So, I'm guessing this will have limited appeal as most people vacation to get away from work. But, sometimes you need to work on the road just to be able to leave town. Some people may find this an option for doing crafts or other activities in their Class C that require some desk space.
We typically take longer trips (3 weeks) that require us to remain plugged in to reality, at least periodically. In preparation of a recent trip, I conceptualized a standing desk for myself and DH created it. I use a sit-stand desk at home, so an out of the way standing desk in our short Class C seemed perfect and it turned out great! (IMHO)
Above you'll see the desk. Essentially, DH took a piece of 1/2" birch plywood that was a bit larger than the cab-access opening in our bunk. From this piece, he cut out a desk that was slightly smaller than the opening to the cab. This is what is hanging down as the desk. The two pieces of wood fit perfectly together.
I bought seat belt material on eBay for the hanging material. There are two straps: one at the back that is screwed into the bottom of the desk portion and snapped onto the hanger support, and one that snaps on both ends to the hanger support and spans beneath the front edge of the desk.
You'll see my monitor hovering above the bunk. I bought the Ergotron 45-353-026 LX Sit-Stand Wall Mount LCD Arm (Amazon had a good price). We mounted it to the end of the row of overhead cabinets at left (the cabinet end was sturdy as that cabinet originally held the heavy tube TV that came with the RV, but we still placed a piece of birch plywood on the inside end of the cabinet to add structural support particularly since the wall mount was narrow and designed for mounting on a stud in a S&B house). The cool thing is that the mount is very adjustable and can even be swung forward, down, and tilted down for movie viewing. So, as a by-product we now have a TV in the RV as well. When we travel, it tucks up against the cabinet in portrait position and is buckled in with a belt.
I placed a grid of four snaps (male screw-in type) on each of the three connection points on the hanger support. Each end of the seat belt got a grid of snaps to select from to allow for some height adjustment. You can see the seat belt threads through a slot in the desk and travels underneath the front edge.
The width of hanger support board you see here is the extent of it. DH measured to make it fit the space that was open on the bunk platform when you remove the cushion that covers the cab access cutout. On the back edge, the support piece does sit under the cushion (see next photo).
DH routed a little line near the back edge to keep pens from rolling off. The entire thing is pretty easy to level since the straps can be adjusted and the side-to-side level is handled by simply sliding the desk relative to the long front strap that supports it along the front edge.
When not in use, we simply lift the desk up to fit against the hanger support piece and use it to push both pieces back. They slide under the rear mattress cushion on the bunk (at front of RV cabover) and completely out of the way. When we want to get it out, just grab the seat belt strap and pull forward and the whole thing comes out as a unit and the desk drops down (we catch it before letting it actually drop).
Because I'm a dual-monitor kind of person, I find that once I set the desk up, I replace the bunk cushion (right on top of the hanger support piece) and set my laptop up there next to the other monitor. I'm tall and the height of our bunk relative to the floor makes this a good height for working (for the laptop monitor only, I use an external keyboard and mouse on the desk - which is what it was designed for).
Lessons Learned/Other Thoughts:
-Snaps are strong! We were impressed. I had fun doing that portion, but this might be faster/easier/cheaper using velcro which usually also has pretty good shear strength. If using velcro, I would be reluctant to rely on adhesive to keep it stuck in an RV.
-I suppose if we didn't want to make the hanger support piece, we could simply have installed the male snap ends (or velcro) to the bunk beneath the mattress pads. I guess we liked the "non-intrusive" design of this approach.
-It worked great! And for the record, it's only for use while stationary. I'm guessing everyone here would recognize that, but everyone we showed it to (non-RV-people) asked "you use this while moving???" Obviously, no. It's just for setting up a temporary office in your Class C.
We typically take longer trips (3 weeks) that require us to remain plugged in to reality, at least periodically. In preparation of a recent trip, I conceptualized a standing desk for myself and DH created it. I use a sit-stand desk at home, so an out of the way standing desk in our short Class C seemed perfect and it turned out great! (IMHO)
Above you'll see the desk. Essentially, DH took a piece of 1/2" birch plywood that was a bit larger than the cab-access opening in our bunk. From this piece, he cut out a desk that was slightly smaller than the opening to the cab. This is what is hanging down as the desk. The two pieces of wood fit perfectly together.
I bought seat belt material on eBay for the hanging material. There are two straps: one at the back that is screwed into the bottom of the desk portion and snapped onto the hanger support, and one that snaps on both ends to the hanger support and spans beneath the front edge of the desk.
You'll see my monitor hovering above the bunk. I bought the Ergotron 45-353-026 LX Sit-Stand Wall Mount LCD Arm (Amazon had a good price). We mounted it to the end of the row of overhead cabinets at left (the cabinet end was sturdy as that cabinet originally held the heavy tube TV that came with the RV, but we still placed a piece of birch plywood on the inside end of the cabinet to add structural support particularly since the wall mount was narrow and designed for mounting on a stud in a S&B house). The cool thing is that the mount is very adjustable and can even be swung forward, down, and tilted down for movie viewing. So, as a by-product we now have a TV in the RV as well. When we travel, it tucks up against the cabinet in portrait position and is buckled in with a belt.
I placed a grid of four snaps (male screw-in type) on each of the three connection points on the hanger support. Each end of the seat belt got a grid of snaps to select from to allow for some height adjustment. You can see the seat belt threads through a slot in the desk and travels underneath the front edge.
The width of hanger support board you see here is the extent of it. DH measured to make it fit the space that was open on the bunk platform when you remove the cushion that covers the cab access cutout. On the back edge, the support piece does sit under the cushion (see next photo).
DH routed a little line near the back edge to keep pens from rolling off. The entire thing is pretty easy to level since the straps can be adjusted and the side-to-side level is handled by simply sliding the desk relative to the long front strap that supports it along the front edge.
When not in use, we simply lift the desk up to fit against the hanger support piece and use it to push both pieces back. They slide under the rear mattress cushion on the bunk (at front of RV cabover) and completely out of the way. When we want to get it out, just grab the seat belt strap and pull forward and the whole thing comes out as a unit and the desk drops down (we catch it before letting it actually drop).
Because I'm a dual-monitor kind of person, I find that once I set the desk up, I replace the bunk cushion (right on top of the hanger support piece) and set my laptop up there next to the other monitor. I'm tall and the height of our bunk relative to the floor makes this a good height for working (for the laptop monitor only, I use an external keyboard and mouse on the desk - which is what it was designed for).
Lessons Learned/Other Thoughts:
-Snaps are strong! We were impressed. I had fun doing that portion, but this might be faster/easier/cheaper using velcro which usually also has pretty good shear strength. If using velcro, I would be reluctant to rely on adhesive to keep it stuck in an RV.
-I suppose if we didn't want to make the hanger support piece, we could simply have installed the male snap ends (or velcro) to the bunk beneath the mattress pads. I guess we liked the "non-intrusive" design of this approach.
-It worked great! And for the record, it's only for use while stationary. I'm guessing everyone here would recognize that, but everyone we showed it to (non-RV-people) asked "you use this while moving???" Obviously, no. It's just for setting up a temporary office in your Class C.
