Cabinet Latches - Montana Owners Club

daneboy · 10-26-2005, 03:23 PM

We have a new 06 2955RL. On our first trip, three of the cabinet doors came open and the contents landed on the floor. I've planned on adding an extra latch on each cabinet door. Do you have any better ideas? You'd think as long as Keystone has been making trailers they'd have a better system.
Jerry

campbud · 10-26-2005, 03:34 PM

Did you have items that were heavy and shifted when you were traveling? I try to put light things in the cabinets in the slide and in the rear by the chairs. (blankets,pillows, etc..)I have never had one open up yet but yes you would think that Keystone and all manufactures would have a better system...Congratulations on you new 06 2955RL!

Parrothead · 10-26-2005, 03:37 PM

Jerry
We put velcro strips on all our cabinet doors that face each other and I don't put things in the singles that might get broken. Doesn't take long and sometimes we leave them on until we need to get into that particular cabinet. The only time one has opened (and the velcro caught it from opening all the way) was when I put something on top of something else and the top thing fell against the door. The rear of a unit bounces more so it is better to put breakables in the front or over the middle. The latches on our doors and drawers are far superior to the previous unit (not a Keystone product).
Happy trails....................

drifus · 10-26-2005, 03:57 PM

On my other camper I used curtain rods from Wal-Mart inside the frame of the cabinet. Worked well on my 5200 mile journey.

ols1932 · 10-26-2005, 04:20 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by daneboy

We have a new 06 2955RL. On our first trip, three of the cabinet doors came open and the contents landed on the floor. I've planned on adding an extra latch on each cabinet door. Do you have any better ideas? You'd think as long as Keystone has been making trailers they'd have a better system.
Jerry

Jerry:
Our cabinets all have "C" type handles through which I pass a 3/8" wooden dowel and use twisties to hold them in place. Has worked for us for 5 years. Before I did that, I had made a panic stop and everything in the back cabinets all ended up on the floor. Since then we've never lost anything. The length of each dowel depends upon the distance between the first and last handle that it has to reach.

Bill and Ann · 10-27-2005, 01:44 AM

We use the clips that go through the handles. They are supposed to be used to keep small children out of the cupboards but they work for us. They are white plastic and look like 2 U's that fit together, one through each handle. They are in the section that have all the neat stuff that you can use for the safety of small children. We got ours at Home Depot.

Dustytuu · 10-27-2005, 03:46 AM

Don tightened the latchs on some of our kitchen cabinets. None have come opened since. He used a screw driver. Don't know exactly what he did but will find out. The cabinets that have the slide out drawers was the two that were coming opened. None have opened since he made the latches tighter.

Congratulations on your new unit!

tollmann · 10-27-2005, 11:37 AM

We use the bungy cord with the ball on it. These are just short loops and they work well. On the drawers in the kitchen we just drop a yardstick thru the handles. You can also use the yardstick on the cabinet doors that are side by side.

bob n pam · 10-27-2005, 04:27 PM

We use the velcro and baby lock method. So far, so good.

Parrothead · 10-27-2005, 04:52 PM

If you don't have a yardstick a small dowel rod works also. We had to do that on our previous 5er which was a rear kitchen.
Happy trails.....................

sreigle · 10-28-2005, 03:52 PM

It is possible the items inside are heavy enough to push the doors open.

The rest of the time it often is just misalignment of the latches. The latch on the door is the male side. The receiver on the cabinet frame is the female side. The female latch has two springloaded sides. When the male is exactly centered with the female you get spring pressure on both sides and that holds the door closed pretty well. But if the male is misaligned with the female you may have very little or no spring pressure on one side. The door will easily pop open in that situation.

We originally had several that liked to come open. Simply readjusting the latches solved that problem and we've had no problems with the doors (see caveat below) in the last 30,000 or so miles.

The caveat is we have one cabinet, below the TV where the fireplace would go, that has around 300 dvd's in it. The carts for those dvds are heavy and will push those doors open. Those doors are held closed with a strap when we are traveling. None of our other doors are strapped.

I don't know if adjusting the latches will solve the problem for you but it sure did for us.

jrgwdenner · 10-28-2005, 05:25 PM

Our doors have stayed closed pretty well when we're traveling, even on our drive through Alaska and Canada. I did find that it is imperative to do a systematic, last minute check (tap) of all the doors just before we put the slides in. They will usually stay closed if they are closed properly. Even our refrigerator door will come open if it's not clicked shut. Packing is important because any door will open if heavy items shift. All the ideas for securing the cabinet doors are good as are the other suggestions. We haven't had to use velco....YET!

daneboy · 10-28-2005, 05:54 PM

Thanks for all the great ideas regarding cabinet latches. This is the first forum I've ever been on and it's super with all you folks giving out such good information.
Thanks Again,
Jerry

mobilrvn · 10-28-2005, 06:21 PM

We use bungie cords. It is really stupid when you think about it. While we were at the factory in Goshen letting them try to fix the multitude of problems we had, we visited the RV Hall of Fame/Museum in Elkhart. They had RVs built in the '30s which had positive lock cabinet catches. It is just a matter of using the cheapest products available in construction.

Fordzilla · 10-28-2005, 08:07 PM

We put some non skid material in the bottom of all the cabinets to keep things from sliding around. It worked in our previous 5'er which had a rear kitchen. So far all has stayed put in the Montana as well. We picked it up at a dollar store and a couple of differant widths. I put it under the bedroom television, in all the cupboards, all the closet floors. It keeps everything from moving around.

jrgwdenner · 10-29-2005, 08:53 AM

We use the non-skid material, too, Fordzilla, as well as the bars. We souped things up for our trip to the far north, based on their reputation for bumpy roads. And they were bumpy, but we had very little shifting. Maybe the TrailAir hitch helped but for the most part, we were very happy with the way the Montana held up on the bumps. So far we haven't had the nerve to stop using all the precautions since we don't know when we come across a bad bump.

houseof many dogs · 10-31-2005, 02:06 PM

We had the same problem. finally went to Ace hardware and bought two bayonet type latches.(kind of like those used to hold the divider door in the bedroom open on the 3295) Cost $2.99 ea. Mounted the latch to the drawer and drilled a 3/8 hole in the cabinet frame. There is plenty of clearance for the doors to close.
Got the brass ones so they match the other hardware. Works great, no bungees and looks good too.

Dustytuu · 10-31-2005, 04:21 PM

We also had some problems with the doors coming open, the ones that have the slide out shelf. Don adjusted the latches and they have not came open while traveling yet.

Oops forgot about posting before what we did for cabinet doors. Must be having a senior moment!

nutts · 11-06-2005, 03:34 PM

we put cabinet locks on the doors. heres a link that will help.
http://www.netkidswear.com/tweetbirbabl.html

good luck, jim

Kathi · 11-06-2005, 04:28 PM

You can get those locks for all the cabinets at Target. I bought a ton of them and only spent about $15. total. I bought xtras also.
http://www.netkidswear.com/tweetbirbabl.html

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