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Mike Tassinari, Peabody, Massachusetts
Escape Hatch Latch Bungee Solution
2018 Ram 3500 (not mine)
2005 Alpenlite 1100 (not mine, either)
Good friends of mine called me about a problem they were having with their truck camper’s cabover escape hatch. They knew that I had one in my older Lance 1121 and wanted to know if I ever had an issue with the hatch opening up while traveling down the road.
Yup, I could confirm it opened a bit while traveling. I won’t go into all the details, but that escape hatch was on its second or third crank. The screws holding the crank would strip and the cover would flap up and down while driving.
I told them to bring the camper over to my house and I would have a look. I know from the history of that style of escape hatch that there were two lengths of crank handle arms. They came over a few days later and I confirmed that the busted crank handle they had was the correct length.
Above: The busted crank handle was replaced with the Hehr Vent Operator Kit with a 6-inch arm length
So the issue now was how to lock down that vent cover during travel. Some of you who know me know that I think and work better with a trip to the local ice cream store—so off we went. On the way back, I came up with a couple of ideas to lock down the hatch, and still be able to open it up in a flash.
Back home, I disappeared into my tiny shop and grabbed a few items and a drill. It all boiled down to stopping the crank handle from turning. From my shop, I brought out an eye ring and two different lengths of mini bungee cords.
I spread out a small tarp on the bed to catch any falling materials and got to work. The following pictures show my finished project!
Once I saw where the crank handle stopped when the vent was in the down position, it was just a simple task to locate and install the eye ring on the outer frame of the escape hatch opposite the handle.
I used the smaller bungee cord that had a ring on it. It stretched perfectly between the handle and the eye ring to keep enough tension on the crank handle to keep the hatch from opening. Viola!
Above: Easy to open up the hatch by just removing the ring and letting the bungee hang
There are now over 3,000 miles on this mod and not an issue with the escape hatch opening a peek.
Materials Used:
One small bungee cord with a ring – Came in a set of multiple bungee cords: Maybe 50 cents
One 1/4″ x 1″ eye ring: Maybe 2 bucks
Three Ice Cream cones: They were nice enough to pick up the tab – Maybe 25 bucks
Two gallons of gas: Traveling to and back from the ice cream store: Maybe 7 bucks
One box of Klondike Bars that will be delivered at a later date.
It took me 1.5 hours to get and eat the ice cream and 30 minutes to do the project.
Disclaimer: The modifications above are submitted by Truck Camper Magazine readers. It is your responsibility to make sure that any do-it-yourself modification project you undertake is safe, effective, and legal for your situation.
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