5 Camper & Camping Projects - 389

hey folks how you doing hopefully you're all having a great day today in this video i want to give you five camper slash camping projects that i know my family is going to get a lot of use out of hopefully you can get some ideas and inspiration to make your next camping experience a little bit better now speaking of a little bit better experience thank you and a quick shout out to my friends at pro pride hitch company for supporting this video pro pride is the only manufacturer of the most recent and up-to-date latest and greatest hensley-style sway elimination hitch it's a mouthful anyway more on that in just a little bit let's jump into the projects project number one is a chalkboard and keyring holder later on when i install it you'll see just how practical it is for us i will be making this out of ash and sizing it to a standard size of one by two stock so basically three quarters of an inch thick by one and a half inches wide it is a basic frame and panel so if you don't have many tools you can easily make this with a box store one by two material secured directly to a piece of quarter-inch plywood after the normal routine of cross-cutting jointing planing and ripping to the final width and cross-cutting once again to final length i'm left with four pieces for a frame for the joinery i'm using floating tenons and i was initially going to use pocket hole screws but i don't want them to interfere with the back panel rabbit that i'll cut later super simple glue up for this one glue on the floating tenons assemble it with clamps and whack the rails with a mallet until the pieces line up on the perimeter quarter inch plywood is used for the panel specifically this is some scrap five millimeter hardwood underlayment plywood and i'll cut it to size at the table saw and then tidy up the edges with a little hand sanding to remove any little fuzz that's left to make this panel a chalkboard i'm using an old can of chalkboard paint and i've had this exact same can since 2015 so seven years and it still works great no issues so that was good two coats with proper dry time between coats was necessary i used a quick setting glue on the frame so by now i can handle it a rabbet is needed on the back to accept the panel so i'm using a rabbeting bit at the router table there are a couple things going on here so first i'm using a pair of pipe clamps to act as handles secondly i'm making the cut in two passes a shallow climb cut all the way around followed by a full depth conventional cut the climb cut establishes a perfect edge on the interior of the rabbit and eliminates the opportunity for tear out when cutting the full depth of the rabbit more hand sanding to eliminate any fuzzies and to break up the sharp edges followed by adding four cup hinges four key rings a hole is drilled at each corner for screwing the frame directly to a cabinet marsh brand spray stencil ink is used to color it black and i really love this product as the coverage is excellent it soaks in rather than covering so you still see the look of the wood grain and because the interior trim of our camper is it's all black it makes any wood project we add to the camper look like it belongs there i don't have any black cup hooks on hand and i really want these to be black so i tested one by spraying it with the ink now of course i can rub the ink off with my fingers so leaving it as is won't work the solution is to spray a clear coat to lock the ink in place now i'm hoping this works long term but if it doesn't i can easily pick up a pack of black cup hooks and replace them i'm mainly just trying to use up the items in my always expanding hardware stash with the finish and the panel dry i can add the back panel now you can see that i rounded the corners of the panel to fit with the rounded corners of the rabbit i just did that with sandpaper to install it i'm using some blocks to keep downward pressure while i apply hot melt glue around the panel the hot melt glue cools in just a few minutes in the back panel is locked in place this isn't a great technique for a door panel where you will see the back side but for something that will be secured to something else this backside will never be seen so i don't care how the back looks fast forward a little bit as i completely forgot about the chalk holder which is where i went really simple with a small block the bottom of the block has a 1 8 of an inch hole that will allow me to use a toothpick or something to remove a small broken chalk piece if it gets stuck in the hole and the top of the block has a hole to allow the chalk to sit vertically this should be plenty enough to keep the chalk in place while bouncing down the road it's secured to the frame with a single screw through the back side one final thing to do before installation is to prime the chalkboard covering the entire chalkboard like this first prevents the first riding from ghosting or showing through after erasing i typically wake up and get out of the camper before everyone else so being able to write a note and leave is something that will be handy for communication immediately to the left when you walk in our camper is a row of upper wall cabinets which is a perfect location for this project both for a note as well as a place to hang the truck keys also check out how well it blends with the cabinet it looks like it was always part of the camper which is what i was after and i have a gmrs radio license for communicating when we do not have sell signal and this is also a great place to keep my gmrs call sign for my wife to reference side note a gmrs license is purchased no testing required and it covers you and your immediate family project number two is fishing rod storage in the camper pass-through storage area i was given a bunch of double-sided velcro a while ago and this will be a perfect use for it some of it is two inches wide which is wider than the wood i'll be mounting to and the other roll is more narrow and i think it's better suited for this use first i'll separate the two sides and then cut one side to the length needed then i can clamp the stationary side to the table and start laying out the hanging side now this is completely arbitrary i'm using four finger width left and right and a three finger width vertically this arrangement gives me a bunch of loops to hang the fishing rods with one done i can pull them apart and use it as a template to cut the next two pieces to length also i'll utilize the sticky backing on the stationary side but on the flexible side i want to eliminate it the easiest way to do that is to cover it up with tape if i left the plastic backing on i guess the heat i'm thinking the heat would likely cause it to fall off and now for the super simple installation peel and stick to the wood framing and a couple staples for good measure this system is incredibly simple and one of the benefits of it is i have a system in place front hanging stuff above in the event that i no longer want to store my fishing rods here i can easily use it for something else also i'm not really concerned with the sag that the poles have as this isn't a long-term storage solution i'm just using these for transportation another strip of velcro can be added to the middle to eliminate sag if needed real quick i want to talk about a little trailer towing safety after a few crazy trailer sway moments and a failed bolt in our first weight distribution and friction-based sway management hitch on our first few trips i looked into sway elimination options the best way to combat trailer sway is to eliminate it not to manage it this led me to the most current and advanced hensley style hitch system manufactured in the usa by the company pro pride this is the pro pride 3p hitch system i have an install video on my vlog channel for those who are interested 3p stands for pivot point projection meaning it removes the pivot point from the ball and projects it forward near the rear axle of the tow vehicle making it feel like you're towing a fifth wheel rather than a bumper pull the way it works is by using a pair of linkages rather than the ball for movement the geometry and spacing of these linkages is so that it only allows the pivot to be initiated from the tow vehicle rather than the trailer this means neither natural wind from the weather nor wind blowing off the front of a passing vehicle can create trailer sway instead if the wind is great enough it will only push both the vehicle and the trailer together as a solid unit push is easy to deal with sway not so much our first toe with the three-piece sway elimination hitch was a night and day different experience compared to the previous hitch a confident one-handed drive experience versus a white knuckled stressful drive constantly slowing down and speeding up to deal with the sway one secondary benefit of the hitch was an increase in fuel economy which sounds crazy to say but it's because we weren't constantly speeding up and slowing down to deal with the sway we could actually use cruise control confidently which was great if you are towing a kite i mean an enclosed trailer of any kind and are tired of stressful and dangerous trailer sway experiences check out my friends at proprietage.com you'll find a ton of information and education as well as the story of how the hensley system evolved into the current 3p hitch all right back to the projects project number three is a multi-use and adjustable towel bar system this is the side of our incredibly tiny camper bathroom the goal is to add a rack to both sides of the bathroom as you can see here on the side that's already installed jumping back to the past this project starts with some scrap plywood cutting it to length and to width to square it up and get the oversized rectangle needed for both sides then some layout for a bunch of holes to be centered and symmetrical left to right the dowels i'm using are 15 16 of an inch in diameter so i'm going with a one inch hole i'm using a forstner bit and a drill press but a spade bit and a hand drill will do the job just as well one board becomes two with a rip cut right down the middle here you can see how this will work one rack on each side of the bathroom and a dowel cut to the maximum length to span the gap the wall stud spacing is a little inconsistent in the bathroom walls so i just drilled five holes symmetrically on each rack five screws per board and a full length strip of double-sided tape on the back should be plenty strong enough to hold the weight regardless of if i hit studs or just the paneling a little more hand sanding and then it's time for a little bit more spray ink and spray clear coat now because this will be in the most humid area of the camper i made sure to have the screws in the holes before spraying so they will also get that clear coat protection as well and here you can see them installed and why i wanted these to be the full length of the bathroom with a few s hooks we can now hang all of our body wash spongy thingymajigs to dry inside the shower surround let them drip right into the shower where it's nice and waterproof this is much better than having them hang in the way on the tub spout which is incredibly annoying to me on the other side of the bathroom we also have two more dowels that provide a good place to hang damp towels or swimsuits to dry we can also put one of these a little bit more centrally located to hang clothes as needed project number four is a guitar holder more time spent making memories playing and singing as a family the better this secured to the wall is a key block with a television bracket attached to it on both the top and bottom of the key block is a groove for different attachments the tv bracket has a fixed bar on top and a movable bar on bottom the top bar is placed in the top groove and the bottom bar latches in place this system is pretty interesting and useful for much more than just a tv more scrap plywood for this project and after a few cuts at the table saw we are left with the main two pieces of the guitar holder the larger rectangle will get secured to the bracket and the smaller rectangle will be secured to the edge of the first piece combined they make an eight and a half inch square which is the same size as the bracket a two inch slot will be perfect for my guitar so i start by making a two inch hole in the smaller rectangle two cuts at the bandsaw turn the hole into a rounded slot a little file work blends the hole and bandsaw cuts to provide more support and make the holder a little less bulky looking i start by drawing a 45 degree line one inch away from the slot on either side back to the bandsaw to cut off the 90 degree corners and then assembly can begin glue and pin nails to secure the two larger pieces then more glue and more pin nails to add the corner off cut pieces to help brace the top a hand sanding for the fuzzies and then the same treatment of black ink and a clear coat after it's dry a couple screws to the back side will hold the mount to the bracket now it's time to test it out and it holds the guitar just as expected but i'll definitely have to add some kind of bungee to keep it in place if i decide to use it while traveling i doubt i will though because for the last four trips i just set the guitar string side down on the bed and it never moves one really cool aspect of this keyblock system is that you can have a few located in different spots to move stuff around this camper came with one already mounted outside which will be handy for a quick access daytime spot project number five is a kayak rack for my truck now speaking of truck you'll notice that we changed tow vehicles more on that in a different video i've seen many beautiful overland racks made out of super strut so that's the route i'm taking four 10-foot sticks of super strut were needed for this rack i had a piece of scrap on hand from my diy elevator build so i used it to determine the correct height needed to get the kayaks over the cab of the truck i used that piece to cut four small legs off of each 10 foot stick a portable metal cutting bandsaw is super awesome for tasks like this but a grinder with a cutoff wheel will do the same thing as i show in just a little bit now the legs can be put into the stake pockets of the truck bed and here you can see how they will be the front two will be angled back as far as possible and the back two angled forward as much as possible starting with the sides the horizontal pieces are bolted to the legs with half inch diameter bolts then the front and back horizontal pieces are set on top with both of them in front of the adjacent legs i shifted all the horizontal pieces as far back and as far left as i could and this puts all the overhang on one side to be cut off now i didn't worry about cutting off the rear overhang which actually turned out to be helpful later on and the cut off wheel in a grinder let me get closer to the leg so i used it here painting everything black will make this project appear a little bit less diy now for obvious reasons i'm using paint instead of ink here two coats in a slight breeze to pull the fumes away from me with proper dry time between coats and here it is installed after some dry time for the paint now to be honest with you i'm not entirely happy with how it looks it doesn't look as professional as i'd like and maybe that's because i bolted everything together rather than cutting and welding maybe a little too much diy to the appearance so i may end up taking this off in the future or just cutting and welding everything i forgot to mention earlier that the legs are bolted to the truck via the factory stake pocket holes when traveling i'll add an additional strap from the leg to the tie-down loop in the truck for a secondary securing method also all of the hardware here needs to be swapped out for grade 8 hardware i'm just trying to build with what i have so after i do that i'll paint the bolts in place so does it actually work as intended well there's two answers to that yes and i think so yes to actually holding the kayaks each of our kayaks weighs about 70 pounds and it's not too difficult to get them up onto the rack by myself it will be much easier with a second pair of hands though the spacing is perfect to feed tie downs straps or ropes through the scupper holes which are the holes that go all the way through the kayak top to bottom and secure them to the many holes in the super strut that's another awesome benefit of using super strut there's holes everywhere to mount stuff the i think so statement is because i've yet to actually strap them down and hit the road due to time constraints i don't think that there will be any issues due to the amount of super strut racks online that are very similar to this one but i'm most curious to find out how much wind noise it will create subscribe to my jbates2 vlog channel if you want to hear what i have to say in the follow up video getting them off is equally as easy not cutting off the rear overhang on the side horizontal pieces ended up being a really good call it creates a handy little corner to lean the kayaks into when loading and unloading so they don't just fall off if you bump the truck that's it for these five projects and for this video hopefully you found it interesting maybe got a couple ideas check out propriethitch.com if you're interested in learning more about the 3p sway elimination hitch not sway management suede elimination go to my website jace customizations.com newsletter to sign up for my email newsletter so you don't miss anything that i publish have a great day and i'll talk to you in the next one