Forgot to duck 3900FB

vibetech1

Advanced Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Posts
66
Hello all. First of all im 6'4 so back when we first walked through and fell in love with the floor plan of the 3900FB I knew it would take diligence on my part to remember to duck (slightly) while entering the master bath. No problem the first 3 trips but recently in the middle of the night while still half asleep i forgot to duck. The top of my head hit the upper door frame just enough to peel back about .030 of my scalp. No stitches needed but man O man that smarted. Needless to say I was now completely awake and so was my wife. I'm not sure if any of our neighbors were wakened as well. lol... There's between 3 to 4 inched between the upper door frame and the ceiling and im now considering increasing the clearance by 2". This would take away the potential pain of forgetting to duck again. I believe there's a solid beam above the upper door frame but I plan to get a stud finder to verify. Also I plan to give Keystone a call to see if my little renovation would cause issues with engineering / support. Has anyone ever attempted a similar type of upgrade?
 
Never tried something like that, but I'm two inches shorter than you are and have felt my hair hit the door frame in our bathroom in the night. If I was a half inch taller I'd be considering the same thing.
 
If you're hitting the door make sure you noodles on your slides cause I guarantee that when you hiat your noggin on it, it will hurt even worse. You would think a person would remember they are there......not me lol lol
 
Going to watch this one! Been thinking the same thing. I'm 6'4 as well. I remember most of the time now but, seem to forget more often when wearing a baseball cap.

Several years ago I fell in love with an Okanogan truck camper at an RV show. Got the green light from the wife to go buy one. Found a local dealer, wandered inside and my head was rubbing on the roof! I was wearing really thin flip flops at the RV show and normal tennis shoes when I went back to buy it. Man was I bummed.
 
I'm 6-2, and don't have enough hair on top for protection. I have hit my head on almost everything possible on our rig, and most of the time have removed some hide each time. I am getting better, learning to duck, but am getting pretty close to buying a bump hat when working outside, getting into the various compartments. Be careful when accessing the pass-throughs, the trim inside the door near the hinge is quite effective in tearing your scalp.
 
I to am 6'4 and just did the exact same thing in our 37&1/4 and boy did it smart after a few not so nice words and the DW laughing at me I was ready to get out the hammer and saw and go to work. I stepped back and took a breath and looked at the doorway that did the damage to my ego and scalp and can't find a reason that the modification you suggest won't work at least on this model. I had better give it a good look as I don't have a lot of cushion left on top.and if I keep taking off layers I may find brain matter or worse yet I may find I have no brain matter and that would be bad as I tell my DW I'm the smartest guy she knows.
 
quote:Originally posted by steelpony5555

If you're hitting the door make sure you noodles on your slides cause I guarantee that when you hiat your noggin on it, it will hurt even worse. You would think a person would remember they are there......not me lol lol

X2......I've got the zipper in my scalp to prove it !!!
 
After all these years, you'd think I would remember the bottom of the bed room slide;( I'm also not tall enough to hit top of bath door, but if I were......
 
I am looking at my 3400 bathroom door frame, which could be different from yours. I would guess it could be cut out and the door frame re-trimmed. About the only thing that could possibly be over my door would be some wiring. Surely Keystone could lead you in the right direction.
 
The bedroom slide gets me so often, I put the padded angles from CW on them, so that there is some padding when I hit them and THEN remember to put the swim noodle on them. You could think out of the box, don't raise the door frame, lower the floor :)
 
Steve, you have the floor plan that I want someday. I'll bet if you call Carmin at Keystone she'll put you in touch with someone who can give you answers to you questions. Good luck and keep us posted. But, I'm not going to have the problem of removing .030 off my scalp. I'm a plump 5' 8".
 
I will be watching this one as well. My head still hurts from the last time I hit my head. 6'4" here, too. I always tell the dealer that I don't give a damn that the ceiling is 6'6". That is not the problem.
 
quote:Originally posted by vibetech1

..... I believe there's a solid beam above the upper door frame but I plan to get a stud finder to verify.....
I seriously doubt that there is anything "solid" in these rigs, especially on an interior wall. Most likely there is 2x2 "header" made out of some type of softwood, but may possibly be a welded aluminum tube frame which would be a bit more problematic to alter than wood (but not impossible).

Now you know why the beam that is framed in above a door is called a header! ;)
 
I have a similar issue when entering the bedroom in ours, it's the only low spot. The trim hangs low to cover the door slide rail. I know why they did it, it was to hide the view of the rail when laying down on the bed is my guess. The molding that faces the bed side hangs 1" lower, then the other side. If I hit my pointy head one more time, that sucker will get cut! lol.
 
quote:Originally posted by JandC

I am looking at my 3400 bathroom door frame, which could be different from yours. I would guess it could be cut out and the door frame re-trimmed. About the only thing that could possibly be over my door would be some wiring. Surely Keystone could lead you in the right direction.

Yes... you could consult their standardized wiring diagram that they use for all their models!! :)[:p][}:)]
 
Thanks for all the feedback! It's kind of interesting to think the very moment i hit my head I just knew I had to be the only one to do something so foolish! I never thought there were so many of us in the same boat. lol... I'll update this topic if and when i start my renovation.
 
Haven't had a problem with anything inside, but the Bedroom slide on both our Monty and the current SOB get me. At least the corner bumpers form CW and the Swim noodle help to soften the blow.
 
For those following this topic i just updated in the general discussion forum under "I forgot to duck UPDATE". Sorry for any confusion but CW is going to have their cabinet/wood worker guy take a look at raising the master bath entry door header by 3 inches. Once I receive a quote I will share with the forum.
 

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV LIFE Pro Today
Back
Top