Do You feel safe in your fifth wheel?

[tthelen]

Let me first paint the picture. My wife and I purchased our Landmark Golden Gate in Nov '04. This was for our full-timing life. One feature I really liked was the "security" of having as it said in the brochure "All Exterior Doors Keyed for Landmark Only", I knew how just about every other RV had the cargo doors keyed alike.

Last week we traded it and the BIG Ford (I'm going to miss that! The new smell isn't even gone yet.) in for a '08 Damon Astoria Pacific. Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed the 5'er, it's just due to my disability, a MH seems to be the best choice. What brought me to this post was, after getting the keys to the MH, I saw a key that looked very familiar. The key for the fuel fill door, opened EVERY lock on the Landmark, with the exception of the dead bolt. There was another '05 Landmark in for repair, and that key also fit all his locks. I guess Heartland thought we were an honest group, that's why they made all the locks keyed alike! I will have to say, they had a newer Landmark in the showroom, and the MH key only opened the cargo doors.

Just wanted everyone to know!

Thanks, this is a fantastic forum, I'll miss you all,
Tom

 

[caddojay]

Funny that you mentioned that. We're waiting for the delivery of our 3005RL, and the first addition will be installing an additional separate and "uniquely" keyed deadbolt lock on the door. They're difficult to find, but the larger RV dealers can install one for you. My wife uses our Doubletree and will use this unit, when we're not travelling, as her residence while she's in Dallas working on a contract basis. We leave the unit at a small "mom and pop" RV site, and she's concerned about coming in and finding everything missing from inside the RV. We had a similar problem a few years ago with a new house that we had purchased. We actually had a worker walk into the house with the doors locked. He "said" he had a work order to replace some plumbing and he had a "System" master key. We changed the locks. Everyone has a 751 key and that fits all of the storage and outer doors, as well. We're changing them, too. Good luck on the new MH. check back on this forum and see what's going on here, as well.

 

[sgtbigb]

751 Key

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Hey that the number on my key for storage. Anyone has change this locking System? I have about $1000.00 worth fihing gear in that storage! </TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on">
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[grizzlygiant]

I think you will find the lock on the Heartland doors are unique. They are sealed when leaving the factory and the seal is broken only by the dealer when the coach arrives. I feel perfectly secure with that door locked. Windows are another story buyt I still do not worry.

ALL the compartment doors are keyed the same on most all coaches---anyone can get in most any coach compartment with a single key. If you are concerned about this you can buy new locks from any locksmith for about $15 per lock.

 

[Pulltab]

I have not changed these yet but on our Fleetwood I changed all the locks to barrel locks (like the pepsi machines used).

 

[5erWonk]

The 1751 key fits most all RV compartment doors, however the nice thing in our BH 3055 is that there is no way, unless you tear out some lumber, to get from the storage compartment into the coach.

My Keystone Montana was open to the storage area through the close chute.....I also had a Fleetwood TT that you could crawl through the storage area, up through the dinnette bench and into the coach.

 

[jimtoo]

You can also buy keyed alike locks at most all larger hardware stores. If they don't have them they will order them for you. Or you can go to Home Depot or Lowes and look through their stock and find some keyed alike. You need to know the lenght of the lock before you go, as they come in several lengths.

Jim

 

[DennisZ]

I changed out the locks on my unit, they need to be 1 1/8" long locks. Most RV places only carry up to 7/8", but the others ar available if you look online.

Dennis

 

[crazybanshee]

Just put new compartment locks on our 4012 Cyclone. Also matching padlocks for the rear door. They are the barrel type lock. Industrial locks & hardware 661-722-8222. They are great people to work with. Doug


Admin: Link to Industrial Lock and Hardware

 

[sailorand]

DennisZ
I see that Industrial Lock and Hardware are in Lancaster Ca. Can we go up to the door and buy the locks there or are they wholesale only??
We will be coming through in mid January.
Rand

 

[ChopperBill]

I doubt there is one storage compartment I could not get into in about two seconds time with a medium size screw drive. Pretty sure dishonest folks have figured that out also. I would rather have them steal my lawn chair than tear up the Bighorn.

 

[jpmorgan37]

Bill;
I agree and maybe that's why I hardly ever lock mine.
John

 

[katkens]

I doubt there is one storage compartment I could not get into in about two seconds time with a medium size screw drive. Pretty sure dishonest folks have figured that out also. I would rather have them steal my lawn chair than tear up the Bighorn.

I would have to agree , had to break into my old trailers storage compartment when I couldn't get the key to work. I just used a screw driver , got her open , repaired the lock, good to go. I took my time and had just a little straighting of the metal on the the inside , couldn't even tell what I had done afterwards. I know a true thief would be quicker and not so gentle.....Ken

 

[Goldenwingers]

We also seldom lock our storage doors, but we are careful to lock our Entry/Exit door. Our dealer told us that there is no "master" key to the Landmark E/E doors. Since ours is a full time unit, all that is important and valuable is within our Landmark so we opted to install a security system. All three main storage compartment doors and the E/E door have wireless contacts on them. If the system is breached it will send a text message to both of our cell phones and we get a test message every Thursday to be sure that it's still communicating. Yep, we feel safe.

 

[Pulltab]

Goldwingers, that is interesting. Who makes the system and what is the cost to have the service? Does it use a cell phone to send the message?

 

[Goldenwingers]

I've worked in the industry for the past eight years so I only had to pay cost for the equipment and I don't have to pay for the monitoring. That being said the Ademco Lynx wireless control panel w/four door transmitters and a motion detector (we opted not to use the motion because of our 65# Poodle) can be purchased on-line for about $300.00. The cellular Uplink system can be found on-line for less than $250.00. Yes it is a cellular signal that uses any available cellular tower to send from. There really is no monitoring since no operator is ever involved, but the fee should not be more than $15.00 per month to use the Uplink central station equipment to send a signal through. Notice I said "should not be", I expect that most companies would charge a minimum of $30.00 a month. The average, somewhat technical, person should be able to install this system, but you would have to have a security company to run the Uplink through. The geographical location of the security company would be immaterial.

Now for the down side. This system was not designed for an RV (there are those that are, $$) so it requires AC to operate. If an RV were going to be put in storage one would need to remove the internal battery (not a big deal) and the unplug the system. Since we full-time and have solar panels and an inverter this is not a problem for us.

If you have any other ?'s just ask, or use the e-mail in our profile.

Sheri

 

[sailorand]

I just talked to my locksmith next door neighbour about the door locks.
He figures there is about 20 combinations possible for the locks. The locks are built cheap and are expensive to buy.
The better way to go is to install a house type deadbolt lock. We have done this with our previous RV's. We keyed them to our house so we did not have to carry another key. When we sold the rv's we just had them rekeyed different.
Rand

 

[tthelen]

The problem IS the entry/exit door!

As stated in my original post. My '08 Damon motorhome fuel door key fit ALL locks on my '05 Landmark, as well as another '05 Landmark that was waiting for service, with the exception of the deadbolt. As stated in my original post, Heartland used "All Exterior Doors Keyed for Landmark Only", in their brochure, I didn't know they meant all Landmarks are keyed alike! (haha) You can disregard the storage/basement doors if you wish, as most are keyed the same one way or another in the rv world. I'm talking about the main entrance door! I also tried to open a new '08 Landmark, and the fuel door key from my motorhome only opened the the storage compartment doors.

PLEASE, always use the deadbolt for your safety.

 

[StevieWonder]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have had security issues (breakins, etc) while travelling?

 

[jbeletti]

Poll added to this thread

StevieWonder,

Good question that just begs a poll. So I added one - it runs through January only.

If anyone answers Yes to the poll question, please consider posting a reply to this thread after you vote and share with us what your security issue was. Optionally, consider sharing your ideas/methods on how to protect against the issue you experienced.

Jim