BigJohnD's Mods to 28BHBE

[BigJohnD]

The trim goes completely over the original trim, screws go directly through the middle of the original trim. I think maybe you can see the predrilled holes in the thread link I posted above. Screws are stainless thus not painted. If y'all need a recent picture or more descriptive pictures I can post some.

[need-a-vacation]

John,

Storage tubes look great!!! Why did you space them down a little from the frame, to make it easier to put the cap "retainer" in? Putting the retainer stakes in mine is probably the one thing I do wish was a little easier, but I wanted to keep as much ground clearance as possible.

Did you bolt the tubes to the Aluminum? I bolted mine to the bottom support. No issues sliding the 4" gutter in and out, but I did line the GPL 7' ladder tube with 1/4" (or so) plywood. Drilled holes large enough so it sits (inside) on the tube, around the bolt heads. Ladder slides in and out pretty easy!

I will update my mods thread (if I can find it! Lol Been a while since I posted in it.) soon if this w/e goes as planned. Cancelled our trip for this w/e, so hoping to get the extra scissor jacks on.

Take care, and hope all is well!

Norty,

I bought the cheap tent stakes at Walmart (maybe $.30 or $.40 or so each...) to keep my caps on. Reshaped them some (no pic) for a close to 90* bend. They just stick through the bottom a little. So far in over 500 miles (guessing, could be a little more) haven't had any issues with the retainer stakes coming out.

[BigJohnD]

I spaced them down due to the gray tank / underbelly clearance. 2 - 1" tubes next to the frame for spacing and one on bottom. Nut / washer on top of flange, nut and washer under the 2 - 1" tubes, 5" post, 1" tube then washer and nut on the bottom. All nuts are nylok.

The posts are bolted with a nylok nut / bolt to the bottom tubing just as a precaution.

[BigJohnD]

Not much here, but it's what I'm working on. Ditching the horseshoe dinette thing. Just doesn't work for us. The table isn't even suitable size for 3 in my family, much less 5, so, it's out of here. Stay tuned for the new one hopefully this week. Keep in mind, this is our HOME, not our weekend warrior rig. Gotta make things work for US. This table is not just for eating, but home schooling 2 of the 3 kids.

And of course the bed frame built by the fine craftsman of Jayco, I mean Jaythor now. I don't know how we haven't ended up in the pass through storage during the night. Oh yeah, I've had temporary jacks under the framing for the last 6 months. Stay tuned for this one too.

On a side note, if anybody is living in the Baton Rouge / Livingston, LA area, I'm 99% sure we'll be residents there by August 1st at Lakeside RV. Look me up if you're down there, or, if you need help with any RV related fixes.

[RAurand]

With a fridge like that, how would you camp at a campground that has no Electric and don't allow generator use.
By the way, we home school 3 kids.

[BigJohnD]

Inverter. Hadn't installed yet, but will soon enough. And of course, we full time. We don't camp with no power. I assure you when the power is out at a whole campground that has electric, that genset rule goes out the window. Been in that situation in several places. Your neighbor may want to borrow power.

My question is, why would you not want a fridge like this? There is no comparison performance wise. Trust me, I've had dometics and norcold over the last 8 rigs, fan mods and all, and there is no comparing with a frost free residential.

Ever wonder why you're seeing more and more residential fridges coming in these rigs, and why now that it's summer your seeing threads about the norcold not cooling well in the heat?

[BigJohnD]

Update. Got the bed frame completed yesterday. No doubt this one won't collapse on us. I divided the pass through from the under bed / interior storage area, which was our preference. I would've insulated, but I'm on a time and budget crunch at the time.

The board / panel you see in the pass through is for a future inverter for the fridge. There is also an access panel under the mattress to access that area if need be.

[BigJohnD]

And a few more of the final.

[BigJohnD]

And here's the new dinette table, so far. Got the table built, stained, sealed and one coat of poly today. Tomorrow will be 2 more sand / poly coats. Also got the second set of pedestal bases and poles put in. Originally I wanted to build an all out full table with wood bases, but, again, I'm on a budget. The way I'm doing it, I can put it back original very easily when it comes time to sell.


This modification will provide a huge amount of table space compared to the original, which is crucial for homeschooling, full timing, eating etc. My wife was iffy at first, but as usual, she trusts me with any modification.


Thank goodness for Lowes gift cards, or none of this would have happened.

[need-a-vacation]

Looks great!!!! Very nice work.

[Magnolia Tom]

Looks great as usual John!


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[BigJohnD]

And here's the final of the dinette table mod. Wife loves it now that she sees it in person and has sat at it. Table is very stable with no wobble, and we have a LOT more table space than we used to.

[Magnolia Tom]

Very nice


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[BigJohnD]

And of course more ideas came to mind as I did the other ones. We use the little storage box at the entrance for shoes. That's all good, but, wife would rather make it a shoe rack instead of a shoe box. Originally I was going to modify the original box, but it was just easier to build a new box. So, here's the new box built and stained. Still have to seal and poly it. I'll utilize the padded top on this as well, so it'll look kind of original, but more functional for us.

Another thing we wanted was a bookshelf in the master room, so, this is in the making. One picture shows the framing for the shelf, the other shows the panels that will be mounted to the framing along with the trim and the mount backing that will go in the closets to give a better mounting base for the sides of the shelf through the closet walls. The top panel will be secured with screws, where I can later remove it and run wires to install 2 reading lights, one on each side of the bed. This will be fed off of the light just above the shelf.

[BigJohnD]

Thank you Tom. You got me whooped on the mods. I can't remember how many pages you have now. As always, love them, and great job on your end as well.

[need-a-vacation]

Awesome job as always!!!

[BigJohnD]

Thank you Chris. Once I'm through with all this, then what? Trade it in? I got so much time and money in this thing now I'm not sure if I could ever part with it.

[BigJohnD]

So here's the new bookshelf above the bed. This was another wife request. We both like our books, and when living in this thing, the nightstand areas can get a little overwhelmed. Last picture is of the backer installed in the closets using kreg pocket screws. This was the only way to have something besides 1/8" panel to secure the shelf to.

Some might notice, or maybe not, but the face trim is installed with small trim screws. What you can't see is the top shelf panel is installed with small screws as well. The reason behind this is to be able to remove the trim and panel later and run wiring to 2 individual reading lights under the shelf. I'll get the power feed from the light above. Just thinking ahead.

[BigJohnD]

And here's the new shoe rack that replaced the bench / box thing by the door. Again, another wife request. We had always used the storage area for shoes not in use anyway, but this sure makes it neater. The new rack was made the exact dimensions of the old box, thus the hinged padded seat was never removed. Keeps it kind of original looking. Last picture is what was taken out of there. Not much to it.

[need-a-vacation]

Great work!!!

As to what next after all the kids are done, maybe knock on a neighbors door and ask them if they need a couple thing modded! Lol

Way to much work and time to just sell the rig off and start over.

Keep up the mods!!!