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

[davidmurphy02]

I've seen others add magnetic knife racks next to the cooktop and that seemed like a great place for one. I found one that is exactly the width of the wall, 14", and has a very strong magnet. Just to be sure nothing bounces off while we're traveling I added a second one, holds even the big heavy butcher knife very securely - didn't want to take any chances with cats riding in the trailer. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[padlin]

Originally Posted by MikeS

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Here you go.

[MikeS]

Thanks Bob! Design makes sense.

[davidmurphy02]

I've been concerned about quite a few problems with the furnace sail switch clogging up with small amounts of lint. Since we travel with a trailer full of cats, I knew it would be an issue for us. We always used a small electric space heater in our old trailer when we had shore power, and also use several at home. I added a piece of window screen material to the back of the space heaters with Gorilla tape. Heaters have worked fine that way for years, and it's easy to just wipe off the lint from the back once a month or so just like cleaning a dryer lint screen. I used a special cat-claw resistant screen material since I build catios for a living and have a workshop full of it, but I think any common window screen material would work fine. Window screen hardly restricts air flow at all, but will certainly catch dust bunnies and pieces of lint.

So I removed the black plastic furnace grate, cut off the zip ties holding the flexible vent on, and removed the vent. Then I removed the wood frame covering the hole. I considered stapling the screen material to the back of the wood frame, but was concerned the staples might splinter the oak. It was actually easier to staple the screen to the paneling / soft wood below just around the edge of the hole. I cut a round hole in the center just the size of the flexible vent. Then I pulled the vent through the hole - very carefully, there is just enough room to pull it several inches through to work it onto the flange on the back of the plastic grate and zip tied it securely in place. Two screws and the plastic grate is back and it's done. If you ever need to access the furnace for repair, easy enough to just cut out the screen with a utility knife and staple a new piece up afterward. In my case I hope that's unlikely, with the new furnace everything that tends to break is now accessible through the exterior panel.

When we can see lint collecting on the screen, it will be simple to pop out the two screws holding the grate, pull it out an inch or two, and scrape off the lint. We are in Texas and it is hot today so I can't test it just yet....we have a trip to Utah planned in the fall and I'll report back on how it does. We used the furnace in our old trailer only when boondocking because it was really loud, but this one is so quiet that I expect we'll use it more, I never trust the cheap electric heaters and would not run them when we are sleeping.

[cpaharley2008]

Dave, can you post a source for your screen material?

[davidmurphy02]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Dave, can you post a source for your screen material?

https://www.metroscreenworks.com/rol.../super-screen/

This is the material I use in building catios, it is very strong and cat claws do not hurt it. I may rescreen all our trailer windows with it, although our cats have never bothered window screens. I did that in our old trailer primarily because the factory standard screen material was getting brittle from years in the Texas sun. For the furnace grate it may not be cost effective to order whatever the smallest piece you can get online is of Super Screen, I really think standard window screen from Home Depot would work fine. If I was coming to Oosyos I'd cut a bunch of furnace size pieces and give to anyone who wanted one, but we will not make it up there - were about to put the trailer in storage for the summer and have plans for a fall trip to Utah, but just learned that a good friend in New Mexico passed away suddenly and we are making preparations to load up the cats and head to Albuquerque in a few days. If the nights are cool we'll get to run the furnace a bit and see how it does.

[Rrgramps]

Thanks David, for these useful, but simple mods.

[davidmurphy02]

Mary loves to cook, and in the trailer she likes to cook almost as much as when we are at home. Lucky me!!! A well equipped kitchen is important to her, and having utensils readily available is part of that. I installed a hanging utensil rack over the sink, we had a similar arrangement in our previous trailer and it worked well for us.

This is a stainless steel rod 31.5" wide, the perfect width for the mounting brackets fitting in the space on each side of the window. The rod sits out from the wall a few inches and the bracket screws would have just gone into the thin paneling, so I removed the valance and added 1/2" thick oak blocks screwed securely to the cabinet framework next to the wall to provide a secure mounting surface for the rail brackets.

There are a ton of similar utensil racks out there, but it took a bit of searching to find this one just the right width for our 5.0TA kitchen: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[davidmurphy02]

We wanted to maximize the storage capacity in the big pantry, when we go on extended trips we tend to carry a lot of food items that may be difficult to find in remote areas. I had intended put Elfa drawers on both shelves, but we found that a couple of big plastic bins we had fit exactly on the upper pantry shelf. We can put less frequently used items in the back bin, the front one is easy to pull out and grab things, and the two bins together plus a little space on the side have more storage capacity than the Elfa drawer would have.

On the lower shelf I didn't want to put bins that could bounce around during travel because there are exposed plumbing lines and connectors in the back on the right side wall that feed the bathroom sink. An Elfa drawer turned out to be perfect for that spot, it's just a bit narrower than the opening so it allows a safe space for those plumbing lines. Because of the tall lip on the bottom shelf I had to add some spacer boards to mount the drawer slide mechanism an inch and a half above the floor in order to clear the lip when it slides forward, but it's worth losing that little bit of space in return for the convenience of a big long drawer that pulls out for easy access.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

One free mod I got was having a full length door on the cabinet just inside the front door next to the steps. That used to be accessible mainly through an outside hatch, but we wanted it all for more readily accessible interior storage. When I asked for that, Linda let me know that they had just switched (last fall) to doing that a standard feature now. That cabinet comes with no shelves but one is easily added depending on what you want to put in there - in our case a six pack holder of heavy wine bottles on the floor, a trash can, folding broom, and the all important cat litter scoop And additional storage space on the newly added shelf above those items.

I thought that they told me that when you get the optional full cabinet instead of the counter space with a cabinet above it in that same area up above it that they put several shelves in that tall cabinet. Nope - but they are easily added.

David, what are the dimensions of the shelves (w x L x thickness). I thought I'd save some money and cut my own then install them when I get out there. It looks like Escape did not go the route of pre-drilling holes for adjustible shelves...?

[davidmurphy02]

Originally Posted by Telescopist

David, what are the dimensions of the shelves (w x L x thickness). I thought I'd save some money and cut my own then install them when I get out there. It looks like Escape did not go the route of pre-drilling holes for adjustible shelves...?

That tall cabinet's dimensions vary a bit - the shell curves up and appears to also have a small bit of side to side curvature so you will need to measure each shelf depending on where you put them. I didn't realize that at first and it gave me a bit of trouble fitting the shelves in until I figured that out. I added small wood supports screwed into the cabinet framework on the sides and then mounted the shelves to them - any thickness you like would work OK, I think, I used 5/8 plywood and it is plenty sturdy for that size shelf. It can be a bit of a trick sliding the shelves into place if you cut them to fit fairly precisely - I had to remove a couple of the cabinet screws / caps so the shelve could slide down into place, then reinstall. There's a big flex conduit near the top for the wiring for the awning remote sensor, but easily shifted if necessary depending on the placement of your shelf. I'll go out today and get you a rough measurement but recommend you plan to trim them to fit once you measure.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

That tall cabinet's dimensions vary a bit - the shell curves up and appears to also have a small bit of side to side curvature so you will need to measure each shelf depending on where you put them. I didn't realize that at first and it gave me a bit of trouble fitting the shelves in until I figured that out. I added small wood supports screwed into the cabinet framework on the sides and then mounted the shelves to them - any thickness you like would work OK, I think, I used 5/8 plywood and it is plenty sturdy for that size shelf. It can be a bit of a trick sliding the shelves into place if you cut them to fit fairly precisely - I had to remove a couple of the cabinet screws / caps so the shelve could slide down into place, then reinstall. There's a big flex conduit near the top for the wiring for the awning remote sensor, but easily shifted if necessary depending on the placement of your shelf. I'll go out today and get you a rough measurement but recommend you plan to trim them to fit once you measure.

Looking at your Picts I could see that there is a radius to that back wall. What length screws did you use? Did you consider mounting an adjustable shelf rack first? The box stores don't sell 5/8" plywood. I'll probably spring for 15/32". I was thinking this might be something I could do 'on the road'. But now I see that I'll have to wait until I get back to home base.

[davidmurphy02]

Originally Posted by Telescopist

Looking at your Picts I could see that there is a radius to that back wall. What length screws did you use? Did you consider mounting an adjustable shelf rack first? The box stores don't sell 5/8" plywood. I'll probably spring for 15/32". I was thinking this might be something I could do 'on the road'. But now I see that I'll have to wait until I get back to home base.

One thing we learned is that despite a lot of advance planning on how we thought we'd do and arrange things, after spending a week in the trailer we wound up doing a few things differently. My advice would be to do as little permanent stuff as possible until getting home and knowing for sure how you want to set it up. When you can get inside that cabinet and see it you'll have a better idea of how to deal with shelves. Each shelf will be under 17" square, and each will have different dimensions.

For our initial trip after pickup probably the two biggest things as far as livability were towel bars etc. in the bathroom - suction cup or sticky mount from Ikea worked great, the bar length is adjustable - and a few 3M Command large hooks to provide coat hook hangers on the walls. They are removable, inexpensive, and kept us from having to immediately decide exactly where something like an Umbra or other more permanent hook would go.

[davidmurphy02]

The long toggle arm on the battery disconnect switch we have found to be easily bumped into the off position, and that's with just the two of us coming and going from the dinette - I would imagine with more than two people, or a big dog down there, it would get bumped a lot. I made a small upper guard from a leftover piece of 1/2" oak trim and screwed it in place just above the switch. It's unobtrusive and hopefully will solve this issue, if not then on to a more complete cover.

We have also found that the EMS switch also gets easily bumped into the off position, but that is not nearly as big a deal as having the battery cutoff switch inadvertently turned off. When it happens to the EMS switch, the surge protector is still working but the other features are bypassed and the display changes from the normal readout to "OFF" so it's easy to spot and correct. And because the EMS display is at the front edge of the dinette I think a cover of any kind would be more obtrusive so I'm avoiding that for now.

[h2owmn]

I used a piece of painter's tape to secure the position of the ems switch. if i ever want to use a generator, which i don't have, the tape is easily removed. Ever so elegant.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

One thing we learned is that despite a lot of advance planning on how we thought we'd do and arrange things, after spending a week in the trailer we wound up doing a few things differently. My advice would be to do as little permanent stuff as possible until getting home and knowing for sure how you want to set it up. When you can get inside that cabinet and see it you'll have a better idea of how to deal with shelves. Each shelf will be under 17" square, and each will have different dimensions.

For our initial trip after pickup probably the two biggest things as far as livability were towel bars etc. in the bathroom - suction cup or sticky mount from Ikea worked great, the bar length is adjustable - and a few 3M Command large hooks to provide coat hook hangers on the walls. They are removable, inexpensive, and kept us from having to immediately decide exactly where something like an Umbra or other more permanent hook would go.

Great advice. I'm going to get a few of those suction cup type gadgets. Why drill holes when you can suck.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Telescopist

Great advice. I'm going to get a few of those suction cup type gadgets. Why drill holes when you can suck.

What have I been saying for years?

[davidmurphy02]

Originally Posted by Telescopist

Great advice. I'm going to get a few of those suction cup type gadgets. Why drill holes when you can suck.

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.

[Telescopist]

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.

Yes. Those are all cool. I'm going to get one of each and bring them with me to the Factory. Looks like Amazon carries similar gadgets too.

[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.

We're leaving in the morning for a short trip to Albuquerque for a funeral, sadly, but we are excited to get a chance to do a little camping en route because the trailer will be heading off to storage when we return until the fall when we are planning a good long trip to Utah. We will check out those wine glasses around the campfire tomorrow night and make sure they still work

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.