A few tiny mods....it's the little things

[cpaharley2008]

I do not understand why you cover your trailer until fall? Is not this prime time camping in your area?

[davidmurphy02]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I do not understand why you cover your trailer until fall? Is not this prime time camping in your area?

We are storing it for the next few months until fall because I have to go back to work to pay for all this new stuff Down here summer is pretty intensely hot, and we would have to travel a long way to get out of the heat. We've always liked traveling in the spring and fall, parks are a lot less crowded than during the summer when all the kids are out of school.

If money were no object we would travel all the time, but that's not in the cards right now. So we plan our trips around the best time to be the places we want to go. In the summer, Moab is really hot. So we'll go there in early October, and in late September will start off in Torrey, that's when the aspens are turning in the mountains in that area.

[arniesea]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

Ikea has some bathroom wall fixtures like towel bars, small bins, etc. with suction cups and some with round adhesive stick-on pads, we have some of each and both seem to work fine. 3M Command also makes some nice towel hooks designed for wet environments, you can see those on the left in the first photo.

We love the IKEA towel bars. Had one in our ‘19 that stayed in place for over two years. Transferred it to the new 5.0 and discovered we still had a second one in our “stash” of hooks so mounted both of them in the same location as yours. Great minds think alike!

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

One last little mod for now (how many times will I say that in the years ahead...). Mary thought that a wine glass rack would fit inside the upper kitchen cabinet on the forward wall and keep our tall, heavy, UNBREAKABLE PLASTIC wine glasses in place while we are on the road, so I scrabbled one together out of some scrap wood...won't win any awards but it should do the trick.

Clever. Well done!

[morriekent]

Thank you for this tip....we have experienced this to and from Chilliwack to Palm Springs and didn't know what to do.....

[davidmurphy02]

I added a 2nd sewer tube on our build sheet, and later found that 5' and 10' Rhino hose sections with fittings plus the elbow and tapered threaded sewer adapter all fit neatly in one tube.

Then I remembered a post from Jon Vermilye about a folding stepladder, checked it out and found that it fits neatly in the other sewer tube....thanks, Jon! My only regret is that I wanted to get the 72" ladder and the sewer tube is, for some reason, 71" Fortunately they also make a 60" version of the ladder which will likely be enough to reach anything I need to for emergency repairs while on the road - electric awning problems or any window issues, especially in the bedroom.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[davidmurphy02]

One of the first things Mary asks when she wakes up in the morning is "What's the temperature outside?". On our old trailer we had one of those big round stick-on thermometers on the back window, not very attractive nor accurate. Now there are a million inexpensive wireless indoor/outdoor thermometers so I added one just above the thermostat. I mounted the outdoor unit up under the kingpin arm, it hangs on a screw but I also incorporated a little shelf under it to catch it in case it ever falls off. I used a couple of the unused top holes on the kingpin mount, with fender washers and wood screws into the wood mount to secure it. The screws and washers are the two upper right ones in the last photo, I painted them black to blend in.

It has a nice yellow light that also serves as a handy night light for the bedroom, although the regular thermostat light worked fine for that as well. The battery in the outdoor unit is rechargeable, it comes with a USB signal and lets you know when it's time to bring it in for a charge.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[mtnest]

Very impressive mods. All nicely done. And none too pricey or complicated. Thanks for the ideas.

[davidmurphy02]

I store a lot of stuff in the front upper storage compartment - gas grill, one gallon propane bottle, and all my water hoses, power cords, extensions, fittings and adapters. I wanted something a little more durable than the raw plywood floor so I added a solid piece of fairly heavy sheet metal from a roll that I had in my workshop. Now I have a bulletproof floor that will be durable and easy to clean out.

[7th Heaven]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

One last little mod for now (how many times will I say that in the years ahead...). Mary thought that a wine glass rack would fit inside the upper kitchen cabinet on the forward wall and keep our tall, heavy, UNBREAKABLE PLASTIC wine glasses in place while we are on the road, so I scrabbled one together out of some scrap wood...won't win any awards but it should do the trick.

The UPS guy brought me a nice box today with my SAM-1 range hood fan upgrade kit, looks like I won't run out of projects any time soon.

You will be very happy after you get the SAM-1 installed ... night & day difference!!

I'm going to have to steal your wine glass rack idea ... our are unbreakable as well but are always rolling around and getting in the way

[7th Heaven]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Have the same ladder and it works well with the trailer .. my only complaint is that it lacks a cross bar at the top

[davidmurphy02]

The lack of a lip on the medicine cabinet shelves is a problem...open the door after travel and things often come tumbling out. I tried some of the spring tension rods, but they were thick and took up a good bit of space in those small shelves, and sometimes wanted to work loose.

There's actually almost 1/4" of clearance between the door and the cabinet walls when the door is closed, it hits the screw head covers. So I cut some strips of clear thin plexiglass and used strong double sided mounting tape pieces to attach them to the sides, and in the case of the bottom shelf also along the bottom. Works great, you can see the contents, doesn't take up any shelf space and the door still closes just fine.

I wasn't able to get a photo that really showed them since they're clear - if you look very closely you can see the line of the plexiglass edge on a couple of them, and the mounting tape strips on the outside.

[JStelly]

You have so many great ideas! We are taking delivery of our new 5.0 in July and back to Houston by the end of August. I now have my September “to do” list. [emoji4]

[cpaharley2008]

Dave, try using plastic bins bought at the dollar store in the medicine chest, the bins stay put because of the door and when opening the contents of the bins stay put.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

The UPS guy brought me a nice box today with my SAM-1 range hood fan upgrade kit, looks like I won't run out of projects any time soon.

You will really like that mod David. Well worth the effort. Super quiet, and will exhaust far more air. The LED strip night light is a nice feature as well.

[gbaglo]

I like Dave's solution better than bins.
Not having the cupboard, wife and I each have a small bag for meds, shampoo etc. Stores in a cupboard and is handy to take to camp showers, or to use in the trailer.

[jnfrombigt]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

You will really like that mod David. Well worth the effort. Super quiet, and will exhaust far more air. The LED strip night light is a nice feature as well.

Is that the SAM-1-81 model? I'll be working on mods on the trip back and that could be another.

[padlin]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I do not understand why you cover your trailer until fall? Is not this prime time camping in your area?

I cover mine for the summer too, I'm a 3 season camper. Now that I'm retired I can travel when I want. I prefer cooler, less buggy, and less crowded times.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by jnfrombigt

Is that the SAM-1-81 model? I'll be working on mods on the trip back and that could be another.

When I did mine it was just called the SAM-1, and we bought it directly from FOP. Now they're apparently sold 3rd party and they have a different model number. But yeah, the "-81" looks to be the same one I have.

[gbaglo]

I'm not going anywhere until somebody washes and waxes the trailer.