Can you safely open your camper tailgate?

Having sold our 6 metre long, 3 metre high coachbuilt motorhome a few years back, our return to motorcaravaning, last July, in a Randger campervan, was a downsizing experience to which we are still adjusting.
 
The Randger is a pop top, based on a Fiat Talento van. Ours came with a bike rack already fitted to the tailgate to which we added a Fiamma Ultrabox. Even with the box empty, the tailgate struts became ineffective and getting to the boot area was a test of strength and flexibility to open and support the tailgate whilst reaching into the back of the van. The risk of serious injury from a free-falling tailgate meant that alternative support for the open tailgate was essential. I embarked on a search for updated gas struts but was unable to find any suitable for sale. So with a bit of thought and experimentation, I now have two supports fitted to the underside of the tailgate and I can, with more effort than I would like, open the tailgate, deploy the supports and work away in the boot.

My solution used a combination of an extending decorator's pole, bits of a swivelling mop head, a terry clip and a few screws. The whole assembly is something of a homage to Heath Robinson, but it works.

It would be more elegant to have gas struts with a higher Newton value fitted but the problem then might be that the test of strength and flexibility might arise when attempting to close rather than open the tailgate.

Has anyone else encountered this problem and managed to engineer a solution?