Exterior Entry Door Strut attachment Ideas Please?

[Off_Pavement]

My small class C's entry door must stop at 90 degrees due to the awning arms location. When built, a gas strut was used as the door stop with mounting hardware on the coach exterior, and an odd angled mount that screwed into the top edge of the door positioning the ball stud attachment above the door and drip lip opening.

This worked, but not particularly well as the mount loosened with no way to tighten of improve the attaching surface. To me, the issue was that there was no stop for the strut to push the door against so only the length of the strut controlled the door opening size so when a big gust of wind caught the door when opening it one day, it yanked the stock door attachment out of the top of the door.

So... I reinforced a small section of the door exterior with a small steel plate glued to the surface to spread out the force of a door stop bar that keeps the door from opening too far, and now I need to design a new way to attach the gas strut to hold the door against the stop bar.

Above the door the rain drip lid extends approximately an inch beyond the doors vertical surface. I don't see how I am going to be able to hit solid material in the door to attach to so I'm wondering about placing opposing metal plates on each side of the door bolted together through the door as a base to make a custom offset bracket to hold the ball stud. Do you think the door will stand the strain of constant pressure on the ball stud?

Got another idea?

[Off_Pavement]

Reversing the door isn't very practical to me as open door would block kitchen window. I don't "need" to use a gas cylinder to hold the door open but it sure is convenient.

Since I added the stop, I'm using a 48" elastic cord to the cab rear view mirror and it works just peachy, but I'd like something engineered a bit more that doesn't require hooking up something every time I want the door open if I can come up with a practical alternative. I think the original design would have been OK if any kind of stop other than the gas strut length had been installed.

If using a strut, if the wind catches the door against the stop, no issue, and if the wind catches the door trying to close it, the strut would act as a shock absorber without much stress to anything... at least that's what I'm thinking.

[DrewE]

Might it be pracitcal to hinge the door on the other side? Could it open more widely that way? Usually they are set up to open with the hinge towards the front, I suspect because that way if it's somehow open or unlatched when driving the air flow will tend to force it closed. However, I would have no scruples about having mine open the other way around if it made more sense otherwise.

A chain or similar screen door-style check is a good idea. A bit of wire rope (often called aircraft cable) would work nicely too and probably rattle less.

[fj12ryder]

Just wondering if you really need a gas strut to open the door? If not then all you really need is a stop, and a latch to hold the door open. Maybe look at that type of system rather than something attached directly to the (weak) door.

[naturist]

chain and spring fastened to the door and door frame, as you sometimes see on aluminum screen doors on houses.