Pimp my 19RR!

[heytomgraywolf]

Friday night, we put a towel rack in the bathroom. We found this one online from Kohls (Tip, if you have a Kohls near your, go into the store and order this on their Kiosk. If you order things from online at the store, you get free shipping to your home versus if you order online you pay shipping). This towel rack has two bars, front and rear and you can stack a few towels on top. I think I have seen these in some hotel bathrooms. Here is the link and a photo of what it looks like.

Chrome Bath Shelf and Towel Rack


Tom

[heytomgraywolf]

Today I added a shelf in the bedroom. There is a nice outlet up by your head when laying in bed that would be good for charging cell phones, but there is no place to put your phone. I found some finished shelving material at Home Depot (it is not good Formica, just vinyl coated particle board that is made by Rubbermaid). It is in the window and flooring section of the Depot and it is really for building your own shelving and bookcases. I cut the board down to 5" wide because I did not want to hit it getting out of bed and I made the length 28" (There is room for about 36", but again, I did not want to be hitting the corner of the shelf getting in and out of bed).

Now Lucille and I have a place to lay our cell phones and charge them at night and Lucille also says her coffee cup will rest up there once I get up in the morning and fix the coffee and bring her coffee in bed!??! Sound like someone is awfully spoiled for camping!

Here is what it looks like.

[heytomgraywolf]

Lucille just had to have a trashcan in the bathroom. This is the smallest one we could fine and found it at Wal-Mart ($10). You kind of have to put it in next to the toilet by feeding it in sideways from the floor, head first and then standing it up once it is in the corner. It does work and you won't have to worry about securing it before driving down the road (it has no place to go). When stepping on the pedal to open the lid, you kind of have to make sure it is rotated just right or the lid hits the side of the toilet preventing it from opening.

If anyone else finds a smaller one, we might still be interested since this one is so tight, but being chrome, it matches our TP holder, our Shower Caddie (both shown in this thread: http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ers-10149.html) and our new towel rack (above).

Trash Can Lid Closed:


Trash Can Lid Opened:

[ken0042]

Looks good!

What did you use to anchor things to the walls?

[heytomgraywolf]

This afternoon I tackled something else that was bothering me with the 19RR design. The cabinet over the sink. I didn't like how it opened "up" and since they did not put in a shock to hold it up when opened, every time you go to use this cabinet you have to have both hands free, one to hold the door up and the other to use to get or put away what ever is in this cabinet. I decided to move the hinges, handle and spring latch 90 degrees.

I also did a similar modification to the divider inside this cabinet as I did the one under the sink. They put a divider in this cabinet to block all the wiring for the controls behind the white board. Again, it seems they just have a bunch of these dividers all made up at 12" and they just slap them in at an angle so they can use one size for every location. I trimmed about an 1" off of this one so that I could get it flatter. I also took the terminal connectors (4 of them) for the power awning and bent them all 90 degrees from the back of the switch since this electric device seemed to be sticking out the most. Pushing all the wires flat, I was able to get this divider much "flatter" and closer to the end of the cabinet so I increased the cabinet space. I finished off the bottom of the cabinet with some rubberized shelf liner they have a Wal-Mart for $0.99 a roll (I think it is about 5' by 12").

I do have two holes in my cabinet door now, from where the handle was, but it is not that noticeable and as "CampingQueen" said, you can just cover them with stickers (she suggested butterflies, but it would be nice if someone finds decals of wood grain similar to the cabinet color). I may try a little wood filler and mix some stain and dab on the wood filler. The holes from the old hinge connection point are not noticeable once the door is shut. Now I can open this cabinet and not have it slam down shut on me. (however, it does swing out very wide, so if you bend down to get something, make sure you don't stand up under it an bonk your head). Here are two photo's of it open and closed.

Cabinet Open:


Cabinet Closed:


Tom

[heytomgraywolf]

Ken0042, I just used #8 x 1.0" long flat head zinc coated Construction Screws (look like drywall screws but zinc coated). The tech at The OutPost RV said that I shouldn't have a problem screwing right into the paneling and that walls are all thick enough as long as you use 1.0" or less screws.

Again, I am careful not to strip them out in the thin paneling and snug them down by hand. I put 3 "L" brackets on the bottom of the shelf in the bedroom, each with 2 screws into the paneling and 2 into the bottom of the shelving (those were 5/8" long #8 screws of the same type since 1.0" would come out the other side of the shelving).

I wouldn't line the shelf solid with books or do chin-up on the towel rack, but it seems pretty sturdy. I will be sure to let everyone know if I experience problems. I have heard of people using spring wing nuts where you drill a larger hole and push those through, but those are tricky to get things snugged down and level since the bolt moves around in a hole big enough to push the wing nut through. Plus if you over load a wing nut and it rips through the paneling, it is going to leave a big hole versus a small stripped out hole by screwing directly in.

Tom

[heytomgraywolf]

The last thing I did today (last post for today, I promise) was to put a shelf in the upper cabinet next to the couch. At first Lucille and I could not decide if we were going to install another hanger rod like is in the upper cabinet next to the fridge, or create more kitchen storage. We figured, "hey, we are camping, how many clothes are we going to have that need to hang up". Plus with us not having much of a plan for that bunk bed area, we figured that is tons of storage for the bedroom.

Therefore we wanted to put a second shelf in the upper cabinet next to the couch. We figured we would store cups and dishes above the sink and use this upper cabinet for food. We have the lower cabinet by the couch (already with a middle shelf) full of pots and pans, mixing bowls, toaster, coffee maker.... Hey Lucille, we need to make room for a blender down there!!

I used the same Rubbermaid shelving material for this shelf as I did the shelf we put in the bedroom. I could not find any that was 17.25" x 20", so I bought a long 12" board and cut two pieces 17.25" long and then trimmed the second one down from 12" wide to 8" wide. I took some of the left over shelving (from the 12" to 8" trim) and screwed it to the bottom of these two pieces making it one 17.25" x 20" shelf.

I had to notch three of the corners since there are wood stringer in the two front corners and the rear left corner. I then marked these three stringers and the back right corner at 16" up from the bottom of the cabinet. I then took the same wood screws I am screwing into the walls and ran 2 screws into each stringer at 90 degrees from each other right at 16". For the back right corner, I just partially screwed in 2 1.0" screws in this corner.

I then lifted the shelf up and into the cabinet at an angle and let it come down and rest on the 8 partially inserted screws. We now have two shelves (bottom and 1 shelf mid way up) to use as our pantry and put our food in.

That's it for the mod's for a little while. We are taking this coming Friday and next Monday off and going camping just north of Jacksonville at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park for a 4 day weekend and visit our oldest Son.

Here is what the shelf looks like.

Tom

[essness]

I like the over the sink thing Tom

I'm thinking that I will put a shock on mine. Unfortunately, the shocks that I bought for that are in my utility trailer that is out on loan till the end of June..... I'll post up when I get it installed.

Thanks again for all the ideas!

[heytomgraywolf]

Essness - I like how you braced the back of your drawers better than my method! I guess that is what I get for going first! I like how you put the long piece of wood straight up the back and mounted both drawer frames to that. Did you screw the bottom of the piece of wood into the floor or carpeted fender well? So that is how I should have done it without running screws in from the outside.

I think it is great we call all share our ideas with photos.

Tom

[essness]

Originally Posted by heytomgraywolf

Essness - I like how you braced the back of your drawers better than my method! I guess that is what I get for going first! I like how you put the long piece of wood straight up the back and mounted both drawer frames to that. Did you screw the bottom of the piece of wood into the floor or carpeted fender well? So that is how I should have done it without running screws in from the outside.

I think it is great we call all share our ideas with photos.

Tom

Tom,

I didnt realize the picture doesnt show the base The 2X2 is screwed from the botton up through a 9" piece of 1X4 that is screwed to the carpeted wheel well. My wife is a bit of a pack rat and I have to anticipate that there may be some weight in those drawers. I thought it might be best to try to control a little bit of the potential for side to side movement over time.

Scot

[heytomgraywolf]

This morning's project was to work on a motorcycle wheel chock for my RoadStar Warrior. Like Stargazerandu, I don't want to attempt drilling through the floor for both aesthetics and concern with hitting the fresh or gray water tanks. While I really like the BoltItOn.com solution and how it uses the factory eyelets to mount the chock, the $300 price tag and the $60 shipping is just a little hard for me to swallow.

I had a 34" x 48" piece of 3/4" plywood that was painted and carpeted in my garage that was from my dad's old pickup truck that he had a topper on and used as a shelf in the back of his truck. With it being carpeted on one side, I figured it was perfect to put on the "floor side" of my plywood chock base. I put the 48" dimension between the closet next to the couch over to the kitchen cabinets. I then pushed the plywood until it rested in the corner between the closet and the bathroom wall. Since the fridge sticks out slightly, the 48" width will be too much and you will have to cut back 5-7/8" by 3 or 4" in. The carpeted piece I used already had a notch for the sidewall of the pickup that it was used in, so I cut a generous portion out to clear the fridge and removed the notch that was there.

I figure since the straps going down to the eyelets will be pulling the motorcycle forward and the wheel in the chock will be pressing forward, the edge of the fridge and the wall of the bathroom will keep the plywood from sliding forward and will spread the load out over a large area.

Next I cut 2 rectangular holes out for the eyelets to be accessed. These too when the straps are in them should help keep the carpeted plywood resting on the floor of the trailer from moving around.

I used the carpet remains from cutting off the section for the fridge and contact cemented carpet on all the edges of this plywood so that carpet would be resting against any of the cabinets and walls so they don't get marked up.

Now, once my wheel chock arrives, I will have to test load the bike to determine where I want to mount the chock onto this plywood base and then use carriage bolts from the underside (carpeted side) and make sure they are recesses (or covered with more carpet after installing) so that the heads of the bolts don't rub and tear up the floor.

Below are some pictures of the plywood base. More pictures to follow once my wheel chock comes in.

Here is the top side with it in the trailer. Note the base rests against the bathroom wall and edge where the fridge sticks out.


This is a picture of the bottom side showing the 3/4" plywood completely covered in carpeting (including edges) for resting on the floor of the trailer:

[heytomgraywolf]

This afternoon, I decided to create more counter space since the 19RR doesn't have that much. I saw this thread on this forum to get the idea: http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...best-7270.html

I did find an 18"x22" cutting board at Wal-Mart for $25, but I tried a smaller one (15"x21") that was $15. I ended up taking that one back since you really need 18" to cover the stove front to back. I ended up finding a larger one than the $25 one at Wal-Mart when I went to Bed-Bath-and-Beyond. This cutting board is 18"x24" and is $30, but BB&B always has those 20% OFF coupons so it was actually $24 (less than Wal-Mart!).

I bought two packs of closet rod mounts at Wal-Mart ($0.97 each) so the whole project was $26 plus tax.

Here are the white plastic closet rod holders from the hardware section in Walmart:


Two of the rod holders (one in each package) are completely round (the side you put the rod in first) and two have the tops notched out of them (the side you drop the rod into). I put the two round ones upside down on the rear of the stove, sliding them inwards till they touch the vertical wires in the grill of the stove. Then I took the two with notches in them and put them all the way on the front of the stove sliding them outward until the wires were converging to the point they would not slide out any further:


With them upside down and where you want them on the stove, I put duct tape on the back of them (making a loop so it is like double sided tape... or use double sided tape). Then carefully set the cutting board down, exactly where you want it (this is the trickiest part). Since this cutting board was 24" wide, I rested the one side against the wall of the fridge which helps me align it when putting it on. After pressing down on the cutting board to get the tape to stick, lift the cutting board straight up and flip it over.

You can then screw these rod holders into the cutting board to permanently hold them in place (I used 5/8" screws so they did not come through the other side of the cutting board). I also used a pencil and drew circles around them and lifted them up and removed the duct tape before screwing them down. This is what the bottom side looks like. These rod holders can be "feet" if you want to take the cutting board off and use it on another table:


The way the feet are staggered, I think it would be fine leaving it on while traveling. It really doesn't move anywhere. However, since the stove is so close to the tank on my bike, I don't think I will leave it on for our first trip next weekend with the bike. I would hate to prove myself wrong and find a big dent from a cutting board in my gas tank. I think our second trip, when I am not taking the bike, will be the test run to see if the cutting board stays in place going down the road.

This is what the final product looks like. Now we have more counter space and a huge cutting board!

[Captain Ron]

I love the cutting board on the stove, Tom! I may have to try that on our 19WP. I'm pretty sure the stove is the same.

[Stargazerandu]

Originally Posted by heytomgraywolf

Today I added a shelf in the bedroom. There is a nice outlet up by your head when laying in bed that would be good for charging cell phones, but there is no place to put your phone. I found some finished shelving material at Home Depot (it is not good Formica, just vinyl coated particle board that is made by Rubbermaid). It is in the window and flooring section of the Depot and it is really for building your own shelving and bookcases. I cut the board down to 5" wide because I did not want to hit it getting out of bed and I made the length 28" (There is room for about 36", but again, I did not want to be hitting the corner of the shelf getting in and out of bed).

Now Lucille and I have a place to lay our cell phones and charge them at night and Lucille also says her coffee cup will rest up there once I get up in the morning and fix the coffee and bring her coffee in bed!??! Sound like someone is awfully spoiled for camping!

Here is what it looks like.

Very nice!!

[essness]

Nice work Tom I cant keep up

[Stargazerandu]

Originally Posted by heytomgraywolf

Lucille just had to have a trashcan in the bathroom. This is the smallest one we could fine and found it at Wal-Mart ($10). You kind of have to put it in next to the toilet by feeding it in sideways from the floor, head first and then standing it up once it is in the corner. It does work and you won't have to worry about securing it before driving down the road (it has no place to go). When stepping on the pedal to open the lid, you kind of have to make sure it is rotated just right or the lid hits the side of the toilet preventing it from opening.

If anyone else finds a smaller one, we might still be interested since this one is so tight, but being chrome, it matches our TP holder, our Shower Caddie (both shown in this thread: http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ers-10149.html) and our new towel rack (above).

Trash Can Lid Closed:


Trash Can Lid Opened:

Yeah, I saw that trashcan in Walmart too. And, Lucille, you are not the only one who would like a trashcan in the bathroom!!!

[campnqueen]

We used a thin drink pitcher less the lid... was cheat at Wally-mart and fits the space just fine!

[campnqueen]

Originally Posted by Stargazerandu

Very nice!!

All of our outlets in the bed birth are on the ceiling...where is this one?

[heytomgraywolf]

Camping Queen - this outlet is on the left side of the bed on the wall of the bathroom up by your head. Maybe they lowered the outlet down here since in the 2012 and late 2011's the bunk above the queen is solid, comes all the way across and does not fold up. I think you have the bunk that folds and creates an overhead cabinet. Since we don't plan on sleeping anyone up on the bunk, I liked the folding bunk, but I think it was not real solid/strong and maybe a few people tried sleeping someone up there that was too heavy and FR decided to make it stronger, but permanent and no ability to make it a cabinet.

The electrical outlet at the foot of the bed is still in the ceiling along with the cable connection for putting a TV in the bedroom area.

[campnqueen]

So glad my buck bed folds up... I love the extra space for storing bed linens! Could not imagine doing without it!!