Installed a cubby in CO detector space

[jeanie19]

I've completed the conversion of the CO detector space into a great little storage cubby, still in the mock-up stage. I had it in for service and asked them to enlarge the opening and tie up the wires, and they also added the trim around. I'd intended to use neoprene and secure the liner with a nicer trim, but left the trim in place and taped the liner to the opening to see how I liked it. This liner is foam sheets and gorilla tape, about 12x12 and 4" high. Many Thanks to Blue for the suggestion a while ago, it is a really useful space now for fairly soft and light items like hats, gloves and shopping bags.

[Blue~Go]

Very nice! And who can't use more storage near the entryway.

I thought that since you started this topic (good idea), I'd repeat the photos here that I posted in the "fridge removal" thread where someone asked about this space.

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Here are photos of the area above the closet "ceiling" on mine (1999). This is with the front closet wall removed. The plywood "shelf" you see is the "ceiling" of the closet as-built. It is carpeted on the underside that faces the closet, and there is a perforated flange on the underside that serves as a closet "rod" (carpet is the white, marine hull liner type carpet they used in many places). This area housed only the generator start panel/hourmeter and the hard-wired CO monitor. Ignore the white "thing" on the left of the first photo; that is the gen start panel that I have in a bag that photobombed.

The rear/outboard corner is where most of the wiring goes up/down after coming "across the great divide" of the rear door. That's why you see so much loom there.

The wires that come across the front of the photo are the ones that "belong to" the above-closet area, and were p-clipped up near the ceiling (the actual ceiling/roof) behind the closet face. The multi-colored ones are all part of the generator start/hour-meter panel harness; the brown is for the closet light, and the grey is/was for the CO detector. The whites are ground wires that lead down to the chassis grounds.

1) "cutaway" overview without front panel on.
2) Same view, but shows detail of aft/outboard.
3) Same view, but shows detail of forward/outboard. The "wall" on the left is the wall that is common with the refrigerator compartment

[kdarling]

Neat, Jeanie!

Many thanks to both of you for the photos. I especially love that one with the original hole dimensions written on the painter's tape. Handy.

For my cubby, I'm going to try to find a tiny rectangular plastic bath trash can (or maybe a storage box), turn it on its side, and mount it to the opening with its lip.

That's a great idea about using a lining material that prevents the contents from sliding around, btw.

Cheers,
Kevin

[jeanie19]

What is so great about Blue's original suggestion of using a flexible bag lining is that it can be larger than the opening to create more usable space than a rigid lining. I gained several inches in height and width with the foam liner.

[Blue~Go]

A bag or soft liner can be handy that way. I got the idea from deck-plate storage bags on boats. You often have a round deck plate, of say, 6" in diameter. But the space inside is larger. They make nylon bags that fit into the deck plate opening, but then they spread out inside the hole, so you can put more stuff in than you would be able to if it were just a 5-1/2" rigid cylinder that slid into the hole. Here is just one example (of course the bag could be even larger; typically you put the bag in empty, and then stuff things into and take things out individually -- of course if you want to pull the whole bag out at once it can't be larger than the hole diameter).

deck plate bag.jpg (9.4 KiB) Viewed 3026 times

If you do want to make the "liner" rigid and no larger than the opening, another way (vs. finding something plastic that happens to fit) is to make a wooden "box" out of something like 1/4" plywood, and make a flange on the open side of the box. When the box slides into the hole, the flange "stops" it and also provides trim. There are limits to that of course, and you wouldn't be able to use nearly the volume of the actual space (but then sometimes you don't want to, and would rather have a specific size of cubby box).

[jeanie19]

The nylon bag liner looks like a winner, and easier than my foam sheet mockup. It could be made large enough to fill the whole cavity to maximize the usable space, tapered to the opening and gathered as needed to be secured by the trim. On the other hand, the semi-rigid foam holds its shape and doesn't pull out out of the opening when I remove the contents like a nylon bag might. Maybe need to tack the end of the bag to the carpet at the rear of the hatch to keep it in place. Back to the drawing board . . .

[Blue~Go]

Oh I wasn't saying a bag would be the way to go for this space. Just that that's where I got the idea in general. I think your foam "box" is slick.

[pdemarest]

Hi all - quick question; Are people removing the hard-wired CO detectors and replacing them with battery powered ones? My old tent trailer had a CO detector and I was warned by the previous owner that it would kill the battery after a couple of weeks if the trailer was not disconnected from the battery.

Paul

[jeanie19]

I did replace my original C/O detector with battery operated because it had outlived its lifespan and I'd isolated the battery drain to it.

[Blue~Go]

In some circles battery powered CO detectors are considered better (just so you know it's not some cheap-out solution).

1) CO detectors have a finite lifespan - battery powered one is easy to change.
2) Can remove batteries if desired when coach not in use.
3) Hard-wired original detector is not in correct location; CO is neutral so the detector should be at around head height while sleeping (not way up by the ceiling as the stock one was on my rig) -- and right at the back door is probably not the most favorable spot either (the new one will explain the guidelines for location).

I like one with a digital display. Reason is that they alarm at (IIRC) 100 parts per whatever. BUT the digital one will show you if you are at 50 or 75 or 99. (Typically it is at 0.) I prefer gauges to idiot lights and the digital display is the same idea. Under $50 on Amazon so no huge splurge.