When we were in France in 2015 the we had a little problem with our habitation door.

We had just bought a replacement door retainer at the ripoff cost of €7 from one of the shops we visited. Dead easy to change, undo four screws, two on the door and two on the van body and swap out the parts. Job done, or was it? I tested it out and it works fine, I closed the door and then attempted to reopen it when, “thud” the damn door would not open again, I climbed through the drivers door to see what was stopping the habitation door from opening, It was the latch mechanism, it wasn’t releasing properly. I released it by hand and new exactly what it would be. I removed the black cover on the door to see the problem.

The bloody spring that operates the latch had snapped into three pieces. I carefully removed the bits and walked back into the shop but they didn’t have any as you probably guessed.

This needed to be fixed as obviously getting in and out of the van is quite essential to our travels. I could have removed the latch mechanism but the door wouldn’t be very secure when we lock it so time for a fag and a fiddle. I knew there was no way I could make a new spring so off to the garage and get some bungie. After a few attempts tying bits of bungie here and there it was fixed. As the picture shows it’s a little simple and a little crude, but it works for now. The bungie simply pulls the lever back when you open the door and stops it catching on the other side of the door lock and releases the mechanism so it can be opened.

That’s the door fixed, the door broke, now the doors bodged again.