Three trailer projects nicely done

It sure feels good to cross things off the “to do” list doesn’t it? It also feels good to get projects done, and to like how they turned out, and to know you did a good job. I completed three nice projects on the trailer over the past day or two.

The first project was the installation of a small folding table on the wall at the foot of the bed. I installed it right below an outlet that has three types of connections: 110 amp, 12 volt cig-lighter, and USB.

I’ve wanted a place other than the main table to put my wifi hotspot, my cell phone, my nice digital camera, and other devices when those devices are charging. I was getting tired of all of that stuff and all of those wires cluttering up the main table.

When this new table is not in use, or when I’m towing the trailer, then the table folds down nicely out of the way. I positioned the brackets such that they somewhat lock into place when the table is down, so the table won’t bounce around while the rig is moving.

The table will keep all of those wires and cables and connections … all of that rattlesnakey busy-ness out of my way when I’m in the trailer. I’m liking it!

The second project was to add a way to hang a towel inside the small bathroom so it’s handy when I take a shower. This bathroom is a one-piece “plastic” surround with no place to hang a towel, much less a bathrobe, or my tiara, or my gold lamé gowns, etc. (Ok, just kidding on the tiara and gowns.)

The photo above shows the outside of the bathroom door … with the door closed. Those two silver bracket things screwed into the top of the door are what you see of the hanger/device that I added.

And inside … see photo above. I guess it’s actually a clothes/coat/hat rack but it will do the job nicely. In the photo above, you can see the aluminum track above the bathroom door that the shower curtain slides on. The shower curtain is there only to keep water from shooting out through/around the edges of the door. If you want to keep anything dry inside the bathroom while you’re showering, then it needs to be behind the shower curtain … you need to hang it on the door so the curtain can keep it dry. This hanger/device will hold a towel and a bathrobe AND my tiara. 🙂 And then the shower curtain can be pulled around to cover the doorway so water doesn’t shoot out into the rest of the trailer, and so my towel (on that hanger) stays dry. Perfect.

The third project was to figure out if and how I could make the main table in the trailer level. The trailer came from the factory with the table not level and I wasn’t getting a very positive response from those folks at Escape Trailer Industries, who had built the trailer, regarding a willingness on their part to adjust it. In the end, I figured it was mine to do.

From the factory (and all last year), the back edge of the table (along the back wall) was at least two inches lower than the front (angled) edge of the table. That was irritating. Pencils would roll, my beer would spill, my tiara just wouldn’t stay on straight, and when I was using my laptop while I was sitting on one of the red settee seats the laptop screen was so tilted to one side that it made my eyeballs wobble.

So I grabbed some tools and dove in under the table to figure out what to do. The answer was obvious. Making it happen, however, was a bit tedious. The table with all of its parts was heavy, and there was very little room in which to work.

Rather than try to shim the bottom of the pedestal where it’s bolted to the floor (the repair would be obvious and unsightly and would allow dirt to collect under the raised edge), I ended up taking the table apart, unbolting the pedestal from the floor, and turning the whole thing upside down so I could get at the entire bottom of the table. The entire process took about three hours, but it worked out perfectly. I added four thick washers to each of the four screws (and added longer screws) that held the back edge of the pedestal to the table, thereby raising the very far back edge of the table just a hair more than 2 inches.

It may not look like much of a difference in height in the photo above (see the gap where the washers are?), but spread out over the length of the table, it made all the difference.

The photo above is of the finished job. The photo above was taken as I was lying on the floor under table, looking up at the back four screws with the washers in place. And the sweet part is that no one can see the repair job unless they crawl under the table. Tidy is as tidy does. 🙂

Photo above is a close-up of the layers that make up the pedestal/table assembly … the pedestal tube, pedestal top, the washers along the back (you can see only one set though there are four sets in a row), then above the washers is a board, then above the board is the black/dark mechanism that enables the table to slide sideways, above that is another board, then above that is the black edge of the table itself.

I felt so good sitting at that table now that it was level. The table does slide sideways, side to side (and it locks into place if you want). The table also spins, but I had assumed that it wouldn’t spin very far around because of its size. Well, hmmm, let’s just see how far around it spins … whoop!

Whoa, I got it to spin completely around sideways so the pointy end is pointing to the side of the trailer. In that position, there was tons of room to slide your own self onto the red settee seats.

And it also gives me really EASY access to the EMS (electrical management system), the readout now exposed in the photo above, that used to be hidden under the table and really hard to read.

And then I realized, I could simply slide the table forward and have a ton of room along the back wall if I wanted to … whether for a footstool or to work on the window or, really importantly, to access the main electrical panel for the trailer which is in the very far back corner of the settee with its readout also under the table in the far back corner and just about impossible to reach. Now, the electrical panel is fully accessible.

By solving the tilting table issue, and then just playing around with the table, I discovered ways to position the table that addressed two other big concerns … access to those two electrical devices devices. How cool was that!

And then I got a bit crazy and turned the table even more.

Yikes, talk about making my head spin. Ok, I think it’s time to sit down and chill out, don’t you think?

In the end, I bet there are lots of ways to deal with each of the issues that I dealt with here. People are so resourceful. As mentioned, I’m very pleased with the work I did … each project fully addressed each issue, and I learned even more. And life is just that much easier. 🙂 Ok, let’s go camping! Next post will be camping … I promise!