ouR escaPOD mods

Very nice, you may find yourself being hired by FR on a consultation basis.

So the foam insulation sits in between the joists shown in the first pic? Putting insulation in that area is a really good idea, in my 171 the bed compartment takes a lot longer to heat up.

Originally posted by Retroactive So the foam insulation sits in between the joists shown in the first pic? Putting insulation in that area is a really good idea, in my 171 the bed compartment takes a lot longer to heat up.

Yes. It does. One last step I did when done was to take some insulating foam and apply it along the end of the platform which is at the front of the R-Pod. After putting the handle on that side, I realized that the insulation would get in the way of opening that up to get to the fresh water pump. I can open it if needed, but as long as I can do what I need to without opening it, I will do so.

This is a simple one. The panels in the kitchen cabinet closest to the door of the 179 hide wasted space. There is an outlet and the gas line for the stove. However, the panels cover much more space than needed. For the top shelf, simply trimming the length of the panel allowed me to move it closer to the cabinet wall. I needed to strap up the wires and gas line better, but once having done so, I recovered usable space.



The partial piece is at the original location.

The bottom shelf was trickier. I could not really gain much there until I thought to split the panel cut a reinforcing piece to hold the two parts at an angle, and then install it. After doing so, I also gained space on the bottom.



Another modification was to fabricate locking brackets for my batteries. I have dual six Volt batteries. The material is anodized strap aluminum purchased from Lowe's. Since I don't have a proper bending brake, I used a vice and a rubber mallet to bend them. They go around the case and under the welded-on battery cross-members. I probably could have figured out a way to lock it with one lock on each one, but I was working fast to get this done before our first big trip. After I returned, I redid the starboard battery because it had a tendency to rub against the trailer. That is why you will see a rubber bumper. On the port side, it was not needed. That was the second one I made with the experience from making the first one.



A shot of the underside:

This is one that I just finished. I was looking at commercial slide-out covers, and decided I did not want to pay that much. Since my wife has a lot of sewing equipment, including an industrial strength Juki, I thought I would try my hand at making one.

The first step was to figure out what I could use for the rail to attach it. I remembered how my parents' trailer had an awning that used a rope. I looked at what I had on hand, and after a couple of attempts, I found some that was of a good quality and the correct diameter to slide into the rail.

The next step was to find some suitable fabric. We have a store called "Mill Outlet Village" near us. I found some urethane coated rip-stop fabric that seemed heavy-duty enough for the task. I purchased enough of it for the length of the slide-out plus a little extra.

Third was to cut the fabric. I found a place to lay it out and used a rotary cutter to cut the length I wanted and cut the width wide enough to allow for both the rope to be sewn in and to allow for a double-folded seam on the outer edge, wide enough for grommets to be installed plus a little extra. It was good that I did, as I later needed that extra space.

The fabric was cut and the rope sewn in to the distance between the rain gutter ends. The cut allowed the installation, but extra fabric was left for folding the side seams. It turns out I had left a little too much, so I later had to undo some stitching and re-cut and re-fold one end to get the length right.

After installing grommets, I used rope and bungee cords to attach the cover to the slide-out. Initally, the outer edge was not stiff enough. I solved that by getting some fiberglass marker poles and copper tubing. The poles were cut so that end-to-end, they are a little wider than the cover. The copper tube was cut and glued to the middle segment on both ends. The two outer pieces slide into the other end of the tube to make one long, strong, flexible pole that fits in the folded fabric with the grommets. Now for a couple of pictures.





The fiberglass pole was added after this picture was taken. I will have to get a good shot of it to post later. I also realized with this short a slide-out, the bungee cords and rope on the two ends was not needed, as this isn't wide enough for wind to be a problem.

Edit: Here is a shot with the poles inserted. The poles are 3 solid fiberglass marking stakes like those used for driveways, etc. I got them at Lowes. The end two are full-length. The center one is cut to a suitable length. Copper tubing is glued to both ends of the center rod. The two end rods slide into this ferrule to make one longer stiff rod which was fed through an opening in each end. It really makes a difference, keeping the cover tight and allowing any water to drain better.