Here are two great safety tips from our long-time reader and RVer George Bliss in Saskatchewan, Canada:
George wrote: I’d like to pass along these ideas to other RV Travel readers. From personal experience I found it necessary to incorporate two new safety measures:
One: With young/short grandchildren who want to enter the camper, I see them climbing the four steps to the door, pulling down on the screen door latch, then almost falling backwards to get the door open.
For their safety, I drilled a small hole in the screen door latch, hung a string from that hole down to a fob of any sort (in this case a plastic wrench) that will fit between the screen door and the outside door that they can grab, pull the latch down, and open the door without having to climb the steps first. Due diligence is required as the hanging string could be considered a strangulation hazard.
Two: After my 2-year-old grandson managed to open the screen door and fall out of the trailer (thankfully, he wasn’t hurt), I looked for various methods to latch, bolt or pin the screen door so it wouldn’t open accidentally again.
I see that you also installed a screen guard, but didn’t mention it. I also always installed a screen guard. It keeps children from falling through the screen and keeps the dogs from scratching holes in the screen.
I’ve used the string idea, but for a different reason. On an older camper, to open the screen door from the exterior, you had to move the slide to get to the inside latch. The recurring problem was people forgetting to close the slide once inside to keep the bugs out. I fed a string through a small notch in the slide (notch has to be lower than the lowest position of the latch). The only reason to open the slide was when the screen and outer door were latched together.
Ditto with the thumbs up on using the grab bar to keep crafty pets inside when outside using only the screen door.
I think the door grab bar idea would also keep the dogs from pushing the door open, as has happened. They are a crafty lot and can usually manage to unlatch the screen.
The door grab bar is a great idea!