Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 15:03:02 -0700
Reply-To: "Mike \"Rocket J Squirrel\" Elliott" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Mike \"Rocket J Squirrel\" Elliott" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Some kind of shelf?
In-Reply-To: <c4e7c5f90706011407j2ca246ccp7bab4f12235edbc4@mail.gmail.com>
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Skewers? Yeah, they have some serious power.
Are you thinking four vertical pins, two per side, arranged above each
other?
This idea is getting better as more and smarter guys look at it. My
initial idea was to install a new crossmember up near the roof using
hose clamps and L-brackets as Jake suggested, and run a PVC pipe between
them as the shelf hanger rod -- like a clothes closet rod. The shelf
would hang below it in some fashion Yet To Be Determined (YTBD), which
gets the shelf up high enough so I don't bonk my head on it. The shelf
hanging system wants to be E-Z on, E-Z off for stowing.
Tom's looking at this from a different angle, utilizing the existing
crossmember, simplifying things. If I understand his idea (50-50 odds on
that, I am short on imagination), the shelf does not hang from a rod;
rather, it has a backstop which is affixed to the rod using U-bolts that
clamp the backstop to the rod. This lifts the shelf up to where the
crossrod is, and no dangling is required. This is a good idea but it
seems to me that the shelf might rotate downward with weight on it
unless the the u-bolts are really really tight -- so much so that the
rod might be dented. A tool would probably be needed. But I could be
really wrong about this -- there could be a lot of friction between the
rod and the shelf's backstop.
The kind of weight I have in mind is groceries and stuff like that.
Things you'd like to have fall on your head when reaching up to the
front to turn off the radio.
But your idea overcomes the rotation thing. A 1 x 4 or 1 x 6 backstop
with two pin sockets per side, one above the other like (as you say) a
Vanagon cabinet door. The sockets mate with the two pins per side that
have been hose-clamped to the uprights. I wonder if there is a way to
affix half of a 4'' door hinge onto the upright, and the other half on
the rear of the backstop, and just drop in the hinge pin to hold it all
together? Then hinge the backstop to the shelf, as Tom plans to do, so
the whole thing folds flat.
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR
On 6/1/2007 2:07 PM neil wrote:
> Forgive me if some of this has been suggested/worked out in posts.
>
> Wing nuts could have one ear cut off or shaved back. Or you could use
> nuts and keep an old socket nearby to tighten. Even by hand that
> should provide enough torque, though I don't know how much weight you
> want in there.
>
> am not certain of your design idea/needs, but I'd think a quick
> up/down unit could be mounted at vertical tubes and not cross bar or
> additional cross bar.
>
> I was fixing my bike yesterday, and was just remembering how the
> mechanism that keeps the wheels on, works.
>
> An adj. nut on one end of axle with a lever clamp on the other.
> Tighten nut a bit then clamp down. I would imagine something like that
> would clamp well, but can't quickly see how it would be adapted. Just
> a thought to bring other ideas to the fore.
>
> I imagine a permanently mounted storage box would not work as it would
> get in the way when collapsing pop top.
>
> How about this.
>
> 4 hose clamps. Add a small diameter tube to each, and clamp to
> vertical posts. You could even file a little groove at each small tube
> so band of clamp seats in there.
>
> Then make a box with 4 posts (like Westy cabinet door hinges).
>
> Just lift it up and slide into small diameter tubes attached at vertical
> posts.
>
> Likely there's an easier way. Eh?
>
>
>
> On 6/1/07, Mike Rocket J Squirrel Elliott <camping.elliott@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> Hi Neil, that's a good idea.
>>
>> The wingnuts(1) might bump into each other, but that's to be worked out.
>> I also like Jake's hose clamp + L-bracket idea. Either way would result
>> in a new crossmember(2) high up.
>>
>> The next detail to be worked out is how to hang the shelf. The shelf
>> wants to be quick to put up and take down. It could be hung(3) with
>> ropes, but that would be tippy. Chain, likewise. Stiff(4) brackets would
>> be better. If the crossmember was fastened so it didn't rotate, then a
>> couple of strap metal brackets could be made shaped like an upside-down
>> "V". Hang two Vees over the crossmember and maybe drop a pin into
>> matching holes(5) drilled through the strap and crossmember to help
>> restrain the Vees from rotating, too. The bottoms of the Vees could be
>> bent toward each other to provide feet for the shelf to rest on, maybe
>> pegs-and-holes there, too, to secure everything.
>>
>> I reckon that if it dangles(6) 12 inches (30cm) below the new
>> crossmember, it could be up to 10'' (25cm) deep (fore to aft), and more
>> than 36'' (90cm) wide without bumping into the canvas.
>>
>> I probably didn't write this up as clearly as I could have, and it's
>> probably not as simple as it could be. It's just an idea. I dunno about
>> you guys, but when Mrs Squirrel shows up with boxes of far healthier
>> food that I would choose (produce, mainly) finding a place to stash all
>> that becomes a hassle. A 3-foot wide shelf that could accommodate small
>> boxes of food and which was easy to put up and take down would be most
>> helpful.
>>
>> (1) See yesterday's disclaimer
>> (2) Likewise
>> (3) Ditto
>> (4) This is getting stupid
>> (5) Real stupid
>> (6) I'm going to bump myself off the list.
>>
>> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
>> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
>> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
>> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
>> KG6RCR
>>
>> On 6/1/2007 10:03 AM neil wrote:
>>
>> > Wood this (pun intended):
>> >
>> > http://web.mac.com/tubaneil/iWeb/Site%205/U%20bolt.html
>> >
>> > hold a piece of galv steel tube to struts? If mounted, um, criss-cross
>> > across new tube to struts?
>> >
>> > If there's a size that fits diameter of strut/tube combo, and threads
>> > long enough, you could use wing nuts for **relatively** quick removal.
>> > Or if it's possible to leave in place, then mount with threads
>> > pointing toward rear of van.
>> >
>> > Neil.
>> >
>> > On 5/31/07, Mike Rocket J Squirrel Elliott <camping.elliott@gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >> When the poptop is up, I'd like to hang a shelf between the top's
>> upper
>> >> struts -- a flat piece of wood, maybe, hung by ropes from a new
>> >> crossmember (piece of PVC pipe maybe) which mounts horizontally
>> between
>> >> the upper struts near the top. I can't quite picture what I'd need to
>> >> mount that new crossmember to the struts. Some fitting that clamps to
>> >> struts, I reckon?
>> >> --
>> >>
>> >> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
>> >> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
>> >> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
>> >> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
>> >> KG6RCR
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>
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