Palms]

Finishing it up, put the bracket on with the four screws making sure you're pointing the bracket towards the inside of the compartment. You can see this in several pictures. While doing the fourth one I discovered that I can remove the extra 10mm ball socket that is closest to the bracket, allowing a much easier screwing in of the four screws than with the extension. That second socket holds the two pieces of the bracket together but the end one does as well. You can see several of the finished doors. The most complicated part is attaching the other bracket to the inside of the compartment. While the kit includes a plywood spacer and screws, I found it too thin to properly install the strut so I used much thicker wood and corresponding screws to attach it to the roof of the compartment. If installed on the floor, you might be able to get away with this but it got in my way and I decided to do it on top. It's good to note that the new Precept Premier has the struts on the top as well as it's less intrusive. If you decide to do it on the bottom, make sure you also put the bracket plate on the bottom as well.
I started attaching the strut bracket to the wood with the included little small screws then, having some larger ones left over, I did the four corners with the larger ones and the other three with the smaller screws. As you can see, on one of them the hole coincided with the screw that attached the wood to the roof so it didn't have one. Also, since I purchased 7 kits initially, note that the color on the inside plate was black on some and a chrome looking one on others.
One last one to go.

[Palms]

Towards the last two I found it easier to pre-drill my wood block and while holding it in place, drill through one of the existing rear holes into the roof of the compartment, after which I attached one of the screws. Note that the holes for the back two will be a lot easier to drill than the ones in the front two which were really quite hard to go through. The block of wood is recessed from the edge a little bit for clearance but in all the compartments there is something really solid near the wall. Finally, remove the struts and store them somewhere with the cylinder up as you will have to wait a minimum of 48 hours before re-attaching them in order for the plate on the door to cure. I haven't put them in yet as that will happen tomorrow. I wish someone had told me all of this before as it was a lot of work due to the recessed compartment roof and not really knowing all the ins and outs that only a multiple installation will provide. Please let me know of any questions you may have and I'll try my best to answer.

[beachvic]

Palms - thank you great pictures and details! I might try tackling this too!

[Foretm]

Very nice writeup Gus, and the pictures help alot. Nice bit of detail there.

[oh355mbqs]

our fire trucks use these for the side opening compartment doors.... https://www.austinhardware.com/door-...vy-spring.html