How Do I Secure Loose Furniture In An RV When Traveling?

by Thomas Alderson
(Wilmington, DE)

When we took ownership of our 5th wheel some of the furniture was tied down but not all. The reclining chairs that are part of the living room are the chairs in question. How to you secure this type of chair so it does not do damage to the walls or the chair itself?

We have a Newmar Cypress 08 that was purchased in 09. Newmar will not stand behind these chairs because they feel it is our problem and not one that is inherent in the trailer. One of the chairs has the material separating in the front and the other has a metal flat rod that is protruding at the top in the back and doing a nasty gouging of the walls.

Newmar will not take responsibility for this poorly made chair either. At this point I am at a loss as to what to do. Sorry there is more than one issue here. Can you help? This is not addressed in the owner's manual or any books on RVing that I have read.

ANSWER: Greetings Thomas thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

Let me first address the problems you are having with the quality of the furniture in your 5th wheel. In all likelihood Newmar did not manufacture the chairs and recliners in your RV. They probably bought these chairs from an outside vendor as is normal for most RV Manufacturers.

You need to find out who manufactured the recliners and chairs and contact them directly to see if they will do anything for you. I will tell you in advance not to get your hopes up as far as the manufacturer taking care of the chairs.

You have two other alternatives if the manufacturer does not choose to fix the chairs. The first is to take the chairs to an upholstery shop and find

out how much it will cost to get them repaired or shop around for new chairs for your 5th wheel.

As far as the lounge Chairs not being secured in your trailer, that is also a common practice among RV Manufacturers. I am not going to address the safety issues that I believe this unsecured furniture creates in trailers and Motorhomes, but you can take some steps to secure this furniture either temporarily or permanently in your RV.

Temporary Fixes You can use some Velcro Straps to temporarily fasten the chairs to one of the walls of your trailer or a permanently attached piece of furniture in your RV while it is going down the road. I have listed some links below on where you can get these straps.

Velcro Straps From Amazon

Velcro Straps From eBay

Permanent Fix You can visit your local hardware store and find some brackets that you can use to permanently bolt the chairs to the floor of your RV. Since I do not know exactly what the base of your furniture looks like I cannot steer you to the exact brackets you would need, but you should be able to find something that works for you.

The only downside to bolting the chair to the floor is that you will not have the option of moving the chair around you RV.

I hope that this information has been helpful to you.

Do you have any suggestions or comments on this topic? You can add them to this page by clicking on the "Click Here To Post Comments" link located near the bottom of this page.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

P.S. Did You Know that you can build your own Web Page on Everything About RVing? Just Tell Us Why You Love RVing, Tell Us About Your Favorite Camping Or RVing Destination or Share a Funny RVing Story With Us.

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NO MORE CHAIR STRAPS
by: the chair buddy

Mor/Ryde has introduced an all new innovative product to secure loose dinette chairs in an RV during travel called the "Chair Buddy"
icon. It is a mechanical padded arm mounted to the table pedestal the applies pressure to the chairs with a hydraulic piston and easily folds up under the table when using the chairs. It literally takes one second to secure the chairs for travel and a second to lift up the arm to use the chairs. It's a true convenience for anyone that doesnt want to crawl on their hands and knees to secure the safety straps used on most RV's.

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