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Old 10-03-2015, 12:14 AM   #1
NN5I
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Default Losing keys

I always carry two sets of keys. That way, if I lock a set in the car, or if I lose a set, I still have a complete set.

Wednesday I lost a set of keys. That's not much of a worry, since there is no identifying info on the keyring. I know better than to let a finder know which house or car they fit.

Today I spent $30 at a locksmith shop to make a full set of duplicates from the set I still had.

Naturally, I then came home and found the lost keys. In the motor home. In a place I had looked several times. Oh, well, now I have ample spares.

Dang. I've never been this old before.
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Old 10-03-2015, 07:40 AM   #2
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Now your redundant system has a backup.
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Old 10-03-2015, 04:48 PM   #3
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Yeah I have a hidden set of keys in the camper for it and the truck!
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Old 10-03-2015, 09:33 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by N3LYT View Post
Yeah I have a hidden set of keys in the camper for it and the truck!
Does that mean that, if you lose a set, you have to break into the camper 'cuz it's locked to protect the keys?
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Old 10-04-2015, 06:41 AM   #5
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No but you'll never find them!
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Old 10-05-2015, 01:16 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NN5I View Post
Does that mean that, if you lose a set, you have to break into the camper 'cuz it's locked to protect the keys?
1980 I was in my first electronics outside sales job calling on accounts in Sacramento, CA. It is HOT there in the summer and not uncommon back then for sales dudes to leave their car running while they went into make a short account call.

I had three sets of keys. Regular key ring for the car and house keys. A spare set in my brief case. And a third, hard plastic "credit card" set for the car (Remember them?) that I kept in my wallet with my credit cards.

I had to drop some catalogs at GE Medical so I flashed my ID at the guard gate (Drivers License), rolled to the front door, grabbed the catalogs out of the trunk and left the car running while I dropped the literature with the engineer.

Back at my car I grabbed my back pocket for my wallet and realized I had thrown it on the passenger seat after showing my drivers license to the guard. The brief case was in the back seat because I couldn't carry it and the catalogs into the engineer at the same time. And the car was running with the third set.

Triple redundancy fail .

I think AAA "slim jimmed" me in an hour later. I don't remember that part.
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Old 10-05-2015, 05:14 PM   #7
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We had a lock-out experience on about the 3rd trip out in our then new 5th wheel...

One of the things I like to do in a campground is take a nightly 'walking survey' to see all the rigs and tacky lights and campfires and families out having fun. Just after dark but well before quiet time or there wouldn't be anything to see. Matt and I head out about 9:15 pm and get back about 10:15. The key I just locked the door with an hour ago will not fit back into the deadbolt lock. All of our cell phones, wallets, cash etc are all INSIDE the trailer. All I have is this useless door key and the key to the truck. We give up on getting in without help.

We drive up, slowly and quietly, to see the campground hosts. Their lights are still on. Good. We knock on the door and explain our situation.

The host calls the ranger,
the ranger calls the sheriff,
the sheriff calls the 24 hour on call locksmith,
who doesn't work on RVs but knows someone who does,
so the 1st locksmith calls the other,
who calls the sheriff,
that calls the ranger
who tells me the guy will be there in 10 minutes.

The ranger goes up to the gate to lead the guy back to our site. Now I'm getting a bit concerned about the amount of vehicle traffic around our site, with me come and going, the ranger in and out with "Law Enforcement" in big black letters on his truck and now the locksmith on his way.

Right on time, he shows up with the ranger, again, in a Chevy Suburban with not one muffler on it. That thing rattled the rocks on the ground.

I later apologized to my neighbors who claim they heard nothing because they were all watching the Olympics with their air conditioners on.

After some futile tinkering around for about 1/2 hour the locksmith says he can't get the door open without damaging the lock and we should begin to explore ways to break into our own trailer "to recover the key." I explain to the locksmith, for about the 3rd time, that:

1. The door can only be locked from the outside, using a key
2. The key is here in my hand, absence of a key is not the problem, and
3. The lock is already hosed up and I don't mind if you break it further.

So the light comes on!

So he gets a large flat blade screwdriver, drives it into the lock with a hammer and with brute force twists the lock open.

For this he charges me $30. Would have been $75 but since he really didn't "open" the lock, without damage, he just wanted enough money to take the wife and kids to Dairy Queen. They had been waiting in the Suburban this whole time.

Forest River sent me a new lockset and reimbursed me for the locksmith call. And all my campers locks get a dry lube treatment twice a year.
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Old 10-05-2015, 05:36 PM   #8
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Good story, Wade!

I'm guessing there was a stuck pin-tumbler in the lock. I conjecture that a bit of WD-40 squirted into the keyhole would have freed it up.

And maybe not! I installed several lockable hitch-pins; one in the Diesel Pusher's hitch receiver, one in the Toad's receiver, two more in the towbar brackets at the front of the Toad. They all corroded after six months, none will open. My nice little Makita 4" grinder cuts'em off easily in about one minute; so far I've cut off the one at the rear of the pickup, and the one at the rear of the Diesel Pusher.

Two more, and I'll be rid of the darned things. From now on I'll use higher-quality locking ones, or more likely stick with the non-locking pins with a spring clip that always works. Live and learn.
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