Rear Storage Compartment door

On our 2012 Phoenix cruiser both factory installed (spring loaded?) latches broke off and we need to manually hold the door open. Have other people experienced this? And how did you solve the problem? Did you just reattach the latches or did you replace them with something else? Would love to know. Thanks.

The latches broke, or did the pneumatic lifters lose their pressure?

Could you post a picture? You say a latch broke, but a latch is what holds the door closed, or in some cases mechanically holds the door propped open, as in the case of the side cargo doors.

  To help other help you, here's some nomenclature:

The latches are usually on the edge opposite the hinge. One or both may have a key lock. Their purpose is to keep the door from opening when latched. A non locking one shown below-



The gas strut assemblies are the things that keep the door from closing. They consist of a strut, charged with gas pressure and they work like a spring. This does the lifting. There are two mounting brackets at the end, generally with ball ends to allow freedom of movement. An example of the assembly is below:




Guessing you mean the mounting points for the gas support struts pulled out / broke off? Thats what happened with one of mine, the screws pulled out and the upper bracket was no longer attached to the door. Upper bracket was similar to what this person has cradled in their hand:



The screws were anchored in the thin sheet metal that was over the foam core of the door, and pulled out.

Lucky for me, the other one still holds, and I dont use that hatch much. But when I do fix that area, I plan on removing the door,  taking off the inner skin and replacing foam with wood in the area where the struts mount. This will give a firm anchor for the screws, unlike the thin metal and foam.

2Lucky has a good point I missed.      Hold open latches:



and spring loaded... I totally overlooked them. And sounds like exactly what you are referring to......

I broke one of those spring latches, bought a 5 pack of metal ones for just in case.  Amazon “RV metal door latch”

There are no hold open latches on the rear storage compartment at least not in my 2015 model... They are gas pistons that hold it open.

On our 2012 Phoenix cruiser both factory installed (spring loaded?) latches broke off and we need to manually hold the door open. Have other people experienced this? And how did you solve the problem? Did you just reattach the latches or did you replace them with something else? Would love to know. Thanks.

There are no hold open latches on the rear storage compartment at least not in my 2015 model... They are gas pistons that hold it open.

I jumped to the same assumption that it was the rear storage.. I think the 'spring loaded' term had me jump to 'gas struts'. Dunno.

But as you see, the OP said nothing about door location..    So I managed to overthink a really easy question. As usual.     
I think Tarnold is on the money.   But we will see if the OP ever comes back. 

Like others here, I initially thought ecericks was referring to the struts for the shallow rear compartment located to the right of the spare tire.  But after reading it again, I think he is referring to a side compartment located close to the rear of his 2551.

Those cheap little spring-loaded plastic latches are available on-line and very affordable.  There are a few different styles that appear the same but are slightly different in size.  Fortunately the variations use both of the original mounting screw holes.  If your rig has the full body paint job and you want things to look perfect, you really want to get the exact same one that broke.  I would get 4 replacements from Phoenix, then spray paint them all the color of your paint work, because more will break.

The raw white unpainted ones break down faster from UV damage, turning them a light yellow color.  Painting the white ones white will keep them stronger for longer.

Rear Storage Compartment Door

The gas strut assemblies that keep the door from closing are charged with  pressure and they work like a prop when extended.  There are two mounting brackets.  One at each corner, generally with ball ends firmly mounted in the door frame structure.

On my Phoenix Cruiser, the upper brackets  for the gas support struts pulled out from the mounting points.   The screws pulled out from the very thin plastic supporting the upper bracket.  The screws were anchored (?) in the thin sheet plastic that is the core of the door.

 I don't use that hatch much. One side continues to hold and supports the door.   I have tried to fix  the affected area by simple procedures.  Such as using larger diameter screws.  When that fix didn't last, I tried using plugs as hollow wall anchors.  That definitely didn't work.

As a permanent repair, I am planning to open an aperture into the thin inner skin and gluing a custom fitted wood block in the area where the struts mount. This will give a firm anchor for the screws,  Unlike the thin plastic. 

There is no depth to the space between the inner liner and outer door panel.  Short screws will have to be used.  Even considering that, a half inch of wood will hold considerably tighter and longer than a sixteenth of plastic.

Actually, I am surprised the manufacturer considered the original installation as reliable

I had a strut break off because of the flimsy surface it was screwed into as others have described.  I simply cleaned with alcohol both the door and the strut  plate where the two met, covered the bottom of the strut plate with a piece of 3M VHB tape, then used  larger diameter sheet metal screws to reinforce the VHB.   That was probably five years ago and has never been a problem again.   That tape will hold almost anything if you clean properly and the two larger diameter short screws reduce the strain on the tape.   Whole procedure takes less than ten minutes.   

Choose your poison:   
https://www.strouse.com/blog/the-best-3m-vhb-tape-selection-guide
Paul

Sounds good!  That is, until I checked the price.  Online, the price is over a hundred bucks for a roll.  Shelf life is twenty four months.

Sounds good!  That is, until I checked the price.  Online, the price is over a hundred bucks for a roll.  Shelf life is twenty four months.

See below image, $8 and just as good

Here is what I use on projects.   Note the price. 

https://www.amazon.com/Width-Length-Black-Multipurpose-Double/dp/B07K4PQG8P/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2QHAW83L52Z08&dchild=1&keywords=3m+vhb+tape+double+sided&qid=1632536755&sprefix=3m+vhb%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUE3NFZCS0E1S1NHNFomZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA5MDM0NTYxNDlENzc3TVFFV0g4JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA2NjcwMDYxVEZNUklJQ0tMOVU2JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Okay!  Thanks for the follow up. 

I can imagine the two-sided tape being a more practical solution than custom fitting a wood insert.  The link you forwarded offers a much more affordable source.

Once the tape arrives, I am going to use it on both struts.  The side needing repair demonstrates how feeble the factory installation is.  And, my first repair attempt which was to use larger diameter screws proved to be equally short lived. 

Reinforcing the side that remains intact seems like a sensible precaution.  Otherwise, I predict the probability of it ripping out of the  thin plastic as "inevitable".