The Rest Of The Story!!

[chnlisle]

Last Wednesday in camp I was standing on the settee while sliding the bed in so I could fire up the range for coffee. You guessed it I went straight through the thing blowing out the support and the front and side of the box. I know.... my leg didn't need any more trauma. I knew at some point I would need to replace the box. The material is a bit cheesy. The settee itself is too low for me or Pam to easily get into bed.

Sooooo yesterday I got a sheet of half inch Baltic Birch plywood. I'm taking a cue from Rockclimber Kyle. raising the level of the settee to about 22 inches and shortening it so the Porta Potty will have a place to live and can be slid out and in as needed. This way you also utilize the full starboard length of the camper. That little 3" space at the back by the door is a waste.

Per Scott I'm going with a bigger and, I hope, more comfortable toilet. I got the Visa Potty model 268 at Wally's.

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

Last Wednesday in camp I was standing on the settee while sliding the bed in so I could fire up the range for coffee. You guessed it I went straight through the thing blowing out the support and the front and side of the box. I know.... my leg didn't need any more trauma. I knew at some point I would need to replace the box. The material is a bit cheesy. The settee itself is too low for me or Pam to easily get into bed.

Sooooo yesterday I got a sheet of half inch Baltic Birch plywood. I'm taking a cue from Rockclimber Kyle. raising the level of the settee to about 22 inches and shortening it so the Porta Potty will have a place to live and can be slid out and in as needed. This way you also utilize the full starboard length of the camper. That little 3" space at the back by the door is a waste.

Per Scott I'm going with a bigger and, I hope, more comfortable toilet. I got the Visa Potty model 268 at Wally's.

Hopefully you can be more of a contributor to the forum than I... I still haven't made the time to post pictures of my "upgrades."

 

[chnlisle]

Its kind of a pain to stop work and take pix but I'll try. Incidentally Kyle, I'm staining and urethaning first.

 

[chnlisle]

The Sttee Mod

As stated before I bought a piece of birch plywood and decided to raise the settee box as well as shorten it. Other than the birch I use scraps I had in the garage. I also wanted to beef up the cross members from half to 1 inch. I used 2X battens rather than L brackets on the inside of the box to attach the cross members making both the box and the cross members stiffer. Its the cross member that failed. Everything was Gorilla Glued. Raising the box makes it much easier to use the settee to get in and out of the bed. Here are the pix.

 

[chnlisle]

I should mention here that by raising the seating up it makes an already unstable back rest worse. I solved that problem by using braces I made from metal conduit and T nutting them to either side of the back and then to the camper. I don't ever use that thing as another bed but you never know so with the T nuts I can remove it. Having said that if I do ever use it as a bed I'll need to come up with a couple of much longer legs for the back rest.
The rest of the Pix.

 

[ScottBailey]

Jay,

Looks great!

SB

 

[SunMan]

Nice, looks stout. I have a feeling that mod is not too far off for me.

 

[Marc]

Very nice Jay I have been looking at doing something similar. Thanks.

marc

 

[EdoHart]

I used to think that I over built things.

3 pieces of 2X? glued together? You can always use them to set 3 of your 4 wheels on blocks.

 

[chnlisle]

Good call Ed. I made an extra just in case.

 

[pods8]

3 pieces of 2X? glued together? You can always use them to set 3 of your 4 wheels on blocks.

Haha, I was actually thinking the same but then shrugged and said to myself that it works and in reality the amount of extra wood there isn't really that much since they're small.

 

[DLN]

Nice work Jay. Lets see, triple 2x4 DF#2 in compression parallel to the grain is 3.5" x 4.5" x 1000 psi = 15,750 pound capacity, I think it will hold up over time. Though trimmer loading is usually controlled by the material they are resting on so that number could go down to around 10,000 pounds, still acceptable I'd say.

 

[chnlisle]

Thanks DLN thats just how I figured it. Actually my math was jus a bit off. I came up with 11,000 pounds. Actually I'm clueless about that stuff thats why I over build. Reduncancy is good in Airplanes and things I stand on.

 

[DLN]

Jay,

You'll have to accuse me, works a little slow and I just needed to be sure I still knew how to calc it. I'm with you on redundancy, I always tell my clients they can add more or large lumber any time they like, more safety factor makes me happy every time.

 

[pods8]

Jay,

You'll have to accuse me, works a little slow and I just needed to be sure I still knew how to calc it.

I've got "Sketch up the plans for replacement shed" on my to-do list (along with a ton of other stuff), let me know if you get REALLY slow.

 

[chnlisle]

DLN,
I've learned over the years that I never save money by saving money. I am learning but I still sometimes make the same mistakes. When we first moved here I bought a $140 small chane saw at Lowes. Used it 3 time and went out and bought a Stihl which would have been $250 but you have to had the cost of the first POS. But I am learning. I dont do that with safety though. So I figure make it bullet proof and don't ever do it again.

Pods,
Y'should have caught me without a camper. It seems I find all my FWC's up there. I got this one a year ago in Tumwater and the one I sold to TT I picked up on Lopez. But y'never know when we'll be in WA and in need of a tequila and lemonade.

 

[EdoHart]

Just curious.

How tall is it now, and have you sat on it with the top down? I occassionally sit on mine with the top down while packing/unpacking or when stopped for just a few hours and I want to make lunch or read a book.

 

[chnlisle]

Ed,
It's right at 22 inches. I figured it would be too tall to sit in with the top down but I rarely if ever do that. Like we always say life is a compromise and I cant afford a SMB.

 

[EdoHart]

Smb?

Server Message Block is the first that came to mind.

Then an internet search returned Society for Mathematical Biology, Amphenol Sub Miniature B connectors, and Screaming Mechanical Brain. But I don't think any apply. So I'm guessing at Simple Mental Breakdown.

 

[chnlisle]

OOPS Sorry. Thats what the safari clothing wearing guys on those other 2 web sites call a SportsMobile.