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elkhornsun's avatar
elkhornsun
Explorer
Jun 23, 2013

medicine cabinet

The plastic latch on our medicine cabinet broke off in the middle of a trip. Luckily it did not empty out everything into the bath area while we were driving.

I am now looking for a RV suitable medicine cabinet with a secure latch. All the ones for homes have a magnetic latch which is not going to suffice for use on the road. It also needs to be a surface mount and ideally a corner cabinet.

Does anyone know of a good source for such a cabinet?
  • How about just a new latch...Home Depot has a ton of latch options. You should be able to retrofit and make something work.
  • downtheroad wrote:
    How about just a new latch...Home Depot has a ton of latch options. You should be able to retrofit and make something work.


    X2

    What your are looking for is simply a replacement "catch" not "latch".

    One of THE very best "catches" I have found so far is a double roller. This one literally you will need a pry bar to open, it is that strong.

    ROLLER CATCH LINK
  • Poppy & Nana wrote:
    sold on amazonHow about a "baby latch"????


    I tried baby latches, while could work in a pinch they don't work as well as a purpose made catch.

    One of the downsides to baby latches is they allow the door to open some. This is to allow you to get a finger on the latch to open the door. This opening will allow small items to fall out the cabinet and what doesn't fall out will do so when you release the latch.

    I even had a couple of those baby latches come apart, needless to say I am not impressed with them and would not stake a babies life on them to keep young children out of cabinets...
  • I want the door to stay closed while driving down the road and have all the contents stay inside the cabinet. Home Depot and similar places sell latches for cabinets in a house where unless there is a tornado or an earthquake nothing is wrong with a simple magnetic latch. Obviously this type of latch is worthless on a mobile RV.

    The front door is mirror with a 3/8" metal trip and no place to drill holes to fasten a latch to it. Odd that the RV industry ignores the medicine cabinets but will do RV targeted plumbing and has done so for more than 40 years.

    The cabinet is a corner cabinet or I would be looking at marine supply options. Overall it is a major pain to have a 4-year old Lance camper with no support from the manufacturer. Next camper is not likely to be a Lance.
  • milo's avatar
    milo
    Explorer II
    elkhornsun wrote:
    All the ones for homes have a magnetic latch which is not going to suffice for use on the road.


    Why do you feel a magnetic latch won't suffice? . We replaced the OEM plastic cabinet (POC) with a Oak cabinet with a magnetic latch from Lowes. Been using it for now going on 6 1/2 yrs and it has never come open. Those magnetic latches are pretty strong + you could always add a second magnetic latch. Oh by the way, it matches the other cabinets.

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