HOW TO: Wire cable clothes line - full cabin length

[John E Davies]

I had been planning to fabricate a stout clothes line ever since we picked up “Mouse” 16 months ago. I wanted something good looking and strong enough to hold three wet bath towels plus underwear and light clothes, for drying when it is not possible to string a rope outside. Those dinky retractable ones are not good enough for anything but small stuff. Here is the heart of the project: ... http://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/product/versatie-anchor-plate-assembly-4-pack/Anchor-Plates

 

Pictured below are the four rings and bases from that set, plus some extra materials I had laying around from earlier projects. I have use these tie downs for many years, on all sorts of trucks and trailers. The extra stuff is going to go on my front cargo tray.

 

 

The bases stay attached to the two walls and also one to the ceiling. They are anodized black. If they were white they would blend in, but I don’t mind. The tiedown rings are quick release, simply squeeze and slide out of the base.

 

 

 

I used 1/8 inch plastic coated wire, crimp splices, and a crimper tool, all of which I already had in my shop. The crimper is the big dollar item, but for a neat and strong installation it works way better than the screw type clamps.

 

This is a 5 out of 10 project; you need to be comfortable drilling holes in your trailer, fabicating metal, and with cutting and splicing cable.

 

 

 

More to follow, I have to go to dinner.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

[John E Davies]

The REAR base: the easy one.

 

The INBOARD (curb side) hole is 3.25 inches from the wall, and 1.5 inches from the ceiling. Make sure the holes are horizontal. I used a strip of tape and measured down to the bottom of the cabinet for reference.

 

This panel is about 1/2 inch thick, so the 1 inch screws work fine here.

 

 

That was easy....

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

[John E Davies]

The FRONT base: the hard one!

 

Same measurements as the rear base, use tape and level the holes. (Notice the wood core in this wall!):

 

 

I was dismayed to discover that the main wall/ bulkhead is held to the ceiling with a strong adhesive, and apparently no real hardware. I am very surprised since the mirror door and closet door hang off this wall, you would think there would be mechanical fasteners along the top.

 

When I first installed this base, in a similar manner as the rear one, and hooked up my fabricated cable, the wall would visibly flex rearward with just a small amount of weight on the cable, no more than ten pounds. That was NOT good. I did not want to rip the wall loose with a few wet bath towels...

 

I took the base apart and fabricated a beefy reinforcing plate out of 2" x 2" x 1/8" 6061T6 aluminum angle, the good stuff. It is very strong and is a similar alloy as to what the trailer frame is made from. I screwed the upper part to the ceiling with #10 stainless screws and silicone sealant, and mounted the base through the angle with more sealant.

 

 

It won't move now, it is very solid.

 

The reason I used sealer here is that it is a wet area and I did not want moisture penetrating the core of the wall. The other bases do not require sealer.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[John E Davies]

The ceiling base,: the maybe hard one.

 

I originally planned to use one of the heavy stainless backing plates, and fish it through the gap between the inner and outer roof panels. I did check to see if there was room. I removed the trim panel from the Fantastic fan, and there was a 1 inch gap in the wood supports that would have let me get a trimmed plate in there.

 

 

Unfortunately, the spot where I wanted the base to go was right at the edge of the bonded honeycomb material, one hole would be in the 1/2" honeycomb and one would be in the thinner material. There was no way the plate would sit properly in that spot.

 

So, I used #12 Philips screws and just went straight into the fiberglass, and did not use backing plate. So the center base is strong, but not Uber Strong. I think it will be fine. You could add 3M VHB tape here if you wanted some extra grip.

 

I used a rope stretched tightly between front and rear bases to locate the center base. I wanted the final line to be straight and also parallel with the side walls. I taped it in the correct spot and drilled the holes.

 

 

 

The cable lies almost perfectly straight between all three rings, and aligned with the ceiling and the wall. Cool.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

[John E Davies]

The cable: easy if you have the crimping tool.

 

I used a large cold chisel and hammer to cut the cable, with it resting on my old vise. BANG and it was cut. No worries, except it buggers up the vise.

 

The rear of the cable is a simple tight loop, with a double crimp, covered with heat shrink tubing for looks.

 

 

The front is a tight loop through a small aluminum turnbuckle, which is anchored to the ring with a small stainless snap shackle.

 

 

Closeup of the front ring and the placard. I decided 30 pounds was a good safe load that would not stress anything. That is a lot of wet towels.

 

 

The cable is run through the ring of the center mount by feeding the turnbuckle through it.

 

[attachment file=IMG_6914 crop.jpg]

 

To mount the cable you clip the rear and center rings in place, then the front one and tension the turnbuckle to just take out the slack, and no more. With no weight on the cable it lies straight with no curves. To dismount, loosen the turnbuckle several turns and unclip three places. The cable rolls up and stores neatly in a cabinet.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

[John E Davies]

With towels hanging from the line, you can still open the overhead doors....

 

 

The new cable system sure beats the old setup, where I strung a rope between the front clothes hook and an eyebolt in back...

 

 

Cool mod, a little time consuming, but I think it will be a very useful setup. Most of my time was spent scratching my head and doing R&D. With the measurements provided it should go quickly if you want to try this.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[John E Davies]

How big is the rolled up cable, ready for storage? 1 quart zip bag.....

 

 

The bases are noticeable, but they look OK. You could get them powder coated white, but the finish would probably not last very long. Chrome plating would make them match the rest of the trim and would be very durable.

 

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[DavidS]

John, your engineering on this is amazing! It would be much easier to install during the initial build. I would not be surprised if Oliver offers this as an option.

[Spike]

 

I agree with David that your "your engineering on this is amazing!" I haven't the skills, knowledge, or tools to implement your full-cabin-length solution, which, I agree, should now be built into all new Olivers.

 

This is our cabin-width solution, with no engineering necessary--just a shower curtain tension rod and hair clips--but it works great for hanging our hats and other to-be-used-soon clothing.

[John E Davies]

TEST

[Corcomi]

John, I continue to admire your mods and the preciseness of the build with pictures included. I can’t even put a nail in a piece of wood without bending it! But with your mods I can hire a good handyman an have it done!  Thanks

[John E Davies]

Update..... when you raise the back of the frame by lowering the jacks, the hull flexes, which is completely normal, and the clothesline sags. Thus:

 

 

***** It is MOST IMPORTANT that you never remove that droop by further tightening the turnbuckle! *****

 

Doing so would probably cause damage to the front or rear attach points when you raised the jacks back up and the hull settled back into its normal shape.

 

Just saying... please use some common sense if you do this useful mod.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

[BackofBeyond]

I always appreciate JD's mods. This particular one seemed cool, but I seem to shy away from drilling and adding permanent attachments on the interior. I settled for some (4) large marine suction cups and a length of purple shock cord. We move it around to suite our needs.  It has worked out very well, and works outside as a nice drying line.

[John E Davies]

[postquote quote=180885][/postquote]

I think the spring would work fine but it isn’t necessary. OTH by eliminating the sag it would probably prevent somebody from saying ”Oh look the line is loose” and then going ahead and over tightening it....

 

I may change my load limit placard to include this info and to   state that the line should be rigged when off the jacks then left alone.

 

The line has been well used and appreciated.

 

Thanks for all the kind comments.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Overland]

That's a surprising amount of slack, and it makes me wonder how much the trailer flexes the other direction when bumping over rough roads (and what damage the clothesline might potentially cause over time).  Maybe worth adding a bit of additional slack to the line, or a spring at one end like Mike suggested, or swapping out the stainless cable for a bungee?

[nboicourt]

On 8/3/2018 at 12:11 PM, John E Davies said:

I had been planning to fabricate a stout clothes line ever since we picked up “Mouse” 16 months ago. I wanted something good looking and strong enough to hold three wet bath towels plus underwear and light clothes, for drying when it is not possible to string a rope outside. Those dinky retractable ones are not good enough for anything but small stuff. Here is the heart of the project: ... http://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/product/versatie-anchor-plate-assembly-4-pack/Anchor-Plates

 

Pictured below are the four rings and bases from that set, plus some extra materials I had laying around from earlier projects. I have use these tie downs for many years, on all sorts of trucks and trailers. The extra stuff is going to go on my front cargo tray.

 

 

The bases stay attached to the two walls and also one to the ceiling. They are anodized black. If they were white they would blend in, but I don’t mind. The tiedown rings are quick release, simply squeeze and slide out of the base.

 

 

 

I used 1/8 inch plastic coated wire, crimp splices, and a crimper tool, all of which I already had in my shop. The crimper is the big dollar item, but for a neat and strong installation it works way better than the screw type clamps.

 

This is a 5 out of 10 project; you need to be comfortable drilling holes in your trailer, fabicating metal, and with cutting and splicing cable.

 

 

 

More to follow, I have to go to dinner.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

Thanks so much for this! 

[John E Davies]

Updated placard, this was done with a label maker.

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

[CRM]

18 minutes ago, John E Davies said:

Updated placard, this was done with a label maker.

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

We use a similar setup for when we can't hang things outside but use these vacuum mounts instead-  4.5″ SeaSucker

They hold up to 120lbs and we also use them between our Ollie and TV when the weather is nice enough for outside drying.

[ScubaRx]

On 6/15/2023 at 9:26 AM, John E Davies said:

Updated placard, this was done with a label maker.

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

I always wondered if he ever figured out that weight and tension on that cable would inevitability pull that "simply caulked-in wall" down. I suppose that Updated Placard says it all.

Just so everyone understands, the dividing wall between the coach and the bathroom/closet area in the Elite II is basically just held up with caulking around the edges.

Edited November 20 by ScubaRx

[Ronbrink]

The only drying we do inside the Oliver is our bath towels, bath door closed and vent fan on. Same practice if we use the wet bath, but try to use park baths if found clean and well maintained.