Hold down latches

We have a 1998, 3124SL and saw that one of the black hold down latches was bent. About 6 months ago, I ordered a replacement for $30-40 and had to use it when 1 broke. The new latch is much larger and heavier. You do have to move the locking bar mounted to the underside of the trailer top by about 1/2 inch for the new latch to catch (drill needed). Even though larger, the bolt mounting holes are the same for the latch portion. Since the factory has apparently seen the need to double the size and weight of these latches, could they not give us older TrailManor owners a break on the price? I have seen one TrailManor on the road with the new latch and it's latch was painted white. All the lighter weight latches that I have seen are black.

John,
We picked up our used, 1999 TM 3124SL in Seattle this past April. On the trip south back to our Central Valley of California I noticed that the main latch holding down the driver's side of the front section was attached by one screw only to the underside of the roof section. The second screw was hanging loosely from the hole but had not fallen out on to the highway. When we got home, I found that the loose screw had stripped the threads of the thin aluminum sheet making up the lower edge of the roof section. This aluminum edge appeared to be about 3/32" in thickness. Since there is a foam core above the aluminum edge, the threads in the thin aluminum sheet are all that holds the latch on to the underside of the roof section. In my opinion this is too weak an attachment method since the torsion bars exert considerable force on the latches in the trailer's closed position. My temporary solution was the fabrication of a 3-hole plate that's longer than the latch's base plate. I welded a pin into the plate's middle hole, which is aligned with the hole containing the loose screw. The third hole, which is on the part of the plate extending beyond the latch's base, required a new hole drilled and threaded into the aluminum edge. The plate then was screwed over the base plate with two screws; the pin fitting in the middle hole keeps the latch in alignment. This is only a temporary solution because I anticipate that the threads will be stripped out in the future as I open and close the roof sections. In the future, when I can find the time, my permanent solution will be to insert some "Rivnuts" into the bottom edge of the roof sections and fabricate some latches with 3 or 4 holes in their bases. This combination will make it unlikely that the latches will ever pull out again.