Dec. 2021 – Kitchen drawer
The wide drawer under the refer is where I keep my big pans and because they are a tad heavy, the drawer has started to come apart. There’s only some headless brads holding it together so I wanted to make it a bit more sturdy for the long haul as I’m likely to keep this RV another 10 years or so. Unless I move to Europe. Dunno yet.
Anyway, here’s some pictures. First, checked out the hole where it lives. Making sure the plastic rail holders in the back are still solid and unbroken. Slamming the drawer around in frustration when the drawer isn’t closing right often breaks these. But these are in good shape. So are the rails here and the mates on the drawer itself.
And then…pulled it out and set it up on the counter so I could work on it. This pic is after I’d repaired it. What I found were there were several seams that were opening up where the brads have pulled free. But I caught it in time so they were all straight, just not all the way tight, so I could glue and pound the sides and back together.
After resetting the bottom panel into the slots, especially in the back where it had fallen out, I added carpenters glue to all the seams.
Here’s what the OEM did originally with industrial glue…which has all dried out and no longer holds the frame together. I tried pealing it up but that was too much of a chore so I let the residual glue be…
Drilled small holes in all four corners and two between the rear panel and the base to prevent that wide base sheet from slipping out again. It needed something to hold it in place for sure. Eased the assembly all together with glue on all the seams and hammered it back together nice and solid. Then I installed small wood screws in each hole while the glue dried. So now I don’t need to depend on those small brads to hold the thing together.
And here’s how I held the frame together while the glue was drying. The screws probably would have been enough to do that job, but, this bungee helped. If I have it come apart again in the future, I’ll add more screws. They are small enough that they don’t interfere with the operation of the drawer.
So that’s how I fixed the large drawer under the refer. Should work right for years to come.
Bedroom Drawer: [Jan. ’18]
My RV is the type that has the bed that runs N-S and the multi-closet assembly is in the drivers side bedroom slide instead of the bed like in many other RVs. For over a year, I drove merrily from RV park to RV park without a care of this area. Extending the bedroom slide after setup each time. Then one day after arriving in Mexico, and after setup, extended the bedroom slide, and hear a sickening crunch! And it’s the bed’s side cabinet drawer. Crunched up. Broken wood and a bent metal drawer slide. Apparently, I’d hit a bump that knocked the drawer out of the end cabinet next to the slide and it was hiding from view with the slide retracted. Nuzzled up against the side of the slide. As the slide extended, the slide surround grabbed it and CRUNCH!
Well, that’s not good. I’d not so quickly released the Retract/Extend switch when I heard the noise and the drawer got scrunched pretty bad. Nothing else was damaged. But it was bad enough that I took the metal slide piece from one side of the drawer to a metal shop and had them straighten it for me after I’d been unsuccessful in my attempt. Then I found a carpenter, turned out to be a young man who worked at the RV park with his wife. She did the check in and stuff, he did handyman stuff.
He did a great job rebuilding the drawer for me. And though he miss measured so it lost around 1/4″ in width, I was satisfied and put it all back together in the cabinet. And less than two weeks later, back in the US, it got crunched again. Dammit!
Well, anyway, here’s some pictures of the damaged a 2nd time drawer…the slide didn’t suffer any damage.
I know it doesn’t look that bad, but that’s because I took this set of pictures of the good side to publish on RV.net to see if anyone knows the part number. Winnebago was no help. It’s the other side that’s all crunched, wood broken and split, and the metal slide all bent.I have decided that the latching device I got won’t do the job because it’s too long. I need something else that isn’t so obtrusive. I am thinking magnets._
Bouncing the drawer out is apparently going to be a regular thing, so I’m going to have to get a latch for it.
Oct. 2020: Well, it happened again. I was pulling in the slide to make it easier to get to the water compartment and I scrunched the drawer again. Dammit. And I bought latches for it too. Just haven’t gotten around to installing. Doh!
Dec. 2021: Finally got around to working on this drawer again. But, when I started work on it, I discovered that the last time caused a severe bend in the metal rail on the right side of the drawer. So I had to remove it and hammer it back into shape. Years ago I tried to find the rails after the first time it was bent and the drawer is so small that it’s a custom piece, and Winnebago wants a fortune for it. So I was disappointed that the rail had been bent again!
Well, the hammering I did on it seemed to straighten it enough so it sort works but it’s still loose in the cabinet so I’m off to find something magnetic to hold it closed when the RV gets bounced around on the road.
I have decided that the plastic latching device I got back in Jan. ’19 won’t do the job because it’s too long. I need something else that isn’t so obtrusive. I am thinking magnets.
The drawer was in good condition this time, none of the wood was damage like the first time because I noticed it in time to stop the slide.