Trap door to basement.

[Wrenchtraveller]

The trap door or laundry hatch that opens to your basement storage is new to me and I was wondering how people feel about them. They are big enough for people to get in and out of your trailer by using them.

I know the locks on RV storage doors are cheap and one key fits most of them out there. Does this make a 5th Wheel with this feature more likely to be broken into or am I worried about nothing.

It would be very easy to permantly seal the trap door and we have the washer/dryer in our 2955RL so it is not that handy for us to put the dirty laundry down there anyway.

Just curious to what other folks think about the trap door?

[Glenn and Lorraine]

With ours it is not a big concern. To gain access they would have to move a great amount of stuff stored in the basement. One thing a burglar does not want to do is spend too much time gaining access. Also when we are away for an extended period of time we keep the water closet door open making it impossible to open the laundry door from below.

[Les and Julie]

We feel the same as Glenn --- to gain access they would have to move "stuff", lots of "stuff" and like Glenn, when we leave the Monty we leave the washroom door open so it goes across the hatch. We do use the laundry basket for our dirty laundry. Julie

[Montana Sky]

Well I have never really worried about it as I too have so much stuff in the basement. I never thought about opening the bathroom door across the hatch so it could not be opened. Thanks for a great tip, learn something new every day on the forum.

[Dustytuu]

We put our laundry basket on something in the basement so is easy to get the dirty laundry out of the basement trap door. We also open the door to water closet when we are gone so trap door can't be opened.

[Wrenchtraveller]

Wow, that is great advice. My wife keeps telling me that we have to use the unit before I start making changes. I tell her, we can ask people that own them for ideas. You guys have all used your Montanas and you have great ideas. Bathroom door open over the trap door is an excellent idea. Thanks again and I wish you all a great Christmas Season. Don.

[Wordsmith]

Well, we too have too much clutter down there that would have to be moved for anyone to use the shoot as access.

Actually, back in October, I was out riding my bike when Marsha decided to go walking with her step-mother and another friend. I had not taken my keys and did not think to say anything to Marsha when I came upon them, and John, who they had taken along on the main road leading into the campground. John ran along with me, and when we arrived back at the Montana, I discovered the door was locked. I was going to ride back and get the key, but John remembered the laundry shoot and crawled in and let me in. The catch is that John is not overly large at eight years old and had a little difficulty getting inside. I doubt most normal sized adults would find it a breeze to get inside either.

You know, when we first bought the Montana, we thought the laundry shoot was a good idea, but quickly found it to not be overly practical due to the amount of odds and ends in the basement.

[Montana_3360]

We also have too much stuff stored in the basement to alow someone to get in easily. We use the laundry basket to store up to 3 gallons of drinking water.

To solve the problem of so many people having the keys, we had the three storage locks re-keyed by a locksmith for under $20.

[Parrothead]

We have a washer dryer and still use the laundry chute. We love it as laundry is out of site. Like others, it would take some time for someone to gain access because of stuff in the basement. But if gone for several days, we leave the water closet door open. Although I found that if you have a lot of patience and time (which an intruder would not have) you can raise the laundry chute door a little bit, then drop it and do it again and again and you can inch the water closet door closed. In all the years we have been doing this we have never had a break in or anything stolen at the unit. And there have been times we were not in the best of parks and/or neighborhoods. I'm not sure what they would get anyway. The Television is almost impossible to remove, we take our cameras with us and usually the laptop.
Happy trails.................

[DHenry]

I have read in some previous posts that some of the Montana owners (including my DW) have locked themselves out, so hiding a key outside would be a good idea if you are going to open the bathroom door over the trap door.

[kdeiss]

A crow bar used on the front door they would have access in seconds.Why would they crawl in and up the through the trap door.Just my two cents

[Illini Trekker]

I'm not retired and use my Monty a great deal for travel and work. The trap door was a concern to us because at time I would go home on weekends. I like many others need to save a BUCK and park at camp grounds that have permanent RVs in them. There have been time that have lead me to worry. Changing the locks I didn't feel would help if someone wanted to get into the trailer. So I installed a short 2x4 under the trap door, it is bolted with recessed nuts on the top of the wood. The bathroom door is a great idea but now I have one less thing to have to remember.

[Sunshine]

Don't use the space under the trap door for laundry, but for storage of sodas, bottled water, etc. Haven't worried too much about anyone gaining entrance through the trap door, although opening the water closet door seems like a good idea. I agree that most thieves are opportunists and want to work fast - ftom what I understand, an RV is fairly easy to gain entrance into, so I would think they'd use the door, unless you change to dead bolts and that might slow them down.

[wswebster]

I use my trap door and wire basket for potatoes and onions. If a thief wanted to enter that way he'd make so much noise and take too much time because of all my husband have to have just in case stuff.

[Russ and Sandy]

We too started leaving the bathroom door open so that the laundry door could not be raised. Well, we had a problem with the entrance door deadbolt lock that would not open. I thought I could use a wire, or something, to move that door out of the way. No luck. So, using my handy cordelss drill stored right there in the basement, I unscrewed the hinge and climbed through.

I agree that a thief would probably stop short of that or use other means, but thought I'd mention that leaving the door open is not the "final answer". We still leave our door open as a deterrent.

Russ

[dsprik]

Has anyone ever had someone break into their Montana?

[sreigle]

Very few fifthwheel brands have that laundry chute access to the basement storage area. So, very few potential thiefs probably know about it, too. In ours, they'd have to remove a lot of things from the basement before they could crawl in far enough to come up through the laundry chute. We live in ours fulltime so it's less likely to happen than when we stored the rig for the winter. In those times we just slid the pocket door partway closed. No way can one get that chute door open from the bottom and no way can anyone get anything up through the chute to slide the pocket door closed. I tried. I guess they could remove the hinges as mentioned above but if they want in that badly there are easier ways than through the laundry chute.

[OntMont]

When we leave our trailer in storage, I hang a small wire loop over each locker door latch, and then cinch them together using one of those ratchet type cargo straps. This secures the two doors together regardless of having a key. (It also stops me from getting in when I forget the keys - but I'll only do that once, and I've done it already).

[Dano]

We had to use the trap door one time when the lock would not work. We came home one night and the dead bolt was stuck. Sure was nice it was there.

[dsprik]

quote:Originally posted by dsprik

Has anyone ever had someone break into their Montana?

No?

OK, has anyone ever heard of someone breaking into someone ELSE'S Montana? Or any 5ver? I guess I would specifically be interested in a CG situation... not something that's sitting unlived in, and basically unguarded, in storage for several months.

What's the most common break-in technique? I know external equipment is at risk (gens, inverters, portable sat dishes, batteries, etc), and I would like to see some stats on those types of thefts, as well as break-ins.

Are there thieves that specifically target campgrounds, and are certain areas of the country more susceptible to this, or are these types of thefts more incidental "crimes of opportunity"?