Off the Shelf

by Bob Livingston | Aug 9, 2024 | Pro Tip, RVEXPERT

a man wears a frustrated look on his face while standing at a pantry with a fallen top shelf

Photos by the author

When pantry shelf supports take flight on rough roads, a permanent fit using 1 x 2-inch clear pine boards will keep foodstuffs from becoming disheveled.

Large pantries enhance any RV galley — and the fact that they swallow up copious foodstuffs makes them practical when provisioning RVs without the requisite frequent visits to supermarkets. Most have adjustable shelves to customize the space to accommodate your food buying habits and kitchen/cooking arsenal, but ironically, that feature can create problems when traveling over rough roads.

And by that, we mean America’s highway system which, let’s face it, could use a little help.

Most shelves are supported by metal standards and supports (clips), which have been around for ages. In a stationary home they usually hold up well, but used in an RV environment where the interior is subjected to earthquake-like punishment on a daily basis (when on the road), these systems can fall apart and send the shelves — and your food — tumbling.

Rather than holding our breath upon opening the pantry each time we stopped for the day, hoping the shelf supports didn’t fall out and send the stored items into complete chaos, we decided to fix the problem permanently. Fixing shelves and reorganizing the stored items was no fun — not to mention my crushed potato chips.

The solution was rather simple, and although there are a few ways to achieve this goal, I elected to brace the ends of each shelf with a 1 x 2-inch clear pine board, screwed into the cabinet wall.

the tools for the shelf bracing project laid on a picnic table including, eight wooden 1 x 2’s, wood stain, screws, drill guns and bits, a set square, measuring tape, a pencil and a microfiber towel

Once the 1 x 2’s were cut, all the necessary items for this project were assembled on the picnic bench at the RV site.

close view of a pantry shelf's original wall support

close view under a slightly fallen pantry shelf showing a strewn clip

The shelves in the pantry were held in place with common wall standards and supports (clips), which made it possible to make height adjustments as needed. These shelf adjusters work fine in stationary homes, but as the RV was jostled by bad roads, the clips would pop off — allowing the shelf(s) to come loose. That led to a big mess and time-consuming repairs (if the clips could even be found in the rubble).

In my fifth wheel, there are four shelves that are suspended on the network of common metal standards and supports. The pine boards were cut to 11 inches in length to fit between the standards; since I needed only eight boards, one 8-foot piece of pine was purchased at Home Depot for $7.68 and cut to size. The wood can be cut with a common hand or power saw.

a tape measure and pencil are used to mark the 1 x 2-inch pine boards at 11 inches in length

the “speed square” is used to pencil in drill points on the 1 x 2-inch pine boards

The 1 x 2-inch clear pine boards were cut to 11 inches in length to fit between the standards on the wall (you will need to determine your length needed). Once accomplished, they were placed side-by-side and measurements were taken to drill the pilot holes. A “speed square” was used to pencil in the drill points.

The rest is basic woodworking. Each strip of wood was stained to match the inside cabinet (as close as possible) after 7/64-inch pilot holes were drilled for the 8 x 1 ¼-inch cabinet screws. Once that was done, the stored stuff on each shelf was cleared (to make room for the screw gun) in order to attach the braces snugly against the underside of the existing wood shelfs. Before attaching each brace, a line of Liquid Nails ($4.95) was applied to the backside to assure they will stay put. I used 1 ¼-inch long screws to make sure they would not protrude through the other side of the cabinet structure. Any oozing Liquid Nails was wiped with a paper towel.

Keep in mind that adding the Liquid Nails pretty much makes this fix permanent. If you think you’ll need to adjust shelf height down the road, leave the adhesive out. My wife, Lynne, and I discussed whether shelf adjustment was in our future, and we both figured it wasn’t, so that’s why we elected for the best bond possible.

one of three 7/64-inch pilot holes is drilled into on of the pieces of pine board

Three 7/64-inch pilot holes were drilled into each 11-inch piece of pine. This may seem like overkill, but we’re dealing with some really rough roads. Note: Drilling on a picnic bench is not considerate of RV park equipment, but here we took precautions to drill over the spaces between the wood tabletop, so there was no damage.

gloved hands uses a brush to apply a dark walnut finish to a pine board

liquid is wiped with a microfiber towel to even out the stain

Once the pilot holes were drilled, each board was stained to a dark walnut finish. It’s best to apply the stain with a brush (this brush was too large, but the only throwaway we had in the fifth wheel at the time). The liquid was wiped with a microfiber towel to even out the stain. It took about an hour to dry.

The cabinet screws, which were brown, were set into each piece of wood so that the point was barely through the other side. This made it possible to locate the wood braces easily; the screws were driven with a cordless screw gun. These screws had Torx heads, which provided a better bite for the bit in the screw gun.

close up of a bead of Liquid Nails applied to the backside of a brace

A bead of Liquid Nails was applied to the backside of each brace before mounting to the wall below the shelves. This provided a permanent set for the braces; if you intend to adjust shelf height down the road, leave this step out.

using a drill gun, a stained brace is screwed into the pantry wall right beneath a shelf

Enough stored stuff on each shelf was removed to provide a clear pathway for the screw gun. This was the lazy way out, which created a few body contortions while driving the screws. If you have the ambition, this could be a good time to clear each shelf, throw away the items you don’t need and improve organization.

a cloth is used to clean the excess Liquid Nails from beneath the screwed brace

The last step was to clean the Liquid Nails that squished out while the screws were driven into the wall.

Installing the support braces under each shelf adds several layers of strength, which is nice, but the factory shelves were still on the anemic side, which makes overloading the wood shelves still very real. If the shelves, which in my case were made of very thin material, start to cave, you’ve got too much stuff; keep the very heavy items on the lower shelf, which is really the floor.

Total cost for this project was under $35, once you figure in the $9.98 for the screws, $9.28 for the stain and the cost of the Liquid Nails. This project was accomplished on the road; if you are at home and have the above supplies on hand, the cost can be insignificant. In either case, the project — which only took about an hour, not counting the time needed for the stain to dry — is worth the elimination of surprises.

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