- Joined
- Jul 27, 2019
- Messages
- 12,426
- Location
- Midlothian, VA
- RV Year
- 2017
- RV Make
- Newmar
- RV Model
- Ventana 4037
- RV Length
- 40' 10"
- Chassis
- Freightliner XCR
- Engine
- Cummins 400 HP
- TOW/TOAD
- 2017 Chevy Colorado
- Fulltimer
- No
As a Newmar owner we've experienced issues with basement doors such as the pull cable coming out of the torque screw connector therefore rendering the pull handle useless and your basement door potentially stuck closed. There have been a lot of lessons learned among Newmar owners but most importantly that every RV owner should inspect your basement doors so you don't end up in a situation like some of our fellow RVers that couldn't get a basement door such as the Wet bay door opened.
Before getting into the latch discussion I'd first like to offer that everyone should inspect the locking of your basement doors. For those with electrical locks the actuators are cheap and the plastic parts break far too easily. Your first test should be to lock your basements and then once you pushed your lock button in the coach go around and see if any are actually NOT locked. This is how I found two of my basement doors had broken actuators. The actuators are easy to fix, finding them will be your biggest challenge. For my coach and other Newmars you'll need to google "Trimark Compact Style Power Lock Actuator 550-0100" and I found mine on eBay. As usual I fail to pay attention as to how many are included and end up with contractor packs or higher quantity than expected.
Now that you've inspected the locking of your basement doors comes the less fun part but not hard at all. It just takes time. Open all of your basement doors and go through and remove the black plastic cover plates, for my coach it's about six self tapping screws. For Newmar owners you should buy this bit. You will then find the pull cables and secure each door. Now if you want to install an emergency release mechanism you can do so by using something like fishing line and a ring taped to the bottom of the door that when pulled it pulls the latch to the open position. Nothing cosmic has to be invented here.
RV's require frequent inspections and due diligence. There are ways to get basement doors opened as RV mobile techs should know such as removing the pins on the hinge side of the door if you're unlucky and cannot access the latch from within another basement entry. Don't wait to have this happen to you, many Newmar owners inspected their basement doors after hearing of this incident and many if not all of us found loose wire cable connections.
Before getting into the latch discussion I'd first like to offer that everyone should inspect the locking of your basement doors. For those with electrical locks the actuators are cheap and the plastic parts break far too easily. Your first test should be to lock your basements and then once you pushed your lock button in the coach go around and see if any are actually NOT locked. This is how I found two of my basement doors had broken actuators. The actuators are easy to fix, finding them will be your biggest challenge. For my coach and other Newmars you'll need to google "Trimark Compact Style Power Lock Actuator 550-0100" and I found mine on eBay. As usual I fail to pay attention as to how many are included and end up with contractor packs or higher quantity than expected.
Now that you've inspected the locking of your basement doors comes the less fun part but not hard at all. It just takes time. Open all of your basement doors and go through and remove the black plastic cover plates, for my coach it's about six self tapping screws. For Newmar owners you should buy this bit. You will then find the pull cables and secure each door. Now if you want to install an emergency release mechanism you can do so by using something like fishing line and a ring taped to the bottom of the door that when pulled it pulls the latch to the open position. Nothing cosmic has to be invented here.
RV's require frequent inspections and due diligence. There are ways to get basement doors opened as RV mobile techs should know such as removing the pins on the hinge side of the door if you're unlucky and cannot access the latch from within another basement entry. Don't wait to have this happen to you, many Newmar owners inspected their basement doors after hearing of this incident and many if not all of us found loose wire cable connections.
