Folding Galley Shelf 1 A place to place things; redwood left over from my decks. The black strip is velcro which holds a little trash can with a pivoting lid from moving about (see below).
Folding Galley Shelf 2 The stowed shelf hangs from hinges and occupies just part of the space between the back of the dinette and the Swing Level galley when it's down.
Folding Galley Shelf 3 The supports are redwood triangles velcro'd to both the dinette back and the underside of the shelf. Stick on velcro is affixed also with staples. The shelf is rock solid when deployed. The supports live in the galley drawer with the silverware and plates. The shelf is satin-finished. Since making this I have observed that not all campers are dimensioned equally — on one older model not enough gap existed between the bench back and the galley swing arm to allow clearance even for this narrow shelf. Here's a pix of the shelf in use. Two of these slender water dispensers can sit side by side, leaving room behind them for smaller items.
Clip-on Galley Shelf Same leftover redwood. The shelf is notched so as not to interfere with the stove top when it's raised. Not shown is the back leg, the bottom end of which nests in a foot screwed atop the lower half of the galley, with the top end fitting into a hole drilled (carefully!) into the underside of the (thin) shelf. Easy deployment: clip on! I affixed some stair tread anti-slip tape to protect the handle. The front leg contacts velcro on the underside of the shelf and on the countertop behind the sink. This little piece stows in the silverware/plate drawer. The long leg stows in the clip and shelf stows on top of the collapsed dinette next to the privacy curtain. Over time I've taken to stowing the shelf on the galley handle; I rotate it as I lower or raise the galley. Pix 3 shows the rear support stowed on some broom clips. Note: I'd moved the water pump on/off switch to the face of the upper half of the galley (and installed an LED idiot light so I'd know when my quiet Whisper King pump was enabled or disabled.
Refrigerator Shelf Cutouts This is a copycat mod that others have done already. By notching the shelves you gain vertical space for a tall bottle of juice.
Galley Drawer Slides I forgot (sorry) who may have first replaced their junky OEM drawer slides with real (albeit heavy) ones, but as you can see they let you pull a drawer completely out to make use of and access its farthest reaches. A great mod.
Galley Niceties 1 Holders Two things in this pix: - nifty white towel holder (see red arrow); just shove a corner of a cloth in this vee-shaped stick-on and the hand towel hangs free - I velcro the long-nosed battery-powered Weber lighter (partially visible) to the side of the stovetop when the stove is closed and at the top on the inside of the cover when it's open.
Galley Niceties 2 Indoor/Outdoor Thermostat I found this $15 indoor/outdoor thermostat at Camping World. Runs on one or two small batteries and also has a clock; several buttons control which item displays. I've velcroed it to the front of the galley below the sink, and permanently configured the (extra-long) cord with velcro loops. I measured out the length required to run the probe under the tenting and let that amount hang there in the corner where it's out of the way. Thus, deployment is simple and I never waste time dealing with the excess wire.
Clothing/Towel Rods 1: Live in Place This 3/4"x60" rod sits in affixed webbing straps which in turn clip into the Coleman-installed attachment points meant for their Camper Caddie bag (a 3rd mount was added). I've installed one on each end of the roof. Great places to hang clothes hangers, damp towels, or reflective bunk end covers to keep heat in on cold nights when one of the bunks is unoccupied.
Clothing/Towel Rods 2: Straps Detail Detail showing one of the very short webbing belts; just a few inches of 1" webbing riveted onto a male buckle end and screwed to the rod. The rod never comes down; the last word in deployment/stowage. (this pix is of the original, half-length rod, since replaced by the full-length rod shown above).
Aft Bunk ClothesRod This rod is a real metal powder-coated clothes rod I found at Lowes. I trimmed it to a length that fit nicely across the aft (double) bunk width. I added eyebolts to each end. The detail shows how I bent an S hook which inserts into a hole Fleetwood reserves for mounting their bunk end shelf option. On the forward end I ran some line to a nifty plastic hook with a cleat; you can see the short excess line drooping from the cleat. This allows levelling of the rod should that ever really be needed. The hook slides freely over my clothing/towel rods. Slide leftward to center to better access hangers; slide rightward to the outer edge to stow the hung clothes and open up the center part of the bunk, which in my case typically functions as a closet. I slipped a (too short) scrap of pipe insulation over the rod which keeps the hangers in place. The rod stows perfectly in a void behind the sofa seat cushion.
Enlarged Potty Cabinet Door Thetford's 585 largest and electric-flush (6 AA batteries) porta potty rocks! But the Cheyenne's door-side cabinet, although just able to contain the potty, had too small a door (boo, Coleman)! I disassembled the cabinet (only the top remained installed), carefully propped it up and enlarged the hole. Made a new door and used magnetic latch on this one. The door does provide have ample clearance even though it doesn't look like it in this pix; you merely rotate/anglethe potti in and out. Fortunately this did not interfere with the drawer, which I value highly and access all the time from both within and without the camper. The 4 black spots are 2" velcro squares atop which the Sterlite-like 3 drawer unit sits securely.
TP Holder Snicker if you want, but from my perspective: - storage space is at a premium - I want to minimize stocking chores. So, especially for something as featherweight as TP, I wanted a solution. There's lot's of unused space in the corners of the potty cabinet; the question was how to contain the rolls. I cut down a juice pitcher, using a hand saw to remove the top/bottom and a jig saw to remove the sides, then rounded the corners. Result: a flexible C-clamp. Mounted at the right height it holds 3 rolls even tho it's only as high as 2.
Dinette Bench Door I trimmed the door formerly on the now-enlarged potty cupboard to use as a door after cutting open the end of a dinette bench. the opening is reinforced on the inside with 1x1 wood. The black tub under the tars, or hand drums, contains tools and spare parts; thus I can now access this while popped down if need be. Note: I carpeted the trailer with nice cool gray carpet left over from an office move; 3 pieces: hallway, dinette, galley/entry. They're hand-cut and just abut each other.
Restraining Strap I stow heavy items in the hallway, with the Coleman 36qt Extreme cooler the last thing in. This restraining strap runs through a pair of cabinet handle pulls and keeps items from sliding forward in the event of hard braking. In order to create clearance for the cooler to pass the Swing Level galley I prop the galley up on a pair of 2x2s when it's stowed, thus raising the handle enough for the cooler to slide in and out. This pix also shows the seam/fit between two of the three carpeting pieces (dinnette, 'hallway', and entry/galley), each of which merely lay in place.
Constrained Service Cable Notice the slanted 'floor' which lifts the 30amp electrical service cord off the camper floor under the dinette bench, thus opening up a lot of floor space, hence volume, for real storage. I used thin, lightweight material reinforced with some scrap wood strips. To the right I enclosed the hot/ground leads to the thermostat in some split loom and got those vital wires safely tucked under the thermostat mounting bracket to ensure I wouldn't inadvertently snag them while stuffing/emptying this same under-dinette bench storage area.
Shoe and Stuff Bag Here you see 6 of the 10 slots in this accordian-folding shoe bag. I had my dealer mount a 2nd clothes hanger, this one adjacent to the roof brace, right next to the door and directly above a door-side cabinet (on which I store a plastic covered tote containing stuff that goes in and out; the miscellaneous things that accumulate just prior to departing). Each slot holds a pair of women's shoes or men slippers, one men's shoe, and etcetera items like sunglasses, cell phone, and the ever-present list of new things to do/fix/mods to make! In this pix some clothes are hanging behind the bag. The bag folds flat and stows conveniently in the void behind the Cheyenne's sofa mattress.
Chest of Drawers This off brand set of drawers (most folks get Sterlite's) has enclosed flats below the four posts, to which I affixed velcro. Velcro'd to the cabinet top, the thing won't slip! We keep toiletry items in the lowest drawer, passenger clothes in the middle, and food dry goods in the top. The dishdrain conveniently sits atop the column. Found it at Home Depot. Notice the gray privacy curtain in its stowed position, folded at the bottom and nested behind the chest. See this page for the lowdown on the curtain.
Trunk Hose Hangers Just inside the door of our trunk I affixed various hangers and velcro to organize all our water-take-on items. (Even after water is drained out of it, the primary 25' hose is kept screwed together to prevent water leaks). Here you also see the blue water take-on funnel, the Cheater, and a trailer-washing nozzle (when I fill the tanks at home I take the opportunity to hose down the camper which is stored off-site at a lot). The Bargeman extension also lives on this hose hook. Notice the quick release hose parts plus a 90* elbow valve and the 6" PVC extension screwed into it, which makes a secure connection to the camper's 20 gallon freshwater tank intake.
Sink Stuff Since the sink is small it's good to keep necessary sink items corralled; this single suction-cup sponge holder does that well (even the drain stopper basket is in it!). This pix also shows a single-joint swivel spray attachment, which makes using a small sink more efficient (and, surprisingly, seems not to interfere spacially despite the sink's small volume).
Human Assist 1 Dinette Seatback Straps A takeoff on Oz & Us's approach, I added a handle in the guise of a webbing strap to the outside back corner of each seatback. This makes lifting them out and the initial motion of hoisting them elsewhere much easier.
Human Assist 2 Table Support This little L bracket supports the back edge of the table when I'm folding up its legs. The bracket is attached to the flimsy sidewall with a pair of mollys. It's exposed corners are filed round even though it's unlikely any legs will make it all the way to the edge by the wall. Since taking this pix I applied velcro to the top of the bracket and a strip of velcro to the back edge of the table top, thus guaranteeing that the table won't slip (despite the 2" bracket depth it's slipped off occasionally).
Human Assist 3 Dinette Seatback Straps I have found the sofa bolsters to be useless and in the way. So, I belted them together using a 2" band of invory-colored rubber belting and plastic buckle parts. Now they function as a nice backrest when stretching out along a dinette bench.
Human Assist 4 Better Trunk Support I got tired of the trunk falling on my head in the slightest breeze, so I made an alternative trunk support rod anchor out of a plastic conduit clamp. I popriveted the U-shaped clamp several inches below the indentation Coleman provides, and added a rubber foot to the rod end (secured w/a tiny screw). Now the foot takes up much of the space inside the anchorage, and the trunk is pushed further upright. This is very secure in all but the hardest gusts. I've added a vinyl-clad large paperclip to the clamp, the long end of which I can spiral around the rod, below its foot, to keep the rod and lid together.
Human Assist 5 CurtainRestraints and FireEscape Pulls I've long disliked the button-down curtain pulls; pain in the butt to deal with. I've replaced them all with oblong plastic shower curtain hangers. The gold ribbon is attached to each zipper that links major sections of tenting, at least one of which is labelled by Fleetwood as a 'fire escape'. After reading an interesting thread on popupexplorer.com about the speed at which fires can flash, I figured it'd be a safemove to make a good zipper handhold highly available on all 4 of the trailer's tent seams.
Human Assist 6 Carpeting I've mentioned having carpeted from time to time as I've built out this site and now here's a pix showing the galley and hallway areas with this great carpet I obtained when we moved our office. It's cut very carefully to conform to this camper's construction (each unit will differ) and simply sits in place. There's a third piece under the dinette. The carpet is great, IMO: cool or warm as the weather changes, and always non-slip. Takes just several minutes to clean w/a little 12v vaccuum. sorry about the junky jpg!; see the pix below for a better idea of the real carpeting…
Galley Support Sticks By raising the swing level galley on these 2x2s the handle rises enough to allow my cooler to slide underneath and down the hallway for storage en route to and fro. Pix 2 shows the galley on the support stick and how the handle is raised1.5".
Roof Brace Set Screw For some reason these ABS roof braces shift streetward. Be carefully loosening its mounting hardware you can recenter it. Then drill a hole and drive a set screw in to lock it. Drive only one and only on the curbside, allowing the streetside to 'float' for natural roof movement. I painted the screw white with automotive touch up paint.
Unpictured: Glow-in-the-dark Zipper Pulls It took a little doing but I added zipper pulls to all tenting zippers. I used green parachute cord cut to length with glow-in-the-dark plastic pulls from REI on the ends. I sized the cords so that one of each pair of pulls (on each panel there are two zippers that meet somewhere in the middle) is longer than the other so that the plastic pulls would not click against eachother on windy nights. The glowing pulls are not very bright at all but are easily visible and easy to grab at night. Using pulls on all the zippers makes it easier to maniuplate them over their travel runs. Real Glass Mirror in the Vanity Mate The cheap mirror that comes with the otherwise excellent Vanity Mate, a foldup shelving/mirror galley accessory from Coleman/Fleetwood distorts. It's worthless for shaving (which itself benefits from my task lighting additions). I had a piece of 1/8" thick glass mirror cut to size. This is thick enough not to make me worry that it'll crack on a glance and it's a very tight squeeze into the Vanity Mate's integrated brackets. The glass shop assured me it wouldn't fracture going in and being tightened down, and it hasn't. Now there's a full-sized, non-distorting mirror in the galley area for personal grooming tasks.

Bart's Popup Buildouts Homepage

Site contents ©2004 Bart Windrum. All rights reserved.