How many times has this happened to you? You are traveling down the road on your trusty old RV but then you accidentally hit a slight bump which made all of your drawers and cabinet doors suddenly open. If you are looking for ways on how to keep RV drawers closed while you are traveling then you are in the right place.
You might think that this is not a big deal but there are times when drawers fly off their tracks and throw all their contents every which way in the RV. Now, think if that were to happen to your cutlery drawer. In this article, you will be learning a couple of neat tricks to help you keep your cabinets stay put during your long RV trips.
Ways to Keep RV Drawers Closed?
Temporary Fixes
Here are some easy fixes that you can do when you do not have much time left before you have to embark on your journey and if you do not want to drill any holes or screw stuff into your cabinets and possibly ruin their look.
1. Use bungee cords to tie drawer handles together – If you do not want to drill holes in your cabinets or you do not have the time to replace your old latches with newer, more secure ones, then you can use a simple bungee cord.
You can thread this through the handles of the drawers and secure them at the back. This will prevent your drawers from flying open when you hit a bump on the road. Do take note that this works only on drawers that are on top of each other. To secure individual drawers, you will need separate bungee cords.
Aside from drawers, you can also wrap bungee cords around cabinets so they will not accidentally open, too. Bungee cords are great because they do not put too much pressure on your cabinets and they have built-in hooks so you do not have to tie them in knots.
2. Keep them in place with a tightly rolled up carpet – If the problematic drawers are on the bottom of your cabinets, you can use a tightly rolled up carpet to keep them in place.
Just wedge the carpet against the drawer and it should stop it from opening. If you do not have a carpet small enough, you can use a beach towel in pretty much the same way.
3. Use magnets – If you have a couple of magnets lying around the house, even the ones that you use on your fridge then you can use them to keep your drawers closed. Using a hot glue gun, fix two or three small magnets along the inside edges of the drawers and a small strip of sheet metal on the side of the cabinet that meets the drawers.
Keep in mind that unless you are using strong neodymium magnets, the magnets will not be strong enough to hold back heavy drawer contents from rolling around and pushing the drawer open. Make sure that you do not place loose heavy items in your drawers. Secure them from moving about by putting more items in the drawer.
4. Use Velcro strips – These Velcro strips are much stronger than magnets. Just make sure that the hook and loop patches will make contact with each other when you close the drawer. If you want a stronger bond, use more Velcro strips.
5. Put heavy items at the back – When placing items in your RV drawers, place the heaviest items at the back. Distributing them towards the back will help a lot in keeping the drawer from sliding out. Also, pack the items close together so they will not have a lot of room to move.
Speaking of drawer contents, it will be better if you do not place heavy items in the drawers. Put them in plastic bins instead. If you do not have plastic bins, empty cardboard boxes will do. You can also place your items in plastic bags and hang them on the doors using plastic hooks.
6. Use a rubber non-slip matting – To prevent drawer items from sliding around, place a rubber non-slip matting inside the drawers. This is best used for your utensil drawers. The rubber mat will keep the items inside the drawer in place.
7. Avoid overloading the drawers – You should never overload RV drawers. Unlike your drawers back home, the contents of your RV are constantly in motion. This is the reason why you should never put heavy items in the drawers or cabinets in your RV unless they are secured in place.
Permanent Solutions
If you have time to spare and you have a bit of DIY skills, here are some of the things that you can try.
1. Install strong magnetic latches – These fancy latches have two parts: one part attaches to the drawer and the other on the cabinet body. Unlike using plain magnets, these do not just rely on the strength of the magnets alone.
They also have mechanical latches to keep the drawers from flying open. Even though these latches are quite strong, they do have load limits, so be careful not to overload the drawers.
2. Install child-safety latches – If there are young children in your family, then you should double-down on the child-safety latches. Instead of using just one per drawer, use two if they are not that strong.
One thing that you need to take note of when going this route is that safety latches still allow the drawers to open up a teensy bit, so do not put small loose items in the drawers as they might still fall out.
Securing the Other Items in your RV
Your drawers are just some of the things that you need to secure in place in your RV before you peel out of your driveway. Here are some of the other things that you need to take into consideration and how to deal with them properly.
Securing the Contents of your Fridge
How many times have you opened the RV fridge door after a long trip only to have the contents come falling out? If you do not want to spend the rest of your camping trip eating trail mix and canned beans, here are some of the ways that you can prevent the contents of your RV fridge from rolling around while you drive.
Put all your foods in plastic containers – Do remember that you will be driving down the road in your RV and roads are rarely smooth and level, so putting food items in bowls is not a good idea. Place all foods in plastic containers with lids, preferably the thick ones featuring latches on the lids so that they are more secure.
Place fruits and vegetables in plastic nets – This will prevent them from rolling about in the fridge. When you stop the fruits from rolling around, you also prevent them from getting all bruised and mushy. Do not use plastic bags as the gases emitted by fruits and veggies will cause them to go bad much faster.
Pack the food items in your freezer close together – Doing this will not only prevent the contents from moving around. This will also make the freezer operate more efficiently.
Use “refrigerator bars” – These nifty little gadgets are great for keeping the contents of your fridge from moving and sliding around when you are driving. These are like small telescoping curtain rods with rubber feet at each end.
You just need to extend them enough that they fit snug inside your fridge. Push the bar against the contents so that they will not move around. These bars will not get loose unless you purposely take them out. Always make sure that you securely latch the refrigerator door before you go on your trip, too.
Securing your Countertops
You do not necessarily have to clear out your counters. You can use those non-slip rubber mats to keep everything in place. However, there are some things that you might need to reposition a bit, like the toaster. You need to unplug it and put it on its side on the mat so that there’s more surface area in contact with it. This will help keep the appliance in place.
Securing your Windows
Unless you have a brand-new RV, the window latches might not work as well as they used to. A quick and easy fix for this is to cut wooden dowels long enough to fit into the tracks of the windows when closed.
Aside from preventing the windows from accidentally opening when you are on the road, this will also prevent thieves from forcibly opening the windows and partaking of your belongings.
Conclusion
It is not enough that you throw in all of your stuff in your RV and just drive away on your trip. You also have to know how to keep RV drawers closed as well as secure the other loose items inside. You need to plan carefully so that your possessions will not get thrown inside your RV and make a mess.
Keeping the drawers in your RV from flying open is of utmost importance as these are where you will store your kitchen knives and other sharp utensils. These are things that you do not want to be shaking and jiggling inside your RV.
Using the tips mentioned above, you can say goodbye to your drawers acting like they are being opened by poltergeists.
Before you go, make sure to check out these related posts to other RV safety products:
- List of most trusted door locks for your RV.
- RV camera and alarm to protect your RV from thieves.
- RV CO detector and fire extinguisher.
Hi, I am Dane Heldt, a full-time RVer since 2016. I am always passionate about building and joining an RV community where people share their love for RV lives. This blog is a dream of mine, as I can finally share my experiences to help people who want to start living differently. So, feel free to reach out to me!