Detachable door hinges on bathroom door.

[FISTEP]

I thought I would share this mod in case it was useful to others:

Something that bothered us even before we took delivery of our 183RB was that the bathroom door could not be opened, or left open when the slide was in. That meant that the slide had to be put out to use the bathroom on the road and at dump stations when we like to put extra water through the toilet to flush out the black water tank when dumping.

My solution was to change the hinges on the bathroom door to lift-off type detachable hinges so that when we want to hit the road, I just lift the door off and stow it beside the sofa. The door is very light so this is easy to do. That gives us access to the bathroom for emergency visits or while dumping. It is also useful while it is at home with the slide in, but we want to do maintenance or get ready for the next trip. It was an easy solution that cost about $20 and took half an hour to do.

I used these: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09DD2JRGF?...t_details&th=1


This hack might be useful for other similar trailers. Given the huge number of owners here, this has probably already been covered but I haven't seen it.

[JFlightRisk]

Very ingenious idea. Thanks for sharing that.

[DaveT]

I did it for different reasons than you, but replaced our bathroom door with one of these accordion doors from HD.

I had to take out a panel as I recall but it all worked out pretty good.

[FISTEP]

Was this because the door was in the way when you opened it? I changed the side the closet door opened on our last trailer to make it more user friendly.

[DaveT]

Originally Posted by FISTEP

Was this because the door was in the way when you opened it? I changed the side the closet door opened on our last trailer to make it more user friendly.

Yes; the bathroom door is right across from the kitchen sink and it's already a little narrow there. The door had to be closed all the time, that made the trailer darker (one skylight is over the shower), more "closed in" feeling, and reduced the effect in the main living areas of the roof fan in the bath; there's no other roof vent fan in the trailer.




Now the door can remain open, dirty clothes can be tossed into the tub and the ceiling exhaust works better with the exhaust under the microwave.

D

[FISTEP]

That was a good fix. I considered an accordion door and a sliding barn door type but the lift off hinges solved the problem with the least amount of work. We only need to pop the door off when we are moving to a new place but yours is a constant problem. If Jayco had made your door open to the right, it could have been left open against the bed which would have been better, though still not ideal. Your accordion door is the most complete solution.

My wife says it should have been a pocket door in the first place. She should work for Jayco.

[DaveT]

Originally Posted by FISTEP

My wife says it should have been a pocket door in the first place. She should work for Jayco.

I agree with her but I don't think either wall to the side of the door (as is) would be wide enough for a pocket; the right side (as you look at the diagram) has some shower plumbing embedded in it.

[FISTEP]

In our 183RB, we don't have plumbing in our wall in question so a sliding pocket or barn door would work. It would slide nicely beside the sofa but that small wall is a great place to hang a guitar and jackets and we didn't want to give that up. (we got the jack knife sofa option)

[Falcon67]

Excellent engineering on that one.

Something that bothered us even before we took delivery of our 183RB was that the bathroom door could not be opened, or left open when the slide was in.

Every slide equipped unit we looked at, I either measured or insisted the slide be pulled in on the lot to check for inside access on the road. There are lots of configs that interfere with potty access. You'd think engineering would run simulations to check for such things. We ended up not buying a slide unit, but we came close on the 265RLS.

[Johnynorthland]

Nice, but what happens if your poop shy?! Lol

[FISTEP]

Well, it's really only for emergencies while traveling or for extra flushing while dumping the tanks. Then the door goes back on when we stop.


But in your example, just ask for the sports section!

[Markomyt1]

Great idea!
Our door does get cramped by the slide.
I also put this to hold the door back in case we aren't perfectly level.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07Z8WMT3N/...ing=UTF8&psc=1