When I first started camping it was frustrating to explain what I needed when it came to repair or replacement of my RV hardware because here were so many things that fall into the category of RV Hardware. So I am going to try and help the new camper (like me a few years ago) to understand some of the different terminologies. I am not going to go into all of them in this particular article, but focus mostly on the interior hardware. In this explanation I will discuss RV hardware normally found in the hardware section in most RV catalogs beginning with RV Cabinet Hardware.

Cabinet Hardware-RV cabinet hardware would be cabinet latches, positive latches, push latches, and bunk latches.

RV Cabinet Latches- Latches usually requires touching, pulling, or pushing, but usually has one moving part.

RV Cabinet Catches –Again these require pushing or pulling but will have more moving parts. There are also many more catches than latches. Most of them are commonly known as barrel catches, roller catches, magnetic catches, bulldog catches, and concealed roller catches. These are primarily to keep the cabinet door closed while in travel.
RV Cabinet Hinges – These are pretty self-explanatory, however, there different types of hinges. In addition to finishes such as brass hinges, antique finished hinges, stainless steel, and/or brushed nickel, there are hinges that are free swinging, self-closing and self supporting.

RV Cabinet Door Struts — Cabinet door struts are mostly spring-loaded arms that keep the cabinet door raised when you open it, so that you don’t have to hold the door up as you are trying to remove or place articles in the cabinet. These struts are most commonly found on doors that raise horizontally. They’re very popular because they are user-friendly, at least most of the time.

Cabinet Drawer Hardware — Cabinet door hardware is pretty much limited to drawer slides sockets, drawer bumpers, drawer slide kits. The slides in sockets are available in plastic and metal. It’s important to remember that if you are purchasing parts for cabinet drawers you will usually need to know if it is for the left or the right side.

RV Window Hardware is the next segment and covers quite a few part numbers and part types due to the variety and quantity of window cranks with differing sizes and shapes. There are a number of RV manufacturers that supply window covering hardware, but for the most part window covering hardware can be purchased through your local RV dealership or from an online RV Parts Dealer store. The parts I am referring to are snaps, hooks, blind quieter’s, curtain tracks, snap tape, curtain hold-down’s, and curtains themselves.

RV Bed/ Door Gas Props — Gas props are used mainly for doors, bed lifts and compartment doors. Gas props when replaced need to be replaced with the correct one. This is important because they need to match the length, pounds that they will hold, and the height that they will extend to. Using the wrong prop can cause damage and injury to both the RV and yourself. Make sure if you need help in this area to ask for it. Often times if you’re replacing a gas prop you will need to replace the brackets as well. When securing them to the surface and you use the same holes, make sure not to strip it out even though you want it to be held tightly in place.

RV Compartment Door Hardware — This type of hardware can be frustrating. RV baggage door catches and latches can be found in different shapes and sizes. While the reality is there are only a few types, there are many styles. RV baggage door catches can have either squared or rounded ends and come in white, kind of white (called colonial white), beige, black, and chrome colors as well as stainless steel. The circumference of most RV compartment doors or RV baggage doors, which ever you decide to call them, is almost always the same but the length usually comes in four sizes. They also have two different ways to secure the baggage doors, keyed meaning you can lock them, or thumb blocks, which secures the door, but does not lock them.

RV Entry Door Hardware – Entry door hardware consists of grab handles, and entry door holders. Grab handles are mounted on the side of the door and helps one enter the RV more safely. Door holders are used to hold the door open securely. RV door holders come in different lengths, angles, colors, and styles. When replacing a RV door holder, it is easy to take off and put on, and also easy to identify what you have.

I think this is enough information for this article. I will cover some other RV hardware in future articles. They will be talking about awning hardware, window awning hardware, RV door locks, and other related RV hardware.

Author Bio: Dan Mercurio is President of Elite Search Engine Marketing. We provide quality marketing service for RV Hardware Dealers and RV Dealers.

Category: Recreation
Keywords: RV Hardware