Which way should my door swing?

[davo7th]

Hi all, Im just about to re-hang my door and noticed most caravan doors swing out and towards the rear. My door is/was hinged on the left side and swings towards the front. Is there a secret reason they should swing to the back?
PS. Im renovating a 1940s, 10 foot timber caravan.
I also noticed the old door was hinged on the other side at some stage and has been swapped over. I dont think it will interfere with an annex roof which ever way it swings.
Thanks for any advice.
Davo

[Rattles]

I prefer the door to swing (Hinge on L/H side) towards the front, if the door becomes unlatched the air passing hopefully will keep it from opening, if the door opens towards the rear (Hinged R/H side) the door most likely will be ripped off if the latching fails. Many Caravans swing the door towards the rear because there is a wind-out window on the L/H side of the door.

Rattles

[davo7th]

Thanks, i dont have any windows to the left of the door, so it seems like the best way to swing it. On the right side is the wheel arch and wall space for an outside light. So ill keep it hinged on the left.
Davo

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Davo7th and Rattles,

I agree with Rattles comments if you have a choice. The door on our van is hinged on the right. A few years ago we arrived at a location after a couple of hours travel, only to find that the door was fully open and resting against the side wall. Fortunately the door was totally undamaged, and none of our belongings had fallen out through the open door. It appears that I probably hadn’t latched the door properly at our last stop. If the door was hinged on the left, the air passing the van as we travelled probably would have kept the door shut, or at least semi-closed, as Rattles suggested.

One other factor that doesn’t apply in Davo7th’s case is that on an older style van with a heavily curved roof line, a door hinged on the left would probably snag the awning if the awning follows the roof line.

Don Ricardo