Cabin hooks from B&Q - is it me?

[David WE Roberts]

Just bought four sets of cabin hooks from B&Q to hold the shed doors open.

Nice, chunky galvanized things, but the hook part slopes outwards i.e. is less than a right angle to the main shaft. Not one dodgy hook as I have checked a second set and they are both the same.

The result is that when engaged, a small pressure against the door makes the hook slide up until it pops out.

The hook and staple are mounted at the same level (checked with wikipedia just in case there was something special about mounting cabin hooks but apparently not).

Is it just me, or is this a flawed design?

I am now trying to decide if I should attempt to bend the hook ends or just take them back. However taking them back costs time and money.

I think I'll bend them, but problem now is should I bow the shaft, which should be fairly easy to bend as it is long, or try and bend the hook over.

Any other suggestions?

Would something non-slip like plastic tubing give it more grip?

Cut a notch on the inside of the hook?

Cheers

Dave R

[The Medway Handyman]

I've always wondered about that. I think it must deliberate cos they all do the same.

[Bob Eager]

I've always thought it was so that as you push the hook down, it pulls the door in/back more snugly.

Roughen the inside surface of the hook and eye?

[polygonum]

Agreed! I decided that a bungee cord tie-back would be the best idea. Partner that they'd look horrible. Guess what?

[Dave Liquorice]

Cheap crap from China...

I'd bung it in a vice bash the end of the hook with an 'ammer to get it bent inwards a bit.

Bought a hasp the other day, the part with the hole for the padlock or pin is simply folded steel but the holes are obviously punched first then the folds done. The fold is out by nearly half the dia of the hole! All the ones they had in stock were the same in both zinc plated and painted...

[Andy Dingley]

Yes, they're cabin hooks. They're heavy enough to weigh themselves down, and they're supposed to hold a door tight against a frame to stop it rattling.

If you just want retention, then you want cupboard hooks, not cabin hooks, which are hook shaped to stop them bouncing open and also to have a bit of "over centre" action to encourage them to stay hooked. OTOH, if they're not getting bounced around, they won't go either way/

[Matty F]

Bend the hook more. I just made a hook for my garage door that is 3.6 metres wide. The wind force on the door can be strong. Naturally I bent the hook so that the door stays open with increasing force.

[Chris Hogg]

and they rust in a year or three, or at least they do down here in the salty sea air!

[Paul - xxx]

I use them for the sheds at our school, when fitting them all I do is raise the height of the hook relative to the plate such that the hook points a tad backwards, it's far easier than bending them.

This also helps keep the kids from easily shutting the doors as you need a positive force to lift the hook out, they can't just be flicked up.

[Bob Eager]

Bloody hell! How big is the door? .-)

[Matty F]

Rephrasing, the door is 3.6 metres wide. The hook is about 1 metre long, in order to reach a nearby post. The other door is 2.4 metres wide.

[Bob Eager]

I was joking, hence the smiley! But it's still a big hook!

[Owain]

Doesn't matter how big the hook is, if it still slips out of the staple!

Owain

[David WE Roberts]

To try and cover various helpful suggestions:

I tried moving the staple up and down relative to the hook and this made no difference.

In the end I gripped the last bit of the hook in a metalwork vice (stood on a bit of wood because I still don't have a bench) and belted the shaft with a club hammer. This turned the hook inwards with a nice curve which now holds in the staple just as I would have expected it to in the first place. Downside is that I have taken some of the surface treatment off the end of the hook and also the shaft where I belted it with a hammer.

Still nor convinced any hook should pop out that easily.

The quality of stuff from B&Q seems to have gone downhill a long way since last year. The bolts I fitted to the other door are an order of magnitude better quality than the ones I got this week which are amazingly flimsy. The cabin hooks seem to be very cheap and nasty as well with the brackets being folded and punched metal.

Ah, well, even the Chinese can't keep producing quality for peanuts.

Cheers

Dave R

[Owain]

Perhaps B&Q are getting stingy with the peanuts.

Owain