I've been perusing this forum for over 15 years and this is the first time I've seen this post! Amazing amount of hints contained herein and I guess I'll add mine, if not just for the bump effect.
We have done a lot of mods to our motor home since we got it new 15 years ago. This is the latest one I just finished during our coronavirus lock down. No safer place than alone in the RV!
Our bed has a good amount of storage under it but it is not accessible unless the slide is rolled out. It snugs in against our closet and the lid can't be lifted evenly by the near corner.
To solve this problem and to just make it easier on our backs I installed a linear actuator to do the lifting. The bed has a false bottom which when lifted exposed the slide worm drive mechanism. I placed a block of wood the thickness between the slide and the false bottom. I bolted and screwed that into the frame of the slide.
The next job was wiring to control the actuator. Winnebago has a nice wiring diagram and all their wires are labeled. I was able to find a pair of wires on the floor of the slide that go to the sconces on either side of the bed. I simply spliced into those positive and negative 12 volt wires and then ran it to a switch. By mounting the switch to the lower corner of the foot of the bed I was able to keep all the wires hidden beneath the false bottom and hopefully out of the way of feet and vacuum cleaners.
A little tricky was locating the mounting brackets for the actuator. I found this
Calculator to help me figure the size and placement. One problem was not being able to be inside the box to check the install location of the top bracket. I put a pillow under the actuator to hold it up and then closed the lid. I slid a tape measure in until it reached the bracket mount and measured the distance to the foot of the bed and then transcribed that for the placement so I could bolt it in when the lid was up. One thing I added to the top mounting bracket was a wood block. The bracket is bolted through the wood block and then the wood block is secured from the top of the lid using t-nuts to bolt into. This allows for the bracket to be unbolted from the top in case of failure of the actuator.
The finished product.
The actuators come in different lengths and weight lifting capabilities. They also come in different speeds. To get the most lifting ability some of them raise very slowly. The one I used has a 12" lift and a 225 lb lifting capability. Way more than I needed. The speed is about 1/2" per second. I found it on eBay for $43 and the switch on Amazon for $8. The switch is a DPDT on/off/on and came pre-wired for the reverse polarity needed for a DC motor.
It was a fairly easy mod and I'm hopeful it will let us make better use of the under bed space.
Bill
