railing for steps inside 5th wheel
hello all , am looking to install a non weight bearing railing in our 2013 Copper Canyon 269 FW . this is for balance only .this is to come down steps from the bed and bath area. wife has fallen dow...
Forum Discussion
We faced the same problem in our HitchHiker. The stairway walls are (at best) 1/8" thick plywood and I could find nothing in the way of a "stud" or reinforcement of any kind where I needed to anchor a railing. What to do? Being of a rather contrary sort of cuss I tried to live up (or down) to my personal motto - "Illigitimus non carborundum". That being said, or thought, I decided to have at it. The pictures below show the result. So far it has worked well for my wife and I. We were on the road for almost a month last summer, our first long trip with the 5er, and used the railing every day.
Finding a suitable anchor to use in the thin plywood wasn't so difficult. Making it a bit stronger to better support the railing and any loads placed thereon was. Remember, this railing is to maintain balance only. My wife and I know this and use it accordingly.
As you can see in the first picture, I selected the shortest expanding-type Molly anchor I could find. This will grip 1/8" thick plywood very well. The little #6 machine screw that comes with this size is only about .138" in diameter with 32 threads per inch. I elected to drill and tap the anchor to size 8-32 or about .164" in diameter. The anchor body is too small to allow for enlarging to 3/16".
The rail itself was cut from a scrap of 3/4" thick white oak I happened to have lying around the place.
Another view.
I drilled each end to as shown below. The holes are counter-bored to allow the screw heads to be concealed. The holes were used as a drill guide for locating the modified Molly anchors.
Detail of the finger clearance which is about 1".
I sanded and finished the rail prior to mounting it. When the lights are off, it matches the other woodwork perfectly!
Hope this long-winded dissertation is of some benefit. Good luck!:B
Finding a suitable anchor to use in the thin plywood wasn't so difficult. Making it a bit stronger to better support the railing and any loads placed thereon was. Remember, this railing is to maintain balance only. My wife and I know this and use it accordingly.
As you can see in the first picture, I selected the shortest expanding-type Molly anchor I could find. This will grip 1/8" thick plywood very well. The little #6 machine screw that comes with this size is only about .138" in diameter with 32 threads per inch. I elected to drill and tap the anchor to size 8-32 or about .164" in diameter. The anchor body is too small to allow for enlarging to 3/16".
The rail itself was cut from a scrap of 3/4" thick white oak I happened to have lying around the place.
Another view.
I drilled each end to as shown below. The holes are counter-bored to allow the screw heads to be concealed. The holes were used as a drill guide for locating the modified Molly anchors.
Detail of the finger clearance which is about 1".
I sanded and finished the rail prior to mounting it. When the lights are off, it matches the other woodwork perfectly!
Hope this long-winded dissertation is of some benefit. Good luck!:B
