Hello New Member Here

[Ira_P]

Hello,

I Have been reading posts here for a while, and thought it was time to say Hello and thanks for many ideas. We got our popup four years ago, when my wife said no more to sleeping on the ground! It was getting to hard on her hip. We have a 2002 Coleman Cottonwood and tow with Ford Explorer. After the first year I started to look at doing some mods. Most of the ideas came from this site and the popup explorer site, Thank you. Sorry no pictures at this time.

1) Bunkend shelves, I used 12" wire shelves from home depot with three small chains to hold them up.

2) Reflectixs under the end beds for warmth.

3) Fridge baffle and 12 volt muffin fan. The fan has an LED light that give a soft blue light, so I always know when it's on.

4) Galley shelves. We have a flip-down galley,  I used a 1'  length of 1 1/2" PCV pipe to slide over the galley pole and use large hose clamps to attach an adjustable shelve support. One of these for each galley pole. These support adjustable shelve brackets and two shevlevs.

5) Removed the hand pump faucet and replaced with a high neck faucet for a wet bar. Replumbed the water to have the tank water ( with a new electric pump ) goto the cold water side and the City water goto the hot water side of the faucet. Some day I will get around to moving the water tank from the seat to under the trailer and add a hot water heater.

6) Added two cheap clip on fans ( $9.99 from walmart ) and change the plugs to 1/4" plugs to connect to the lights.

7) Made a reading light by rivitted a broom clip to the back of a cheap replacement dome light ( Walmart ) and adding 3' of lampcord and a 1/4" plug. The light has a built in switch and clips to the shepards pole over our bed.

Added a switched 3 plug 12V addapter to plug in the cell phone charger and other misc. items.

9) Added a 350watt inverter to run a small TV or a laptop. DVD's on the laptop keep the kids busy ( and not arguing with each other ) on cold rainy nights

10) Swagman hitch bicycle rack ( 3 bikes )

11) Added a roof rack to the trailer and a Sears 20 cu. ft. cargo box. There is no room in the Explorer for cargo when we have the dogs with us.

I sure there will be more mods in the future, when I thinks of them and find the time.

[SpeakEasy]

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

What took you so long to join in? It sounds like you'll fit right in here. You will have to be advising all the newbies about mods.

Glad to have you here, Ira_P.



-Speak

[chip]

PICTURES!  We need PICTURES!  

I am particularly interested in the bunkend shelves.  Been thinking about just such a mod, and haven't quite figgered it out yet.  
 
Or maybe you could expound??

[tlhdoc]

Welcome and post more details on your mods.

[LimeJeeeep]

welcome from FLA

[oldmoose]

Welcome to PUT. This is a great site.Moose

[Ira_P]

I'll try to get pictures this weekend when I can pop the trailer up. As for the bunk end shelves, I picked up some 12" wide wire shelves at home depot, a little longer than the width of the bunk end. I then trimmed them to fit in the of the bunkend canvas support ( don't know the correct name. ) In the support bar, there are two holes, I drilled them out slightly larger to have the wire end of the shelf fit into it.


.......   ________________________________________        
......   / ___+_______________________________+__  
.....   / /      
....   / /     ^ Chains hook here                                                                                                  
...   / /                                                                      
..   / /                                                                  
.   / /                                                                    
  | |                                                                      
  | | <---- Bunk end canvas spport bar                        
  | |                                                                      
  | | Cut the shelf to have the wire extend past the rest  
  | | of the shelf and fit into the hole in the support        
  |_______________________________________________        
  | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |    
  | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  
  | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  
  | |    --------------------------------------------      
  | |  Cut the corner of the shelve to allow it to lay flat when closing              
  | |   the trailer
  | |

I used a small chain and a S hook to hold the shelf level. There are two other small holes at the upper part of the bunk end canvas support bar that I hook the S hook into. I found that a third chain holding up the center of the shelf helps keeps it from sagging under too much weight.

Sorry for the poor diagram, Hope that helps you on the Bunkend shelves.

[mkcom1]

Can you explain alittle better.  Sounds like an interesting idea.  Ken

[Ira_P]

Well, I'll try.

I cut the wrie shelf so that the wire running along the backside of the shelf is about an inch longer than the rest of the shelf. This is the wire end that inserts into the bunkend cavas support pole. On the support there are two small holes, I drilled them out to fit the diameter of the wire on the shelf,  The front side of the shelf, I trimmed the corners at an angle to allow the shelf to lay flat when folding up the trailer.

I used small chains with "S" hooks to hold the shelf level. There are twosmall holes at the top of the support bar, that the hooks slip into.

I'm going to open up the trailer tomorrow, so I'll try to get some pictures.


In the meanwhile, here is a poor sketch.

[wavery]

I have a similar shelf over my dinette. This shelf would be a super cool mod. A place to put our jammies, alarm clock, shower bags, dirty clothes bag (not over my head.....says my wife)......the list is endless. What a great idea.

I'm just a little shy about drilling holes in that support. I think that I will find a reinforcing tube to slide over the original tube first. Those supports are under a lot of stress in the wind. I've already had a Shepard's Hook bend in two on me .

Thanks..