Preparing a 1991 Scamp 16

[honda03842]

I've completed the Corner Cabinet, urethaned and doors mounted.

The doors are intentionally different widths, the hanging section is narrower than the shelf section. Both doors open from the center. (We are missing the door knobs.)

[honda03842]

We have a 15", 38 watt LCD TV that we've had in various RVs for 7 years. It's survived all kinds of roads.

We do lie the TV (and our computers) on the couch/bed cushion while driving as we do our computers. This behavior resulted from a trip to Alaska where a closed laptop literally jumped off our motorhome's dashboard desk to the floor.

We have two locations for the TV. The first is in the corner at the foot of the bed/dinette. The second is over the dinette's table.

Both locations are simply brass hooks that connect to the overhead cabinet. The TV has a brass hook on the rear that simply hangs from the hook shown in the second picture.

The 38 watt TV and the 40 watt Satellite Receiver draw less than 100 watts meaning we can use a cigarette lighter Inverter (Typically $19.00 Inverter)

[Carol H]

Ok Norm you have got to stop it! Way to many good ideas happening here!

So now I have a few questions.

How did you mount the drawer sliders on the sink side? I looked on mine above the hot water tank and see that Scamp had a wood piece fiberglassed into the underside of the counter top just to the right of the sink which might do for the left slider of the drawer but it seemed a bit high and nothing on what would be the right side of the drawer to attach too. Did you fiberglass in a couple of pieces of wood for the sliders on the underside on the counter top?

Also on the sliders you put into the long tall opening on the stove side - what did you attach the sliders to?

Also what type of wood did you use for making the shelves etc? is it on the light side or heavy side?

Thanks for sharing all your great ideas.

Carol

[honda03842]

We cook a lot in our trailer, usually at least two meals a day. To accomplish this we do not carry much in the way of pots and pans. WE carry two frying pans, a collapsible strainer, 2 pots and one corning ware dish. There's obviously room for more but I suspect this will be it. This storage is in the cabinet under the Scamp's sink.

In addition to this we carry a Crock Pot. The Crock Pot is located under the Driver's side Dinette with the electric heater and the fan; all items that are rarely accessed. These three items are stored in the space available beside the two drawers built in to this dinette.

[honda03842]

Carol,
This is a weirdly shaped space.

The long tall opening is really poorly shaped and difficult to work with. I took four pieces of drawer material. Each piece of this material has a groove cut in it that will take a 1/4" thick piece of plywood. I made the drawer material but it can be bought at woodworkers warehouse or similar outlets. I can get you a link if you like.

It takes two pieces of drawer material to make each side. I begin by connecting the two pieces of drawer material together with an over lapping piece of 1/4 inch plywood using a few screws and a little glue, virtually turning it into one piece. I do a similar thing for the other side.

I take the left piece and set it on the wheel well and screw it to the support piece inside the cabinet cutout. You can see two screws that accomplish this in the picture.

I take the right piece and do the same thing except I add a 1x3 support that goes on the outside of the drawer material to the floor since this piece does not rest on the wheel well. I size this 1x3 so the grooves on both sides are pallel to each other.

I then cut two idential pieces of 1/4 inch plywood to fit in the grooves. I try them for fit and then remove them. I put a little wood glue in the grooves and slide the plywood back in.

For the slides I take four of the Walmart plastic trays and connect them in pairs on the bottom with 1x1/4x14 inch strips.

To keep them from tipping out when extended I attached a wood strip to the insides of the draw material just above the white trays (you can see this in the picture).

Hope this helps. I'll get some info for the sink side drawer and forward it in the morning.

Please don't hesitate to ask for further explanation or pictures.

Norm

[Carol H]

Thanks Norm for the photos! I will have to take another look at it as it may be more than my carpenter skills. :-) I agree the space is hard to figure out and I use the area in front on the wheel for stacking up my pots but taking from your idea I thought about adding a deep pull out over the wheel well section only about half depth might help keep things I put on top the wheel well area from falling over when traveling. hummm

[Tim Wood]

Just got through reading this thread and Norm you are doing a great job. You should be very comfortable for any long stay. Tim

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Tim Wood

Just got through reading this thread and Norm you are doing a great job. You should be very comfortable for any long stay. Tim

Tim,

We feel we're at least ready to attend the PEI Fiberglass rally next month though there are always a lot of little things left to do. We've made a list of those and have begun clicking them off. The really big thing we have left is rear bumper storage.

Thanks for the kind words

Norm

[Tim Wood]

I'll be looking forward to see what you come up with for the rear storage. The one thing I've thought about when I do a rear storage, is moving the taillights up higher so they aren't in the way. I would probably do led's also when I get to that point.Tim

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Tim Wood

I'll be looking forward to see what you come up with for the rear storage. The one thing I've thought about when I do a rear storage, is moving the taillights up higher so they aren't in the way. I would probably do led's also when I get to that point.Tim

The spare tire's been holding me back. I'd really like to move it to clear some space. I see that some people have mounted it under their rig.

Norm

[cpaharley2008]

All your mod's look/are great, Norm. Having said that, have you had your trailer weighed and have you checked your tongue weight? You are adding several wooden cabinets and shelves that will hold contents all of which will add additional weight which can affect your overhaul towing. Something to think about....

[honda03842]

I haven't weighed it yet but before we started I weighed it. It weighed 2045 including 220 #s of tongue weight.

Our goal is to keep it around 2500#s. If we stay at 2500 #s that will be 300#s lighter than the Casita 16 we towed this winter.

We actually weigh our trailer every year because we tend to add something every year.

[Tim Wood]

Norm , One thing I've thought about depending on what type of box you may mount on the rear. Is to mount the spare tire flat on the top of the box, or I suppose it could be mounted on the bottom as well. Just a thought. Tim

[honda03842]

One Scamp deficiency is the front window's rock guard. To get light thru the front window you have to remove the rock guard where as our previous trailer had support arms on the guard and could be set to shade the window while letting light in.

At our first Egg Rally we saw at least one clever solution but I could not remember how it was exceuted so I came up with this solution.

It consists of two pieces of plastic pipe with a bungee cord running thru the center of each pipe. Each end of the bungee has a hook on it. The purpose of the bungee cord is to provide positive tension.

The top end of the pipe simply fits in the tensioning loop of the locking mechanism. The top end of the bungee cord attaches to the guard's lock's lock hole.

I drilled a hole thru the belly band and stuck a 3" screw thru the belly band. The top side of the screw has a nut on it and so does the bottom side.

The plastic pipe sits on the head of the screw. The bottom end of the bungee cord attaches to the bottom of the screw. The screws are embedded in window caulk.

You'll note that another bungee cord runs across the top surface of the rockguard from the top catch to the guard's locking mechanism. The purpose of this 'not too clever' bungee is to keep the rock guard from lifting off the top latch points. Hopefully at some point I'll come up with a clever solution for this eliminating these two bungee cords.

In my Bounder group I was known as Bungee Boy. In my mind Bungees are right up their with Duct Tape.

Norm

[Donna D.]

Norm, I use wire ties to keep the top from accidently lifting off. Granted they'd need to be cut off if I want to remove the guard, but I don't see that as being a problem. Joy A. uses tiny stainless steel clamps. I have a BUNCH of wire ties, so this works for me. I guess this is what you're talking about?

[honda03842]

I assume you leave the tywraps there all the time. What do you support it with when you flip it up?

Are your brackets stainless?

Norm

[Donna D.]

Yes, the wire ties are permanent until they break or I cut them off. I made supports ala Joy A. which are identical to these pictures posted by Patrick: Gravel Guard Supports Joy posted a schematic further down in the topic.

No the brackets are mild steel, standard from Scamp. (stainless bolts and nuts) I used spray wax on the Scamp hardware before I mounted it to the trailer. It's been about 5 years now and nary a hint of rust. I DO hit them with wax occasionally. Rust and gelcoat do not make good neighbors!

[Carol H]

I used very small metal hose clamps to hold mine on and they stay in place and allow me to lift it up to put the holders on. Used them for 4 years and havent had one break. Please note the holder design idea was borrowed from Joy!

[honda03842]

Thanks Donna and Carol,

I probably should replace my latches, they are beginning to rust and have been painted over. I'll try one of the solutions for keeping it on the top.

Norm

[Carol H]

Donna, have your replaced your rock guard hardware? It looks pretty new compared to mine which I have been thinking of replacing. The only reason I have not replaced it is I am unclear as to how to actually do it without messing it up. I know they are just rivited but I wonder about what happens on the inside as I suspect the originals were done prior to the rat fur going up on the inside. Do the rivits somehow just connect to the inside of the fiberglass and nothing special needs to be done to avoid it coming right through the rat fur making them visable from the inside?