We love our screen door but on the last trip our latch disintegrated. Essentially, it is a Southco style grabber latch recessed in the door and held by plastic clips at the top and bottom of the latch.
I found what appears to be the exact latch on Amazon from two suppliers, both of which are "out of stock". Given the special purpose of this style latch, I don't know if it is NOS or the COVID supply chain is a problem. In any event, I want the screen door fixed before my next trip in about a month.
I bought a magnetic heavy duty latch yesterday at Home Depot and I think I will simply attach the provided steel plate to the edge of the aluminum screen door and the mount the magnet portion appropriately aligned and spaced on the door frame after removing the original Southco receiver hook.
I am sure others have replaced the originals and maybe with original type designs but has anyone used a magnetic catch?
Bear in mind these are not refrigerator magnets. This baby is strong and the packaging does not give how strong it is, but the model number seems to indicate 7 pounds lifting strength. In placing the magnet portion on a heavy piece of steel to test it, I certainly think it will hold and if it doesn't I can always use two of them. If it is too strong, that is an easy problem to rectify by limiting the contact surface.
I searched the forum archives and found some old discussion about finding the replacements five years ago. Of course, I could always call PC but I would really like to eliminate problem of a plastic catch altogether.