Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 15:33:54 -0500
Reply-To: Kai Mei <kai@NEWCLEAR.US>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Kai Mei <kai@NEWCLEAR.US>
Subject: Re: Announcement: the BZ Shelf
In-Reply-To: <c4e7c5f90801031040g148d84dfs17b70b9f87f849cd@mail.gmail.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
Nice work, I love the big pics in vanagonwiki too.
On Jan 3, 2008, at 1:40 PM, neil N wrote:
> Cool. Good to know. And nice work.
>
> And reassuring to know that when modified, I could park my bowling
> ball up top! --- ;^)
>
> Neil.
>
> On Jan 3, 2008 7:18 AM, Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> 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
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia - "Jaco"
> http://web.mac.com/tubaneil
>
> Engine swap beginings: http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
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