Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

At the Quartzsite Gathering in February, BJ fell in love with the clothesline that Lynne had on her trailer. It didn't take long for a similar set to show up in the garage.

I ignored the kit while I built boats and rafted the Grand Canyon but needed to get it installed before we headed out. The kit was designed to mount angled stubs to a 4" tube bumper with u-bolts. Our bumper is 2" x 3" channel. Rather than jury-rigging the u-bolt setup, I cut some excess length off the stub

and cut some receiver tubes from 1" x 1/16" square steel tubing. The hole in the receiver tube matches up with the remaining hole in the angled stubs.

Every year I come up with an excuse to use the GE arc welder that my Dad bought during World War II. I don't weld enough to be good at it, but it's good enough to not fall off.

With this design, the angled stubs are removed when not in use, reducing the chance for a knee injury. The long bolts drop in place to retain the angled stubs when the clothesline is in use.

With the uprights on the stubs, I was able to string the line. The kit was obviously designed to fit on a full width rig - I had lots of line left over.

In order to keep the line from shifting when the clothesline is disassembled and rolled up, I put some bathtub sealant where the line passes through the holes in the upright. Once that cures, BJ is going to make a long, skinny, stuff sack to store the parts in while we travel.

4 comments:

  1. Hey, John! Looks like you had some fun welding while you adapted the clothes line! Glad that BJ liked it!

    We saw it on an Escape rig back in 2012 at the Kansas rally.....a lovely Texas couple, Duke and Beverlee. The line has been so useful for our towels and, occasionally, a hand wash.

    Have fun on your summer trip!

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    1. Thanks for the idea. It was an easy mod once I got around to it! We're enjoying being on the road again.

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  2. I have been wanting to purchase a clothes line for our RV. thanks for the idea!

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    1. It's a super easy install if you have a 4" tube bumper. BJ got this one at Camping World.

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