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Full cabin-length clothes line: need your ideas please!


John E Davies

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I want to fabricate a clothes line that will reach from the rear overhead cabinet to the bathroom wall. It will clip onto the ceiling in a couple of places; the line will be plastic coated steel cable so that there is no stretch. I will use simple dog-leash snap hooks or similar quick release fasteners so I can rig the line in a few seconds. It will run along the street side of the cabin so hanging towels won’t be too much in the way of movement.

 

In warm weather you can get natural cross ventilation and they should dry quickly. In cold weather, the furnace will assist.

 

I haven’t decided on how to secure it to the ceiling, the best I have come up with so far is these mini flush lift rings. ($19 at Amazon):

 

S3851-0001.jpg

 

 

 

http://www.suncorstainless.com/sites/default/files/S3851-0.pdf

 

Big problem, they are not spring loaded so they will hang down all the time.....! Any ideas or links to a small yet heavy duty spring loaded flush fitting that will accept a carabiner or similar device?

 

Here’s a retractable clothes line that uses a swaged end fitting and the small slotted receptacle for it, that sort of setup would work well for each end, at the vertical attach points.

 

31t2e4CVM4L.jpg

 

Thanks for your ideas. I will do a How To thread once I get things sorted....

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Thanks 1

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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John,

 

How about a simple D-ring like this. Mount two of them and rig up a length of parachute cord with a sliding tension knot at one end. You could add hooks or tie directly to D-ring with a quick release hitch on one side and your tensioning knot on the other. Maybe too backwoods for you but how often will you be setting it up? This D-ring is stainless steel with a welded ring so very strong if properly mounted.

 

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Dave

 

 

2015 Oliver Elite, Hull 107


1998 Ford E-250, 5.4 liter

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Dave, the span is too great, it needs a minumum of one ceiling fixture to support the center. I want to use steel cable so it won’t stretch and loop way down when heavily loaded with a few big wet beach towels.

 

D rings are fine, but I was hoping for some more upscale yacht type hardware....

 

Those dinky little retractable RV lines are fine for ladies scanties, tee shirts and hand towels, but hopeless when subjected to a lot of weight. My design will take a lot of abuse, you won’t be able to do chin ups but it will be very solid.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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John -

 

I've got one of those retractable jobs in the bath of Twist (I posted about it in the mods section).  It works great for that space, but, the maximum length is 11 feet and while the cord is OK for 1 towel, wash cloth and a pair or two of undies I'm guessing that it will not take a bunch more than that.  I've never seen that same idea scaled up a tad for something like you are thinking.  Good luck.

 

Bill

2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

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In the humid and often soggy Southeast, I dry everything outside. But, I guess in the more arid west this could work for you.

 

Maybe something like a pair of spring loaded hatch pulls would work for you? This pair on eBay is really reasonable, but only 304 stainless. I'd want 316 near the saltwater, if I could find it...

 

https://m.ebay.com/itm/SeaLux-Rectangular-Spring-Loaded-Lifting-Ring-for-Boat-Hatch-Pack-of-2-Small-/122612555423?_trksid=p2385738.m2548.l4275&_mwBanner=1

 

 

Screenshot_20171013-165118.thumb.png.9045f857b20a2bef9efeb1ae7951fba7.png

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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316 stainless on Amazon is a lot more $ , however.

 

https://www.amazon.com/SeaLux-Marine-Stainless-Spring-Loaded/dp/B018QGAHKC

Screenshot_20171013-172726.thumb.png.6a5719b6ac495c8bfc50d84f972aad51.png

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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316 stainless on Amazon is a lot more $ , however. https://www.amazon.com/SeaLux-Marine-Stainless-Spring-Loaded/dp/B018QGAHKC

 

I like those but they might be a little fragile, they have a very small hinge pin that all the weight would hang from, plus they use teeny number 6 screws and require a big hole in the roof.

 

Here’s the other end of the spectrum. These are strong enough for motorcycle tie downs. I plan to order one of their track systems for my generator tray, but theses stand alone ones would work here. The bases are roundly contoured and fairly low when the rings are removed.

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/IpxxKyLNfpg?autoplay=1&rel=0&wmode=transparent

 

It would be pretty easy to manuever the backing plates into position above the ceiling since the nuts are captive. I think!

 

http://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/product/versatie-anchor-plate-assembly-4-pack/D-Rings

 

BTW I hang stuff outside in good weather, but there are some places that forbid that, and sometimes the weather does not cooperate.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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I just returned from a Chicago trip and during it I figured out that my hook suction cups with a bungee stretched between them works great and is removable and movable. Sorry no photo.

 

These are the ones, when not holding the line they work as coat hooks

 

https://www.amazon.com/HASKO-accessories-Powerful-Organizer-Stainless/dp/B01JMXKX5M

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Randy


One Life Live It Enjoyably


2017 F350 6.7L SRW CC LB


2015 Oliver Elite II Hull #69

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Randy, those look like no other suction cup hooks I've ever seen (or owned... And I have a bunch of them.)

 

Thanks.

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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John,

 

The tiedown with removeable pin are slick. How do you get the backer plate in the ceiling? Easy enough from cabinets, I guess.

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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Here’s one option if you want it to be temporary plus heavy duty enough to hold the weight of a full length clothesline.

 

https://www.seasucker.com/products/4-5-seasucker-with-stainless-steel-d-ring-black

 

One of these at diagonal corners of your Oliver with a clothesline wire and tension spring and you are good to go.  You can use 1 outside as well with the other end going to a tree or your tow rig.

 

 

 

Enjoy

 

 

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John, The tiedown with removeable pin are slick. How do you get the backer plate in the ceiling? Easy enough from cabinets, I guess.

Usually some creative thinking will let you do stuff like that. For example, using a stiff wire as a fish, you can pull a backing plate into position with a little fussing. The hard part is getting the fish through a screw hole and out to where you can reach it.

 

Or you can saw a larger hole in the center of the mounting area, cut a wedge out of the backing plate and “screw” it into the opening.

 

There are lots of ways.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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Or, in the interest of saving a bit of cash - Harbor Freight sells two different suction cups.  One is a four inch and the other is (I think) a two inch.  Certainly the four inch would hold a fair amount of weight - I use one on the outside of Twist to hold my fishing waders while they dry.  That way - no holes, nothing to see when it is down and it is very flexible in how you put it up.

 

Bill

2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

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Randy, those look like no other suction cup hooks I’ve ever seen (or owned… And I have a bunch of them.) Thanks.

 

We have some these that we got after seeing Randy's. They work great. They seem to hold more goods and weight than you think they should. They don't move (unless you want them too). We just clean the surface first with denatured.

 

 

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Or, in the interest of saving a bit of cash – Harbor Freight sells two different suction cups. One is a four inch and the other is (I think) a two inch. Certainly the four inch would hold a fair amount of weight – I use one on the outside of Twist to hold my fishing waders while they dry. That way – no holes, nothing to see when it is down and it is very flexible in how you put it up. Bill

Cash is not a significant factor for me. Nor do I care about drilling holes. Three or four of theose HF cups would probably do fine to support a few wet beach towels,, if the area you wanted to mount it to was dead flat, but do you really want something that huge and ugly sticking down from the ceiling? Where I am planning to hang the line, the ceiling has some curvature.

 

https://t.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-half-inch-diameter-suction-cup-40993.html?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

 

The smaller type with multiple cups would be better IMHO. They would adjust to a slight comtour a little better....

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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  • 1 year later...

Update, here is a thread about how I did this project.

 

http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/how-to-wire-cable-clothes-line-full-cabin-length/

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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