Cruisers Forum
Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ron Dittmer on January 04, 2013, 10:25:32 am
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Hey All,
It's time to be thinking about a few changes off season. One matter that has always bothered me is the location of our backup camera monitor. I often hit the monitor with my head when getting in or out from the driver seat. Given the center mirror serves no purpose, I'd like to mount the monitor where the mirror is, and do without a mirror. This would move the backup camera much more forward, surely out of my way. Also, the monitor would be better viewed there.
Once done, I'd like to mount a ScanGauge on top of the monitor, but I question if the cable that comes with the ScanGauge is long enough.
Has anyone here removed the mirror and mounted the monitor there? If so, how did you do it? Where did you get the mirror-style bracket from?
Also, have you mounted a ScanGauge there?
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Ron,
We did that and posted a picture in March of this year. We got the 8" extension from Kayalu. It was $29.95 plus shipping. It works out really well.
George
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Ron,
Looking at your picture, I mounted my Scan Guage on the dash, at the top behind the shift lever. Mounted with velcro. I removed the dash face and drilled a hole for the wire. Fed it down to the plug. If you mount it up where the rear view mirror is, you will have to take your eyes off the road to see it. Also, for resetting it and changing to view your different readouts, it will be a reach and again eyes off the road. Just my thoughts.
Bob
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The backup monitor in my Sprinter was also in an inconvenient place...felt it was dangerous for me to have
to crane my neck and look up to see it....so had it placed to the driver's left....on the dash...so now my
eyes can look at it and then just move left where I see the left mirror. Much better! More of a natural
driving level for the eyes. :)
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I did look around the web and found that there are a number of brackets for monitors that utilize the mounting slug for the mirror. gradygal, I will investigate yours. Do you have the link to that post of yours?
I am strongly leaning in this direction of replacing the mirror with the monitor, and placing the Scanguage on top of it. I do realize it's not as convenient for viewing and interaction, but I really didn't want to clutter my dash board. I got "A Thing" about the stock look. It must be my Corvette that has me thinking this way.
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I am on a roll with getting my PC projects done over the winter. (cheer)
Last week I ordered this window mount monitor bracket kit. I am trying to be patient in waiting it's arrival. You can google "Rostra 250-8088" to find it.
(http://www.installer.com/photos/250-8088.jpg)
While relocating the monitor cable for it, I will also install an RJ45 cable there as well to accomodate for the Scanguage-II planned which will be velcro'd to the top of the monitor. That RJ45 cable will go from the mirror area, (hidden behind) across the headliner, down the driver door pillar, down to the OBD-II area. This way I can easily unplug the Scanguage-II along with it's original cable for use with my other vehicles when needed for trouble-shooting.
This picture shows the relative size of a Scanguage-II and where it would be on top of my monitor instead of on a mirror as illustrated here.
(http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/attachments/f9/7235d1172361440-scangauge-ii-install-bm-1.jpg)
I replaced my pull-out butcher block cutting board with that 3 compartment wire tray that many of you people have installed in the cabinet. For it to align right, I needed to add bushings between the glides and the basket to get the floating glide halves on the tray to align proper with the fixed glide halves on the cabinet. Funny, when removing my cutting board, it never aligned right either, being half out on the one side. It must have been that way from the beginning.
I addressed my TV rattles by adding thick felt chair glide pads in between metal shields & brackets which made all the difference. No more TV sounding like it's got loose metal inside, while driving.
The leather dinette cushions are in-place too....so much better than the thicker yet too-soft cushions that my butt bottomed out on. The thinner but more dense leather foam is more comfortable and provides a larger seat base from the same thinner/dense back rest cushions. That translates to noticably more leg room. I also slide out from the leather seat dinette without a fuss. It's a whole lot better.
When this is all done, I'll be adding them with pics to my original lengthy "enhancements" post in the Tips & Tricks section.
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Ron:
Going back to replacing the butcher block cutting board .... WHAT WIRE BASKET ????
I would never use the wood cutting board, but additional storage of the baskets would be great.
Are there pictures posted anywhere of the basket ??
Carol
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Somone has pictures on the forum. I take Zero credit for this great idea. Was it Gradygal's initial idea? I may have that wrong. Maybe it was Barry-Sue, maybe TomHanlon, maybe someone else.
The wire basket is a 3 compartment tray, just about the size of the butcher block cutting board. The tray is silver, sold at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Click Here To Get There. (http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1/13354-copco-mesh-three-section-utensil-tray.html) It is ideal for cooking utensils and such.
(http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/assets/product_images/380/2811113131643p.jpg)
I wish there was a clean way of restyling the galley base cabinet so those 3 drawers under the stove to the right look nice out in the open without a door covering them. Drawers behind a cabinet door are quite the irritation. The right door looks nice, but extremely impractical. Compounding the problem, with the door open and any drawer or cutting board extended, it blocks access to our fridge and bathroom. If I were to order my PC today, I would insist on combining the center drawers with the right side behind-the-door drawers, with adjustable dividers to compartmentalize them. Cheaper for the factory and better for the customer. Pitch the pretty symetry as seen here and give me 3 massive easy access drawers with adjustable compartments. Vertical boards with grooves is all that would be needed for that. Maybe it's something I can get my brother-in-law to do for me. He is a cabinet maker.
(http://www.phoenixusarv.com/2013/colors/Sterling%20Interior/slides/20110816_115.jpg)
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Carol,
Yeah, it was us!! I never used the cutting board when we had the 2350, so when we got the 2551, we took out the cutting board and replaced it with the Bed Bath and Beyond basket. First thing we did when after we picked up the 2910 was to head to BBB and get another
It's great. That's where I keep my serving utensils, corkscrew and rolls of foil and Saran wrap. One of the best mods that we have made.
There are pictures of it somewhere.
Judi
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Thanks Gradygal/Judy. Without actually on a trip yet to utilize it, I can already see this being a good modification, better meeting our needs. Ron
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When Gradygal posted the basket, I asked my wife if she wanted it. She said no because she uses the board as a shielf/counter space for hot pans, etc. So I missed out on another mod. Sometimes I think she doesn't understand why I bought this PC.
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The right door looks nice, but extremely impractical. Compounding the problem, with the door open and any drawer or cutting board extended, it blocks access to our fridge and bathroom. If I were to order my PC today, I would insist on combining the center drawers with the right side behind-the-door drawers, with adjustable dividers to compartmentalize them. Cheaper for the factory and better for the customer.
Ron,
I actually like the galley like it is because we replaced the drawers with a pull out pantry and that door hides the pantry nicely. Also with the double slide there is no blockage of the aisle or bathroom in the 2551 with that door open. I think it all depends on what model you have. If I had larger drawers there I would tend to overload them and then have problems with the glides. Just my opinion on this one.
Sue
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Wow so many wonderful ideas.
Sue: Really Love the pantry idea, although with us having the 2350 I would have to hang a pot rack from the ceiling to fit my pots and pans roflol but I love the pull out pantry's.
Tom: I can appreciate having the butcher block for hot pots and pans ... you will just have to try for a different mod ha-ha !
Judy: I really, really love the idea of the basket and especially the storage for foil and zip lock bags etc .... and you just reminded me to put the corkscrew in the the 2350 :)(:
Poor Vince, I think his head is spinning afraid that I might ask for next :-D !
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The right door looks nice, but extremely impractical. Compounding the problem, with the door open and any drawer or cutting board extended, it blocks access to our fridge and bathroom. If I were to order my PC today, I would insist on combining the center drawers with the right side behind-the-door drawers, with adjustable dividers to compartmentalize them. Cheaper for the factory and better for the customer.
Ron,
I actually like the galley like it is because we replaced the drawers with a pull out pantry and that door hides the pantry nicely. Also with the double slide there is no blockage of the aisle or bathroom in the 2551 with that door open. I think it all depends on what model you have. If I had larger drawers there I would tend to overload them and then have problems with the glides. Just my opinion on this one. Sue
I can see the slideout pantry utilizing the door beautifully. But for me, 3 nice wide kitchen drawer built well and using the heavy duty glides in place today, would handle much weight. Much more weight than we'd be putting in.
You are right about the newer slideouts. It does make sense that the fridge moves out of the way of all the drawers and such, allowing access to get around open drawers.
I will give this mod some serious consideration. It all starts with wide drawer fronts of the right size and of the right finish. I will ask the factory if they can have 3 drawer fronts made to my requested size. Either me or my brother-in-law could build stronger than typical drawers. The more I think about this, the more I think I could do it myself.
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Carol, I found the photo of the BBB basket that is mounted in our 2910 in place of the cutting board.
Judi
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Thanks Gradygal for the picture.
I went into my rig this morning before leaving for work to take measurements. I hope to order drawer faces to build extra wide drawers, going from six small drawers to three huge drawers. I also will need two horizontal rails for the cabinet itself for in between the drawers.
My top left drawer is actually the deepest of the three, which you can see is the same with Gradygal's cabinet. I am thinking of making it more shallow, better for utencils, though is still one inch deeper than my utencil drawers at home.
(http://forum.phoenixusarv.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1214.0;attach=1759;image)
Right now the drawer faces measure
8" - top
7" - middle
7" - bottom
I am thinking
6" - top
7" - middle
9" - bottom
The 9" drawer would be nice for tall cookware and even bulk food.
With dividers planned, nothing would slide around much when braking hard.
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Judy, Thanks for the picture. I think that looks really nice and much more usable for me then the butcher block.
I have the slide in right now so I went out to see what Ron meant with the drawers blocking the refrigerator door and getting by, being as we have the 2350's. This is all so new, and the short time we had our other 2350 .. we grilled outside and have not done any serious prep work or cooking in the kitchen .. I can see where it could be a problem.
Ron: are you talking about taking your door off completely on the right side and making a stack of drawers ????
Carol, I found the photo of the BBB basket that is mounted in our 2910 in place of the cutting board.
Judi
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Ron: are you talking about taking your door off completely on the right side and making a stack of drawers?
I am seriously looking into......
- Remove the right side door and all 6 small drawers, nothing reused except for some drawer glides.
- Remove the three 2" wide cabinet pieces (2 horizontal rails & 1 vertical stile) that are in between the six drawers.
- Install 2 horizontal cabinet rails, finishing the cabinet to accomodate 3 large drawers that would span across where the six are today.
- The interior cabinet wall divider between left and right side drawers would need to be removed or modified.
- The depth of the new drawers would be determined by the closest back wall obstruction.
I think the new drawers can be deeper (farther to the back wall) than the old ones but further research is needed..
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Okay, I pulled out all six roller-glide drawers and looked at the base cabinet interior.
PC builds the galley base cabinet with a smart production approach utilizing modules. The center three drawers is one module, and the right side 3 drawers is another module. The right drawers are 1 to 2 inches" deeper to the back wall. The top two drawers are deepest vertically to help items clear the recessed stove top. But the obstruction is maybe 1.5", not that much. I compared my PC to my house kitchen drawers. I am making the new single PC top drawer one inch vertically deeper than at home which means only 1/2" less than "home-normal" where the stove hangs down. For my single extra wide top drawer, I will put in dividers to easily identify taller versus lower clearence areas.
I hope to reconstruct the cabinet interior without the use of a back wall as is required with the current modular design. This will allow me to have deeper drawers. I won't know my limits until after I disassemble the two drawer modules. I anticipate differnet drawer depths for best utilization of the cabinet interior volume.
Working with Carol Simms, moments ago I ordered 3 custom size drawer fronts, and two rails. Once I have them in hand, I will start this project. Until then, it's back to the backup monitor and Scanguage-II. I will take step-by-step pics for those interested, with costs too. The hard part for me will be making three large strong drawers that are road worthy with significant weight inside them.
So I guess my Bed Bath & Beyond drawer mod will never see any use. Anyone interested in it assembled to half rails with spacer/bushings attached, send me a PM and we can work out a price and shipping. All you'd need to do then is to slide out your butcher block with rails, and slide in this one with rails.
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Ron, I have NO IDEA where you are with dimensions, etc., or what will or will not work but I recommend a quick look at Ikea for the drawers they use in their PAX wardrobes. I know a lot of people do mods to Ikea products since they are "flat" packaged to begin with which enables cutting and playing prior to assembly. Our Ikea store also has a damaged area where you can pick up the components from damaged cabinets, etc., where maybe the drawer parts are intact but the frame is damaged so you might get even more savings. So far the furnishings we've bought from Ikea have been quite sturdy. They have drawers for kitchen cabinets, wardrobes, living room shelving, etc. Checking Ikea could get you the "bones" needed to build sturdy custom sized drawers. If we hadn't decided to buy a PC, we'd be remodeling our kitchen and walk in closet using Ikea storage. Sigh, my dream kitchen will have to wait while we run away and play. I'm good with that.
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Ron,
Have you checked out if the cabinet PC uses gives support for the counter top? By looking at ours I can't tell how much support is provided to the counter top by the back of the cabinet and then the vertical support between the two sets of drawers in front. Will be waiting for pictures on your project. Sounds like fun.
Barry and Sue
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2 frazzled,
Thanks for the tip, but I will be trying my best to get every square inch out of that base cabinet, with adequate minimum clearances. I don't want to hit the back wall or other obstructions with any drawers. I do have a table saw and other wood working tools and even some virgin 3/4" maple hardwood material on-hand. I should be able to make these 3 drawers better/stronger than if utilizing Ikea materials.
Years ago for our first motor home, I built this drawer which is very generic. I plan to do it more professional-like for the PC, also utilizing the old PC ball bearing drawer glides..
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3433/3730195674_2c73bbdbd9_z.jpg?zz=1)
Barry-Sue,
I should have included your concern for I too wondered before I pulled out the drawers. The drawer modules do not support the counter top in any way for they stop many inches short of the counter top. The left side of the left drawers seem to be attached to the back wall. But I am feeling in the blind and am not sure of it. Whatever attachments to the back wall or floor, I will duplicate or improve upon.
Good catch. Thanks for bringing that up.
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Vince installed the wire basket in our 2350 ... it looks fantastic and I am so happy with it ... thanks Ron and Judi.
Carol
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I moved the monitor and mounted a Scanguage-II
I need to do something with the scared headliner. Maybe I could find a low profile sun glass tray from a junk yard vehicle.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8228/8463546500_4ee91cd3bb_z.jpg)
Removing the original Ford mirror was a bit tricky because there are no screws to remove. Following Ford's Service manual, I used a thin flat blade bent screwdriver and pry'd the black bottom away from the silver metal tab, while lifting upward.
Regarding the wiring and all, the trick in making the project easy was removing the center twin dome light (2 screws) and also the two visor hooks (1 screw each). Then the headliner with curtain rod was easily dropped to fish wires around. The original mounting pedistal for the monitor in the headliner is both screwed and bonded with double-sided tape. It took some TLC to separate the headliner from the adhesive tape which stayed stuck to the mount.
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Following up with the galley cabinet drawer project, check it out in detail HERE (http://forum.phoenixusarv.com/index.php/topic,1374.0.html)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7350/9196069409_82fb13d79e_z.jpg)
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Ron
I wished to heck I would have waited till winter to do my summer projects. I had to get off the top of the RV yesterday, got to hot. Will change to fall and spring projects from now on haha... Don't you dare say a thing about that garage you have. haha... looking forward to your updates,,, I'm reading the stuff about the scan gauge and back-up monitor, may put that on the fall project list. I would have not really planned these projects for the summer I know it's too hot. Heck I don't even go Rving in the summer. Wife went out of town for six weeks( new g-baby on the way) did not want to get to bored so went ahead and planned on doing these. I have a couple more things to do then will be done. teaser, I'm working on the windows for heat problems
David Sparks
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Sparky, apparently your winter is our summer. Hang in there. Try working under a shade tree in the early morning if you can.