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Ran D. St. Clair · 10-29-2010, 08:10 PM

Of Cables and Curtains…

I started moving my stuff into the Stealth Camper and became concerned about the heavier items, like canned goods, pushing out against the cabinet doors and pushing them open. Several of you have warned me that the magnet latches aren’t enough by themselves. Also, if the shelf is not full then things can slide around and smack into one another pretty hard. I decided I needed some sort of a strap hold back system. Some of you suggested Velcro straps and I am sure that would work, but I ended up with something else.

I decided to use inexpensive vinyl clothes line material, the kind with a white vinyl coating and a thin strand of Kevlar in the middle. I like the smooth vinyl as it should be easy to keep clean. I also like that it is soft and flexible, but still plenty strong for what I need.

I made some simple aluminum brackets to mount it inside the cabinets. The bracket towards the rear of the truck is just a small flat plate with holes for 2 screws. The clothes line is pinched between the plate and the wall which holds it very well. The front end is held by a simple L bracket. It has 2 holes where the clothes line threads though and then back through again. The idea is that I can easily adjust the clothes line for length or disconnect it altogether if I need to, but it still holds plenty strong to serve its function.

Depending on the specific shelf the rear bracket is mounted farther back inside the cabinet to help gather the contents against the back wall. It can still bow out to allow the cabinet to be filled completely though.

These hold back cables are now mounted on all my shelves. Yes, they sometimes get in the way when accessing the stuff on the shelves. So far I am finding it easiest to keep them rather slack so I can push them down and out of the way for access. I think they are still tight enough to do the job though. It also remains to be seen how they will do with really short items that slide under the cable. I may end up adding safety latches to the cabinet doors as well. I will just have to live with them for a while and let you know.

I also made some privacy curtains for the Stealth Camper. I made one for each of the bunk bed openings and a larger one to block off the toilet bay. If I was living in the truck by myself, all these curtains would be unnecessary, but if my son is to join me, he needs some privacy. I could care less, but he doesn’t like the idea of me watching him do whatever.

I found some simple blackout curtains at the local thrift store for about $12. It took a little sewing to make them the right size, but not much. They were already the correct width, so I just had to hem them to length. For one of the curtains I had to sew in the sleeve for the curtain rod, but as sewing projects go it was really easy.

I made the curtain rods out of heavy ¼” diameter bungee. The mounts are nothing more than screws with a short piece of tubing to cover the threads where they stick out from the wall. The tubing is a little smaller than the diameter of the screw head so the bungee loops snap on and hold nicely, but are still easily removable. The bungee loops are just wrapped with heavy thread and then coated with Goop to make sure they don’t unravel over time. It’s all very simple and works great.

I have found over the years that heavy bungee doesn’t need to be stretched very far to give the desired tension, so it can hold that tension for years without sagging.

The bunk curtains just slide down the rod to get out of the way. Bungee isn’t slippery like a metal curtain rod, so you have to pull the curtains, not push them, out of the way. The toilet curtain doesn’t slide on the bungee at all. I simply disconnect it from the front mount, and reconnect it to a 2nd mount along the back wall. The curtain sort of swings like a door and stows against the back wall alongside the toilet. It almost gives the illusion that I have a window back there.

As always, pictures can be found under keyword “Stealth”.

To be continued….

10-29-2010, 08:10 PM	#247
Ran D. St. Clair Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 212	Of Cables and Curtains… I started moving my stuff into the Stealth Camper and became concerned about the heavier items, like canned goods, pushing out against the cabinet doors and pushing them open. Several of you have warned me that the magnet latches aren’t enough by themselves. Also, if the shelf is not full then things can slide around and smack into one another pretty hard. I decided I needed some sort of a strap hold back system. Some of you suggested Velcro straps and I am sure that would work, but I ended up with something else. I decided to use inexpensive vinyl clothes line material, the kind with a white vinyl coating and a thin strand of Kevlar in the middle. I like the smooth vinyl as it should be easy to keep clean. I also like that it is soft and flexible, but still plenty strong for what I need. I made some simple aluminum brackets to mount it inside the cabinets. The bracket towards the rear of the truck is just a small flat plate with holes for 2 screws. The clothes line is pinched between the plate and the wall which holds it very well. The front end is held by a simple L bracket. It has 2 holes where the clothes line threads though and then back through again. The idea is that I can easily adjust the clothes line for length or disconnect it altogether if I need to, but it still holds plenty strong to serve its function. Depending on the specific shelf the rear bracket is mounted farther back inside the cabinet to help gather the contents against the back wall. It can still bow out to allow the cabinet to be filled completely though. These hold back cables are now mounted on all my shelves. Yes, they sometimes get in the way when accessing the stuff on the shelves. So far I am finding it easiest to keep them rather slack so I can push them down and out of the way for access. I think they are still tight enough to do the job though. It also remains to be seen how they will do with really short items that slide under the cable. I may end up adding safety latches to the cabinet doors as well. I will just have to live with them for a while and let you know. I also made some privacy curtains for the Stealth Camper. I made one for each of the bunk bed openings and a larger one to block off the toilet bay. If I was living in the truck by myself, all these curtains would be unnecessary, but if my son is to join me, he needs some privacy. I could care less, but he doesn’t like the idea of me watching him do whatever. I found some simple blackout curtains at the local thrift store for about $12. It took a little sewing to make them the right size, but not much. They were already the correct width, so I just had to hem them to length. For one of the curtains I had to sew in the sleeve for the curtain rod, but as sewing projects go it was really easy. I made the curtain rods out of heavy ¼” diameter bungee. The mounts are nothing more than screws with a short piece of tubing to cover the threads where they stick out from the wall. The tubing is a little smaller than the diameter of the screw head so the bungee loops snap on and hold nicely, but are still easily removable. The bungee loops are just wrapped with heavy thread and then coated with Goop to make sure they don’t unravel over time. It’s all very simple and works great. I have found over the years that heavy bungee doesn’t need to be stretched very far to give the desired tension, so it can hold that tension for years without sagging. The bunk curtains just slide down the rod to get out of the way. Bungee isn’t slippery like a metal curtain rod, so you have to pull the curtains, not push them, out of the way. The toilet curtain doesn’t slide on the bungee at all. I simply disconnect it from the front mount, and reconnect it to a 2nd mount along the back wall. The curtain sort of swings like a door and stows against the back wall alongside the toilet. It almost gives the illusion that I have a window back there. As always, pictures can be found under keyword “Stealth”. To be continued….