Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 07:18:48 -0800
Reply-To: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Announcement: the BZ Shelf
In-Reply-To: <c4e7c5f90801022234n7b7ac6d5p218fbbe8711c9163@mail.gmail.com>
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Nope -- no tilt when loaded. It's remarkably stable. I have no concerns
hoisting boxes of groceries up there.
I split a couple little chunks of PVC pipe and snapped them around the
crossarm close to where they connect to the upright members as spacers to
overcome a slight tendency for the shelf to tilt into the living area.
Without them, a bowling ball -- for example -- would want to roll off and
onto one's head with the sound of two coconuts striking together.
Now the shelf slightly leans toward the front of the van. I'll take a
snapshot of the modification and add it to the wiki page.
--
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 1/2/2008 10:34 PM neil N wrote:
> Great job Mike and Tom!
>
> I recall the thread about this one.
>
> So it doesn't tilt when deployed and loaded? --- :^)
>
> Good on ya guys. Nice to see the K.I.S.S. principal in action!
>
> Neil.
>
> On Jan 2, 2008 5:40 PM, Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Back in August or so Mrs Squirrel and I became frustrated with having to
>> deal with boxes of groceries and stuff which were constantly underfoot
>> when camping in places where the local critters were eying our comestibles
>> with considerable interest. I wondered whether it might be possible to
>> hang a shelf in the otherwise unused overhead space at the front of the
>> raised poptop and posted a proposal involving chains and skyhooks and
>> stuff, an idea that was doomed to never work.
>>
>> Several folks suggested better ways to go about it, but nothing seemed
>> very easy to me. Then Tom Buese, who was apparently looking for an excuse
>> to avoid doing real work, popped up with a design for a shelf which mounts
>> easily on the poptop's crossarm with a couple of hardware store U-bolts,
>> holds a surprising amount of stuff when deployed, and folds flat against
>> the roof when the top is down. He put together a prototype and emailed a
>> dimensioned drawing of his idea to me. I banged a version together in a
>> couple of hours without hardly any significant loss of blood and mounted
>> it up. After a test on a short camping trip, it has become a permanent
>> addition to our Westy. Best thing I've ever done -- besides marrying Mrs
>> Squirrel, I'd say.
>>
>> After the Vanagon Wiki went "live" this year I suggested to Tom that we
>> could post a how-to article about his "BZ Shelf" but it took him a bit of
>> time to take the pictures and refine the drawing. But finally, after
>> considerable nagging on my part, I got him to post the stuff to me so I
>> could write the article.
>>
>> If you're like me, able to use a reciprocating saw without hardly ever
>> cutting off a finger, own a Westy, and find yourself sometime wishing you
>> had a darn place to put pots and pans and coolers and stuff that seem to
>> crowd your floor when camping, do yourself a favor and build a BZ Shelf. I
>> reckon you'll be glad you did.
>>
>> So here it is, with Tom's permission: photos and plans at
>> http://vanagonwiki.net/index.php/Buese_Shelf
>>
>> --
>> 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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