Drawer won't stay closed - tore out slide mounts

[JRK]

I have the Elite I. Middle drawer is the largest drawer. It won't remain shut while driving. Is there a more secure locking system available?

I have been traveling for 5 weeks. No real issues until 2 weeks into the trip I found the drawer had not only come open and had fallen onto the floor, but it had ripped loose the drawer slides from their "mounts" (#6 x 1/2" wood screws, two per slide). There isn't much wood thickness for the slide screws to purchase, but I used 4 screws per slide. The next day when the drawer fell out, the slides remained in place. I now use duct tape to keep the drawer in place while driving until I figure out how to keep the drawer locks functioning, or find decent drawer locks.

I can feel the difference in the drawer locks - the 2 smaller drawers have a more secure lock when I push them in as compared to the middle drawer. It may have weakened, but not sure how? I don't have it overloaded, I think. LIghtweight pot and pan, miscellaneous stuff, a bottle or two, dishwashing liquid.

Otherwise, no issues with the little Oliver, although I am anticipating door hinges to begin failing. Bathroom door has become  somewhat tweaked.

Joh 

[SeaDawg]

The bath door always looks "tweaked" if we're not quite level, which for us is common. It's still hung in there, 14 seasons in. Hope yours does, too.

Our drawers in 2008-9 didn't have the "soft close."  When we had the soft closers installed,  our bottom drawer quit opening on its own. Weird . I think that's standard, now . New concept, ten years ago.

The ikea drawer we installed under the fridge stayed closed for a year. I'm duct taping it for travel, now. I'm going to install some kind of marine latch though, by summer's end. It's tiresome. 

[mossemi]

If the drawer latch looks like this you may be able to replace it with a stronger pull.  They widely available in 3 lb. to 10 lb. pulls.  The service department may be of help.

Mossey

 

[John E Davies]

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2151-how-to-galley-drawer-travel-straps/

This setup has been working 100% reliably for five seasons, as long as I don’t forget to use it.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[JRK]

And now the bottom drawer guides/glides have ripped out of their mount. When I opened the bottom drawer this evening, it fell into my hands. The left drawer glide remained attached to the "wood" that it was mounted to, but the "wood" fractured and pulled out. I will need to figure out a way to replace the wood so I can mount the drawer glide to it. 

I have been told that the problems with the Oliver are the same as with any RV - the appliances are the point of failure. BS. I have had no issues with the appliances, but the Oliver Corporate choices that have been made, the workmanship and the materials chosen for use, such as a sheet of veneer, 1/16" sheet of birch into which to mount the drawer glides, is rather disappointing. The road along I80 did not help, as it is extremely rough at 70 mph. I am exceptionally disappointed at the choices Oliver made and the workmanship that has been shown. There is no way this should have made it through the manufacturing process to use this light wood on which to mount the drawers.

The drawer did not come loose, it did not fall out, but was held in place by the latch. When I pulled it open, the drawer glide had ripped out a piece of the wood to which it was mounted. Not sure how it did that, but it did. 

Multiple similar issues with other items - the choice of materials, such as a faucet hose that is plastic, allowing it to kink when there is a choice to use a stainless steel mesh hose that will not kink. Does not make sense to me to use obviously cheap, cost saving materials when we are supposed to have purchased a "luxury" trailer, as the advertising and sales people claim. My Coleman tent trailer didn't have as many similar issues.

Frustrated this evening.

John

[JRK]

Thanks Mike,

That is what I was looking for - I will find a more resistant pull for the middle drawer. Perfect answer.

John

[SeaDawg]

Thanks, Mike. You've posted that before, and I forgot about it. This time, I  put the 5 lb latches in my amazon cart before I  forget again. 

 

[JRK]

Got a call from Oliver yesterday. There are also 15 and 20 pound latches. The drawer by itself is 7 pounds (I weighed it today), so just a few items in the drawer puts it over 10 pounds. 

Oliver said that there are issues with the drawer latches allowing the drawers to open. They are looking into the problem.

John

[Tim Shig]

John,

Was there any resolution to the drawer slide screws tearing out?

[Rivernerd]

I, too, would like to know if there has been a resolution from Oliver to the drawer slide screws tearing out, and the "drawer latches allowing the drawers to open."  We have an Elite II on order, and I am interested to learn if Oliver is "beefing up" the mounting system, the latches, or both.

[John E Davies]

On 7/24/2021 at 9:01 PM, JRK said:

Oliver said that there are issues with the drawer latches allowing the drawers to open. They are looking into the problem.

LOL…… This is ironic because this has been an ongoing issue for just about forever. They need to install steel front mounted push button latches that do not rely on feeble spring tension. At some point they will get tired of complaints and redesign the cabinet and drawers….. I had to duct tape my rear table drawer closed the first day after delivery, I found it sitting up against the bathroom door along with all its contents. That was before they started using positive acting latches. The galley drawers never got them….

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

[Imelda]

I recently had to get all the drawers out under the sink so I could replace a leaking faucet. To get more access to under the sink I unscrewed the wooden slats that hold drawer latches. When I put them back on again after replacing the faucet, I had a hell of a time getting the middle drawer to latch even though I had marked where to put the slats back. So what I did was to take the middle drawer back out, take the wood slat with latch of again, then put the drawer back in so it was flush, aligned the slat with the latch latching the drawer and then screwed the slat back again so it was latching. So far so good. It's latching again. I would still like to replace the 2 lower drawer under the sink with cabinet doors but right now I have way to many projects going so I will put this on the back burner for now.

[SeaDawg]

@Imelda, you shouldn't have had to remove the slats to remove the drawers.

Ours are weirdly "tricky," but we've never had to remove slats and  fasteners to remove the drawers. The trickiest is the European hardware.

I'm sorry you went through this. 

If you used the same holes, you may need to use larger screws in the future.  At the very least, some toothpicks, and adhesive.

I'm always amazed at all the "stuff" you tackle on your own. Keep up the good fight. You're a trooper.  

Ps we run our elite tire pressure 55 to 60, on st tires. No issues with drawers flying open, on crazy mountain roads. I've  nicknamed my husband  mario Andretti. Me, I drive a lot slower. 

 

[Imelda]

Thank you  - I try. Yes, you are right I didn't need to take the slats out to get the drawers out but I needed more access to under the sink to get the faucet out to replace it so I took them out. I should have put some super glue etc. per your suggestion on the screw holes on the slats to hold the drawers better in the long run. I may have to go back and do that in the future if they start flying out down the road.

Oliver told me 55psi on the Cooper tires I have but we were looking at the wear on the tires (just under 13K miles) and we were thinking they were wearing not uniform so I am going to bump then up to 60psi for my next trip.