I was unhappy with the salon door latches on my Carver. I have those tall skinny double doors with the upper and lower sliding latches. The darn latches were always hard to reach. I replaced the upper sliding latch with the guts of a house type inside spring operated door latch now it latches automatically and can be opened easily from inside or outside.
I mounted the latch in a 1" square aluminum tube which I mounted in place of the original latch using the upper door frame as the striker plate.
A pull cord made of plastic coated wire extending low enough to reach when standing in the salon was added as a handle convenient to inside and outside. Now we can easily open both doors when entering or leaving.
Some details:
The guts are a Quickset interior door latch #2947 ( Lowe's hardware ) which is a press fit into a 1" square aluminum tube. The tube is screwed to the inside of the starboard door so that the latch contacts the upper jamb. It is all pretty obvious once you try fit the latch into the tube and hold it to the door.
For a pull handle I used plastic coated cable looped through the latch slide and through SS fairleads down to about the middle of the door. A 1" crystal drawer pull epoxied to the cable end makes an attractive and easy to find door handle.
I cut the tube about 10" and attached it to the door on the inside with screws. It is necessary to drill larger holes (ВЅ") in the tube to access the door side of the tube to get to the screws. I am looking for plastic plugs for the big access holes.
Place the mounting screws below the latch so as to not interfere with it sliding into the tube.
I thought I might add one at the bottom as well but the single works so well I decided to quit while I am ahead..
We think it is a tremendous improvement over the original latches.
I mounted the latch in a 1" square aluminum tube which I mounted in place of the original latch using the upper door frame as the striker plate.
A pull cord made of plastic coated wire extending low enough to reach when standing in the salon was added as a handle convenient to inside and outside. Now we can easily open both doors when entering or leaving.
Some details:
The guts are a Quickset interior door latch #2947 ( Lowe's hardware ) which is a press fit into a 1" square aluminum tube. The tube is screwed to the inside of the starboard door so that the latch contacts the upper jamb. It is all pretty obvious once you try fit the latch into the tube and hold it to the door.
For a pull handle I used plastic coated cable looped through the latch slide and through SS fairleads down to about the middle of the door. A 1" crystal drawer pull epoxied to the cable end makes an attractive and easy to find door handle.
I cut the tube about 10" and attached it to the door on the inside with screws. It is necessary to drill larger holes (ВЅ") in the tube to access the door side of the tube to get to the screws. I am looking for plastic plugs for the big access holes.
Place the mounting screws below the latch so as to not interfere with it sliding into the tube.
I thought I might add one at the bottom as well but the single works so well I decided to quit while I am ahead..
We think it is a tremendous improvement over the original latches.