Clipper, Cutter, Land Yacht, Interior Updates

[masseyfarm]

Coffee and drink holders.
How many times have you had a large water bottle, or a large top heavy coffee or pop, spill out of the OEM cupholders on the Airstream?
Many have tried to add a spacer holding a sheet of plexi above the surface to stabalize the cup.
I added a scrap piece of plexi to the surface but it did not do the job. If the hole is cut to hold the big cups, the small base on the others will still allow it to tip over if you hit that big dip on the corner at the bottom of the hill.
Simple solution:
Take a cap off a spray paint can and cut the solid top off it with the grinder. You now have a bushing that fits tightly into the cupholder, and secures the smaller base cups.
If not needed, it can be pulled out, and because it is light and flexible, it can be stored anywhere nearby.
No more spilt milk!
Dave

[masseyfarm]

I came across this Yacht Clock and couldn't resist.
Installed it above the media desk on the bottom of upper cabinet.
Out of the way, but visible from most sitting areas in the Clipper.
The tick-tok is relaxing at the end of a long driving day.
Dave

[masseyfarm]

Needed a screen on the navigator side to avoid loss of important papers while travelling the continent.
Used a spring wire from an old lamp shade, and cut up some 1/4" plastic hose. Slit the hose lengthwise to slip over the spring wire and hold the screen tight.
You can now mould the wire to the shape of the window with the joint at the front, below the window handle. Join the wire here with a solid piece of the hose.
Now you can pull the screen tight from all angles and snap the cut pieces of hose over the screen to keep it in place.
I managed to make mine a little shorter than I wanted, but it works great and I can make another when I have more time.
There are plastic type retainers on the outside and inside of the sliding glass that lift out. Reinstall them after the screen is imbedded in the channel.

Another aid in manouvering in town traffic, is the addition of a Fresnel Lens for the passenger side window.
I have since moved it forward about 6" to the window handle frame so that I can see it while the navigator is seated.
Inexpensive safety update.
Dave

[Schools Out]

Dave, love your easy fixes & updates. We took a different approach to the wooden cup holder in our LY....When we recarpeted, we did not have it reinstalled. We never found it to be very user friendly. It allowed drinks to tip over & if any thing was in or on it, the doors to the media cabinet were blocked. Now that it's gone, we have room for a little table between the chairs (used when we're parked) and I can easily get to the atlas while we're moving.

[masseyfarm]

If your holder was the same as this, -- What about relocating the oak cup holder to the floor beside the driver seat. I have a holder there to store my extra bottle of water and a round hand-wipe container that I access while driving after eating popcorn. You can purchase various sizes to fit the existing hole or modify the oak holder? Could also hold other items as needed? It should be low enough for the seat to still rotate. Or cut it in two and install half beside each seat butted to the sidewall?
I hate to see a good piece of oak go to waste.
Dave

Originally Posted by dowpells

Dave, love your easy fixes & updates. We took a different approach to the wooden cup holder in our LY....When we recarpeted, we did not have it reinstalled. We never found it to be very user friendly. It allowed drinks to tip over & if any thing was in or on it, the doors to the media cabinet were blocked. Now that it's gone, we have room for a little table between the chairs (used when we're parked) and I can easily get to the atlas while we're moving.

[Schools Out]

Yup, that's what it looks like. Now imagine a tall water bottle or coffee cup in that shallow (1 inch deep) cup holder...then try to open the media cabinet (black) door with cups in place. The door catches are some kind of spring that sends the door flying open knocking the said beverage containers over....oh, the cell phones are in the square opening between the 2 holders. I'm grabbing the cups hoping to spare the cell phones from a watery death which causes John to get distracted & he's riding the rumble strips (again)...OK, I'm being a little bit dramatic. Really, we enjoy our coffee, water, etc while moving down the road & found some hanging cup holders that hold whatever size cup/bottle we put in them. Last trip I added a small basket for the cell phones, coins, etc. Worked great.
We won't "waste" that piece of oak...if we can't repurpose it, it will be tucked away for the next owner.
Keep those ideas coming...

[masseyfarm]

I don't wear glasses anymore, but need reading glasses when the light is limited.
Seems every TV/DVD remote is different so I need glasses to see the little buttons on the controllers while winding down in the BR.
Installed a holder and leave glasses in it all the time. Now I always have glasses within reach.


This is our internet HUB mounted in the upper pass. side w/s window pillar. Out of line of sight and up above other signal blockers in the Clipper.
Powered from the house batteries (#2 battery bank), from the plug/power bar in the upper cabinet. (now that I have replaced the front 400W invertor #3 battery bank, with a 1000W I may switch the hub to this circuit?)
The holder is made from a scrap piece of plexi. heated and folded. Behind the hub, in the corner of the w/s, is the Bluetooth GPS. For charging the BTGPS I just plug it into the hub.

Note:
The XANTREX invertor has an option which allows operation without the charger while not on shore power, or aux. power. If you find your invertor hard on batteries, check to see if the charger is running at all times. (the invertor will use more power than it will produce) On the Clipper, the control panel over the microwave must be removed and the dip switches on the rear of the invertor control changed. This is also where you set the charger for acid bath or glass mat batteries.
We generally leave the XANTREX invertor on at all times, as we have enough solar to keep everything going.
Dave

[Schools Out]

More neat ideas. Thanks for posting.

[masseyfarm]

There is nothing worse that carpet in the toilet area that can not be washed.
With grandchildren and other traffic using the area, it was always a concern.
On the OEM Clipper, and I am sure many others models, the utility corridor on the drivers side was boxed with plywood with carpet glued and stapled to it.
In 2008, I tore this box out and replaced it with ABS, which was easy to clean, and I had no worries about the hygiene of that area.
To give a finished look to the ABS pipe, I trimmed it with gold stair nosing, that blends in with the other bath fixtures and trim.
Dave

[jcessna]

Great ideas guys. Jim

[Keyair]

Yes, Great ideas!

[masseyfarm]

After numerous incidents of accidentally shutting off the house battery disconnect switch, located at the entrance with the other switches, I have installed the simplest solution that should work.
I cut a small piece of plexi glass to fit over the switch to hold it in the "on position". The plexi pivots so that the switch can be shut off if wanted.
As you can see I used a small second piece to act as a spacer.
I was already to install a recessed switch, but this looked to easy.
Dave

[masseyfarm]

Applies specifically to the Clipper, but a similar modification may help other overhead video cabinet requirements.
The overhead center mounted cabinet, required for the original large TV that was OEM installed, projected out enough to become a real head banger if one had a short memory like myself. (Its amazing how many times you can hit your head on the same item before you are motivated to make an alteration.)
As the physical size of TV's shrank, there was no longer a need for the box to be that large so in 2008 when we installed the LG HDTV I trimmed the box back to line up with the side cabinets.
Careful trimming allowed the angle and depth to be altered without having to change the vinyl, and resulted in approx. a 4" gain at the critical bottom corner of the cabinet.

You can see I also added additional map lights that actually shine on the drivers location, so that a map can be placed over the steering wheel and have good light directed on it.
Dave

[masseyfarm]

Applies to Clipper, but the basic idea should work on most RV's.

In most RV's the floor space is valuable real estate. To help with this, in 2008, I made up and installed a couple oak colored ,wood magazine style, stands in the bedroom to hold SOME of my spouses shoes. (No, she is not Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines who was infamous for owning thousands of shoes.)

The shoe holders keep the shoes off the floor, are out of the way and do not use up any space that was otherwise usable. They are mounted off the floor so that your foot still has the original toe space while standing or walking by and the vacuum will move below them.

For my Clipper pusher, the mounting had to leave enough room to be able to stand the mattress against the wall if upper engine access was required. The unit installed at the lower drawer did not take a drawer space, as that is the air intake for the Cummins CT300 behind that blank. This one has a bottom in the holder to allow it to hold a magazine if wanted for bedtime reading. The other, on the BR front wall, has an open bottom that the shoe slides down into. This will hold 4 pair of sandals with ease. It was also mounted to allow and protect the fire extinguisher in the corner that is also mounted above the floor, to allow the vacuum to move under it.

I should point out that the Clipper originally had a pocket door at the entrance to the bedroom that we have removed which allows space for the front holder. We found that this door was not necessary, as there is also a pocket door at the kitchen entrance. This also allows a coat hanger assembly to be mounted on the upper part of this wall. No picture at this time.

Dave

[masseyfarm]

Got my Houck plastic rear mounts for the drawer hardware today. Had three mounts that were broken on the rear of the slides. All fixed now and they work as they should.

The drawer hardware on the CLIPPER uses "Houck CT rear mount bracket STK 251 ADJUSTABLE screw in", and there is a left and right, so be sure to order what you need.

The "751" is somewhat similar but the metal track will not fit in the slide. So look closely at the pictures before ordering.
The brackets on the Clipper have a number stamped into the rear mount.
The new brackets do not appear to have a number on them.

http://www.houckind.com/PDF/Domestic...Bracketsbw.pdf



Ask for Rick if you have questions about the products.

Dave

[masseyfarm]

This was something I did a few years ago to hold more stuff that is used in the bathroom. Seems there never is enough storage in this area.

I just bent up a piece of gold flatbar, and mounted it above the sink to hold soap dispenser, his-n-hers water bottle, shampoo, etc.

Holds everything in place, and frees up the medicine cabinet for other less used items.


You can also just see the additional wet face cloth holder mounted under the cabinet.

Dave

[Keyair]

Nice!

No wonder the price of Gold is going up....

[masseyfarm]

As this is going to be a travel the Island year, and we will be accompanied by our youngest granddaughter at times, (who likes to push buttons) I thought it a priority to make some type of safety cover for the Propane Magic Chef stove controls'

The cover just had to eliminate her temptation to turn knob's when we aren't looking.

I cut up a light plastic box and it seems to do the job quit well. When not needed, it stores on the ledge under the kitchen sink, behind the drain.

Dave

[masseyfarm]

For some time we had a stick swivel chair in the Clipper, but found it took up too much room when the couch was used as a bed for guests. Although I had a seat belt set up for it, it was not really a seat that was useful while traveling and sat too low to the floor for forward window view. It was not even a good seat to use the laptop at the media desk. We also originally thought that we might use that chair outside on occasion, but that was never done so it was time to update.

I have gone back to a simple RV barrel chair with the integral seat belts. It had to be mounted high enough to give some vision out of the front window while underway, and had to clear the printer that was installed between it and the sidewall. Again, maximizing floor space was also a goal, so this required a special seat base.

I had fabricated an aluminium box, and had the seat pedestal cut down to 2" height. This allowed the seat to swivel, and the top of the box is hinged on the front so that the seat can be unlocked and tipped forward for better access to the area the printer is mounted if necessary.

The aluminium box that supports the seat base in now available for additional storage of shoes, etc, as it is right at the door entrance.

I added a foot rail at the front of the box which also acts as a retainer to keep any large item from going forward if a quick stop was to happen.

This now has proved to be a good useful change, and the next update will to eventually have the chair recovered in Ultra Leather to match the couch.

Dave

[masseyfarm]

Originally, I had a 12V desk mount lamp here that worked well but again took up valuable desk space.

I updated this with a wall mount version converted to and powered from the 12V power plug at the rear of the passenger side window. (off the #10 wire run to the front solar panel mounted on the front Penquin AC that powers the #3 battery bank.)

I fabricated an aluminum backing plate that mounts to the bottom of the window frame, thus not putting any holes in the wall fabric on the Clipper, so that it can be removed later if wanted.

There are good OEM lamps above this desk mounted in the bottom of the overhead cabinet, but this new lamp can be moved to direct light to a specific area. It could even be used by a passenger seated in the barrel chair, at night, while underway if wanted.

This media desk has a PLEXI top that can be slide under the rear retainer, that doubles the desktop size of eating from the barrel chair and the front passenger Captains chair when it is reversed. The PLEXI top is stored between the end of the kitchen counter and the couch.

Dave