Cabinet door and drawer repair - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

Neal and Bev · 02-22-2010, 05:37 PM

Some of the doors and drawers in our 2001 Hi-Lo have started to come apart from both use and abuse.

I bought a couple of long clamps and a $3 bottle of glue. I took the doors and drawers in the house and laid them on some cardboard to protect the floor.

I gently spread the loose joints apart and poured in some wood glue and then used a clamp to squeeze it tightly together. The next day I removed the clamp and WOW.. good as new

BTW.. the drawer over the fridge had completely fallen apart from being over loaded and now its stronger then ever.

I promise not to over load the drawers.
I promise not to over load the drawers.
I promise not to over load the drawers.

Neal

RCREYES · 09-21-2010, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neal and Bev

Some of the doors and drawers in our 2001 Hi-Lo have started to come apart from both use and abuse.

I bought a couple of long clamps and a $3 bottle of glue. I took the doors and drawers in the house and laid them on some cardboard to protect the floor.

I gently spread the loose joints apart and poured in some wood glue and then used a clamp to squeeze it tightly together. The next day I removed the clamp and WOW.. good as new

BTW.. the drawer over the fridge had completely fallen apart from being over loaded and now its stronger then ever.

I promise not to over load the drawers.
I promise not to over load the drawers.
I promise not to over load the drawers.

Neal

Neal, how are the drawers holding up? I took my 24T out this past weekend and two of my drawers popped out and need to be fixed. What did you do about the staples? Thanks!

JackandJanet · 09-22-2010, 12:33 AM

Interesting! Our trailer had no "drawers" at all until I added them. It just has cabinets with doors that pop open.

- Jack

Neal and Bev · 09-22-2010, 08:19 AM

The drawers and doors that we repaired are holding up great. No problems at all.

As far as the staples, on the joints that had come apart, I pulled the staples out, or cut them flush. Where we got so much strength was by glueing all... and I mean ALL of the joints in the drawers and doors. In particular, by glueing the panels into the doors, and the bottoms in the drawers. This added an incredable amount of strength to them.

We're very happy with the way these came out, they are actually more ridged then the ones that we didn't have to fix.

Neal

mwalk · 09-24-2010, 01:10 PM

Hi Neal and Bev,
I just purchased a 2005 17foot camper. It needs alot of repairs. I would like to talk to someone about this camper. My family is very excited to go camping in this camper so am needing to get it fixed as soon as possible.
I'm in the Nashville area and don't know anything about Hi Los. Email me at micah.walker@rocketmail.com.
I saw your post about your cabinet drawers. I can help you with any trim issues or advice. Thanks, Micah Walker 615-852-9172

JackandJanet · 09-24-2010, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mwalk

Hi Neal and Bev,
I just purchased a 2005 17foot camper. It needs alot of repairs. I would like to talk to someone about this camper. My family is very excited to go camping in this camper so am needing to get it fixed as soon as possible.
I'm in the Nashville area and don't know anything about Hi Los. Email me at micah.walker@rocketmail.com.
I saw your post about your cabinet drawers. I can help you with any trim issues or advice. Thanks, Micah Walker 615-852-9172 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting**************615-852-9172******end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Message sent. We have a 2007 17 ft trailer and I doubt there were any changes.

- Jack

RCREYES · 04-29-2011, 01:36 PM

One more question. I had two of my drawers pop out during towing. Is there any kind of adjustment to lock them in place or did I just not lock them into place correctly?

JMDoering · 05-02-2011, 11:50 PM

RC,

Good question. Unfortunately I don't have a good solution, just sympathy.

Every once in a blue moon, after we've bounced over a particularly gnarly bump or dip, we have a drawer or two pop out. Its not enough of a routine event for us to really worry about. I've come to somewhat expect it whenever we bounce hard.

Jim

RichR · 05-03-2011, 08:49 AM

We have a drawer that likes to act up now and then. We found that if we loop a bungee cord from the handle and around the handle on the drawer below it the drawer stays shut. Maybe not the best fix but it was quick and cheap.

JackandJanet · 05-03-2011, 11:08 AM

I lied earlier!

I recall now we DO have one drawer, very small to the right of the refrigerator at the top. And, it DID used to open up during travel.

My solution was to install a magnetic catch at the top of that drawer to help hold it closed. So far, it's never come open again. I've also added additional latches on the lower cabinet doors to help keep them closed too.

We also use a bungee cord across the refrigerator door when traveling. It used to open all the time before I did that.

(My brain cells must be fading more rapidly than ever!)

- Jack

RCREYES · 05-03-2011, 02:43 PM

I may have to go with the bungee cord idea. Thanks for the tips.