Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Locked Out, Oh Great!

On Monday we finally left the desert of South Texas and headed towards San Antonio to an RV park that we stayed at once before, called Hidden Valley. It's a nice park mostly with residents but quiet and reasonable.

We arrived mid afternoon and Sherry backed me into our site. I must be getting pretty good at this because I didn't have to re-adjust or anything, just straight back. I better not get too cocky about this. We did our normal set up routine and I finished up by getting the satellite dish pointed and now watching TV.

We met a nice couple who are also full timers and we talked for awhile. I took Gizmo out for a walk and I don't think he likes it too much. He seems very nervous around here.

We decided not to cook for that night and go out to dinner. We put Gizmo into his cage and proceeded out the door. Gizmo started to bark and I went inside to calm him down. Left the house and locked it like always with the dead bolt. He started barking again and Sherry went this time to calm him again and she said that the door would not unlock.

Great, the dead bolt would not completely unlock. Now here we are all three of us outside and no way to get back into the trailer. I went to our new friends to see if they had any ideas but no experience there. I decided to get after the lock with my drill.

I figured what the hell it is not going to unlock so I will demolish the lock. I drilled the tumblers out and continued drilling when I broke a bit. Put in a new bit and continued, broke that bit and now getting upset. I was able to see the two bolts holding the lock together and started to drill them out.

The dead bolt is starting to move some and I was careful drilling for fear of breaking the bit again. I was able to finally get the dead bolt off the door and play around with the bolt slide to where I was able to open the door. Thank you Lord.

Here is what's left of the lock.


It may not look like much but if you look close enough you can see some of my handy work.

I placed white duct tape over the hole and we were able to lock the latch itself and went out to dinner. Needless to say Gizmo never barked anymore. The next day we had some running around to do which included getting a new dead bolt. We came home I put the new dead bolt on but it now won't lock. I think the problem is the strike plate and hole. We still can lock the trailer and the hole is covered.

Well once again something new on the trailer, drilling out a lock. I am just thankful that I had the tools to do this job and not have to call a locksmith.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving...................

Until Next Time...........Be Safe.

1 comment:

  1. Been there... done that! Our first year as full-timers we were parked at the Lake Medina RV Park in the hill country. That's when we were creating the campground guest guides. I was ready to head out the door to go on sales calls and I could not get the door unlocked. Bob tried & could not get out either. He could not get to his tools below. So we called a mobile RV repair guy. After three hours we got the lock apart and had a new one overnighted. Stuff happens!
    Vicky

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