Door & Drawer hinges and latches

[Garry07]

I am looking to purchase a new fifth wheel as we are planning to retire in a few months. There are a lot of things that I like about the solitude 390 RK. However, there are a couple small things that they do not do that really bother me. First, the front baggage door behind the fifth wheel hitch is very small and appears as though there is plenty of room to increase the size. I don’t understand this as it makes it much more difficult to access. Secondly, all the drawer and cabinet doors have the older style cheaper looking snap latches. I am also considering a Montana fifth wheel, and they use slow close hinges and magnetic latches on every cabinet door and drawer. Is there some reason why solitude does not have such hardware? zz0.yevdht3ix2ozz

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Garry07

You are posting your questions on a forum of Grand Design RV Owners . . . and, while we might have opinions on your questions, you will get more definitive answers if you ask these of Grand Design directly. Their Customer Service contact info is on the right side of our home page.

Rob (moderator)

[Jlawles2]

Gary, as for the baggage door, I do not have an answer.

For the cabinet hinges, the soft close are nice however to get a high quality soft close that will last the cost increases exponentially. The magnetic latches vs mechanical look like an upgrade, however the magnetic will not have the same holding power as the mechanical ones. Also as the magnetic one loose contact they loose strength rapidly. Magnetic latches are also adjustment critical. Any space in the latch and it does not hold completely. The mechanical ones tend to have a bit more forgiveness in adjustment.

These are my personal opinions based on experience. I do not work for GD and cannot answer for their reasons.

[Cate&Rob]

Just a thought on the front compartment door size . . . keeping this small makes it more likely that it can be opened when hitched to the truck.

Rob

[Country Campers]

I can not answer why GD does not use those types of draw slides or catches but will add that for us when choosing a new RV there are a lot more important things to look at. The frame and suspension, build quality, after sale support and "feel" of the RV, floor plan layout to name a few. We also tend to look at issues that are long time running and have not been addressed by the manufacture. We also tend to not look at a specific brand we just look for what we want and then decide from there.

Brian