We found that whenever sitting down at the table for a meal or whatever, it was always covered several layers deep with the clutter of the day. Some sort of shelves were clearly called for, and a 2-shelf unit ended up being built and hung on 6 of the front window frame screws and supported by a length of 2” x 2” x 1/16” aluminum 90 degree angle stock, bent just enough to compensate for the non-plumbness of the window frame due to the lean-in at the top.
The top shelf is screwed to the aluminum angle, and the bottom shelf is hung therefrom. Two gooseneck (geeseneck?) task / reading lights are mounted to the end pieces, and a standard small oval ceiling light is mounted to the underside of the bottom shelf for some indirect lighting for those romantic evening trailer interludes. The geeseneck wiring is all hidden inside the vertical end pieces, and runs in routed slots along the underside of the bottom shelf
The wiring for the electrical stuff is currently encased in white split-loom, but will eventually be enclosed in an oak channel that will run up the front wall to the bottom shelf, and includes 12 volts for 2 x 2-port switched USB’s, a 200 watt inverter with 4 built-in USB ports, feeds for the geeseneck and under-shelf lights, a 12 volt “cigarette lighter” socket, and the antenna feeds for the Verizon remote cellular hot-spot and the OTA TV antenna. We really wanted to get all this stuff up to the tabletop and avoid having wires draped all over the countryside.
The inverter is mounted upside-down in order to position the 4 USB ports facing the passenger side for easier access, and so that the 120 volt outlets would have the grounds below hot and neutral - just couldn’t stand to see the 120’s mounted upside-down with grounds at the top. Of course that meant that the voltage and current displays would be upside-down, but ya can’t have everything. The left switch turns on/off the inverter and one of the 2 USB units which has charging cables for the iPhone and the hot-spot snaking out from behind the panel, and the other switch controls the second USB unit that has 2 USB cables snaking out for whatever. The 12 volt cig lighter is always live since there is no parasitic drain and ergo no switch needed.
The shelves are the same width as the table top, and with the 45 degree angled shelf corners it all integrates quite nicely, at least to our blurry eyes. Adding to the excitement, the whole contraption seems to be floating, magically and mystically, in space, although we all know better.
Hanging the weight of all this stuff from the poor window frame was a concern, so the 1/2” plywood shelves were attacked from their undersides with a router, and are for the most part only about 1/8” thick - the only parts that remained 1/2” thick were the spots where the top shelf is screwed to the aluminum angle and where the 4 vertical pieces join the 2 shelves together. A length of 3/4” oak dowel is inserted between the lowered tabletop and a 3/4” relief Dremelled into the bottom shelf (thought ahead for once) when the trailer is being towed, which appears to adequately take the load off of the window frame, at least we see no issues thus far. The bottom shelf actually extends forward further than the top shelf and bears against the front wall which tends to suppress fore-and aft wagging of the unit.
One caveat: The inverter is from Amazon, and it appears that the identical unit is sold under several brand names - about 23 bucks. Upon taking it apart to mount it from behind, it was noted that the ground is simply a plastic sleeve that goes absolutely nowhere electrical.
More incompletely documented mods at:
http://www.dsfrazee.net/trailers.and...nd.towing.html
Works best on a PC, not a mobile device.
Linear Mode
