flimsy drawer bottom fix

[Roddor]

I found many of the large drawers in RVs have flimsy bottoms that bow with any weight. I thought I would share a fix that one of my RV friends showed me. First take the drawer out, flip it over and make sure the bottom sheet is in all in the grooves of the guides on the sides, front and back if slotted. Then take a hot glue gun and run a bead all the way around the bottoms seams of the drawer inside corners between sides, fronts and back. I often put a reinforcing wood slat in the middle of the draw bottom if its a big drawer or flimsy. Hot glue between the bottom and the wood reinforcing slat. Put a nail or screw in each end of the slat into the drawer front and back. Also hot glue the edges of the slat. Often times we will use wood paint stirring sticks, that you can often get for free. I just did the drawers in my MH, before any of them broke. The center support is newly added in the picture and they help stiffen the drawer bottom. Hope this helps anyone with the same issue.

[WanderMore]

Great tip & nice job! I’ve seen many members of the RV community trying to store 10 pounds of sugar in 5 pound bags then complain about manufacturers lack of quality when things like drawers fail.

[enjoytheparade]

Gr8 idea! Thx.

[mdundes]

We had a similar issue- some bowls and cookware proved too much for the bottom panel. We probably over reinforced it..

[Theb2b]

My fix is a bit more complicated but then again I enjoy building cabinets and drawers. Pull the draw out, break it down into it's parts then widen the dado groove for the drawer bottom and replace it with 1/4" plywood. Finally put the drawer back together. If the box is a butt joint I will put dado's in the sides and back and glue and screw, I end up with a drawer that is lot more ridged then the factory version.

But this is my idea of .