Cabinet making 101 problems

[CarlB]

This weekend I had to repair yet another horrible design that fails when subjected to real world usage. Keep in mind, My unit has seen some decent usage as it is a 2015 and currently has >30,000 miles on it, with a third of that being a trip to Alaska.

Problem #1
Dinette benches. The support system under the cushion is very weak and makes use of staples to keep pieces together that may be subject to 400lb of stress or more when two folks sit down.

First issue - The lightweight panel that covers most of the storage access under the benches has a piece of solid wood that will pull away and not offer the intended strength. When mine separated, I added some glue to have a more uniform bond across the entire board, and clamped it back together. As the skin of the panel is a lightwieght luan, this may not hold indefinitely.

Second issue - Rather than use the metal bracket that holds the seatbelts, a strip of plywood with a piece of 1x3ish pine is used to provide the support for the back of the seat panel. Not only are the two pieces joined only by staples, but the staples are only driven straight down from the top. this allows the pine that is carrying the actual load to pull away from the plywood as it flexes. As I am a big fan of glue AND mechanical fastening, I applied glue to the two pieces and screwed them together. One bench had received just glue on this piece and is holding up well, but as I had the screws out I added a handful to the piece I repaired last summer.

Problem #2
Cabinet over the sofa uses what appears to be a form of MDF for the face frame. MDF is not good with moisture nor does it do well with holding screws that have vibrations or stress on them.

Issue #1 The door hinges have a single screw that is not much longer than an inch to hold them into the top, and if the door is mishandled in any way these will pull loose and work the screw looser over time. The springs inside the stays will also help put unwelcome tension on the screws as they back out, making it even worse. I am still noodling on an intermediate fix.

Issue #2 The cabinet divider/support is held in place with pocket screws. The spring loaded cabinet door holders apply downward pressure on this joint and have caused the pocket screws to pull free. Now I have a 1/8" to a 1/4" gap depending on conditions. I think this is something that will require a tear out and entire cabinet rebuild/redesign to combat and fix for good.

Anyone else noticed these issues or fixed them in different and novel ways?

[justman]

I've found most cabinet construction to be sub-par, especially with my experience with wood-working. I've always used wood glue with brads, because the glue creates a stronger surface bond than the brads. Bottom line, I think you can expect something thrown together in as little time as possible to cut corners, even though it only takes a few more seconds and about 2 cents of material to throw a bead of wood glue on.

If it were me, I'd fix it myself....so I can either blame myself for doing a bad job, or know it was done right. :-)

[Danno]

All these trailers are just consumer made junk. Designed to look good on the dealer floor, and designed to fail within 3 years so you have to buy another one.

[troutslayer]

I replaced the flimsy plywood bench seat tops with 3/8 ply and hinged them so I don't have to actually remove them in order to access the storage below. I have also used plenty of hardwood "splinters" in the cabinet hinge screw holes in order to tighten them up. I have a 5er so the design is different but appears that the problems are similar, if not the same