Like many mid-90s caravans, Penny has a central chest with an extending tabletop – and it has seen better days. The two drawers have developed saggy bottoms in their old age and now bind on the runners. There’s a dent in the top surface that’s hard to fix invisibly, and a bit of flappy veneer on the front face that’s easier to tackle – mainly because it’s hidden 99% of the time. The whole unit just needed cheering up.
It may surprise readers who are thinking of buying a used caravan that tourers are no longer the work of fine cabinet makers. The drawers have a wooden front, a 3mm plywood base and three snap-fit plastic sections comprising the two sides and the back. This is perfect as a mixture of cost, ease of build on an assembly line and low weight, but for maintenance and adjustment, options are pretty limited.
The problem with the drawers in my 1998 Bailey caravan was pretty simple. Over 25 years of service, the plastic sides had slightly distorted – probably a result of sticky runners making them harder to open. This allowed the plywood base to drop out of the support channel along the back, and this, in turn, caused the unsupported base to sag. Both top and bottom drawers had failed in the same way.
My first thought was whether or not the drawers could be disassembled, glued or straightened and then put back together. After a quarter of a century, however, I decided those plastic press-fittings would not take kindly to being forced apart and would likely explode. I decided to work more cautiously.
On inspection, the plastic sides, which are also the channels for the drawer runners, were still pretty straight. The distortion was all in the rear section. Here, the rear section was bowed outward, causing the drawer bottoms to pop out.
We considered glue, but didn’t trust it to hold long-term. Instead, we opted for something more mechanical. I picked up a length of 4mm threaded rod, nuts, washers and some threaded wood inserts. The drawer fronts are real wood, so they can hold a fixing.
By fixing a small piece of threaded rod to the drawer front, and feeding it through a 4mm hole in the back of the drawer, I could pull the back of the drawer into alignment by tightening a couple of nuts on the threads beyond the drawer’s back panel.
First, I removed the drawer handle to make it easier to work. After a bit of measuring, I got my caravan tool kit and drilled a 7mm hole into the back of the drawer front and drove in one of the threaded inserts with an Allen key, making sure it lined up with the back panel.
Then, after some more measuring to ensure good alignment front to back, I drilled a 4mm hole through the rear panel to be in line with the front panel fixing. Raiding my piles of useful rubbish in the garage, I found a length of car windscreen washer hose. This was perfect to slip over the threaded rod so we didn’t have sharp edges to snag items as they come in and out of the drawers. This was cut to length, and slipped over the threaded rod before fixing.
To pull everything square again, I ran the threaded rod through the rear hole, added a 4mm nut, and screwed the rod into the front fixing. Once it was in place, I marked the rod at the back panel, cut it to length with a junior hacksaw, then added a washer and a nut.
Tightening the nut pulled the drawer bottom back into its groove. Once the drawer alignment was nice and square again, I added a second nut behind the first to lock it all together, and a dab of thread sealant to stop it all popping apart in transit. We did the same fix on the other drawer too. The final improvement was a dab of furniture wax on the plastic runners. This meant the drawers now slide back and forth very smoothly once again.
Don’t miss how I fitted a caravan safe in my tourer either, to improve its security.
Top surface touch-ups
The final tidy-ups were all on the main centre chest cabinet. To fix the flappy veneer, we went for the simplest option. We mixed up some wood glue, squeezed it between the veneer and cabinet, and clamped it while the glue set. There was a slight rough edge where the split had occurred, but some careful sanding and a bit of furniture wax made it invisible enough for me.
The final job was trickier. The two dents on the centre chest’s top surface weren’t going to disappear without a visible scar, so we chose to disguise it instead. I filled it with the same flexible filler still knocking around from the earlier job.
A light rub-down gave us a smooth finish. Then we covered the surface using leftover film from last year’s worktop refurb. This is sold as a worktop covering vinyl, is very hard-wearing and available in pretty much any finish you can imagine. It is self-adhesive so as long as the surface is dry and clean, the backing paper can be peeled away and the film firmly pressed onto the surface.
A small squeegee is ideal for ensuring there are no bubbles and a flat surface is achieved. We trimmed the edge with a craft knife and our budget cheer-up was complete.
Once trimmed neatly with a sharp knife, the result was a marked improvement.
If you’re after a new addition to your tool kit, take a look at our pick of the best socket sets – they are an important piece of touring kit.
Future Publishing Limited, the publisher of Practical Caravan, provides the information in this article in good faith and makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Individuals carrying out the instructions do so at their own risk and must exercise their independent judgement in determining the appropriateness of the advice to their circumstances and skill level. Individuals should take appropriate safety precautions and be aware of the risk of electrocution when dealing with electrical products. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither Future nor its employees or agents shall have any liability in connection with the use of this information. You should check that any van warranty will not be affected before proceeding with DIY projects.
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