Hand Railing

[klpauba]

My wife is having some knee trouble. I was able to fashion a hand railing to the left of the door to make it easier for her to enter and exit the TM. It is easily installed and removed for each trip (and stored inside the TM).

The first two shots show the installed railing. It's mostly constructed from PVC. I added 1-1/4" closet pole into the 1-1/2" PVC to give it more stiffness. The two 6" lengths of 1/2" PVC hide some threaded rod that is screwed into the closet pole (which have threaded inserts installed) and are anchored to the main 3/4" PVC trim board with nuts and washers (in counter-bored holes on the back side).

The PVC trim board (see image #3) has a rabbet 3/8" deep and 1-1/4 wide to fit nicely behind the door jamb (the one that hinges on the left side). I notched the bottom left edge of the board to support itself on the torsion bar (can almost be seen in image #1). Installation is easy -- just swing the left door jamb out of the way, slide the railing assembly into position and swing the door jamb back into place.

A 1" thick piece of PVC trim was glued to the trim board to snuggly wedge behind the shell support members. I fashioned an insert (some more PVC trim board) to fit in the stirrup to prevent it from somehow falling out. I drilled through the insert, the 1" wedge piece and the main board to retain it all with a bolt and knob. I counter-bored hole on the main trim board on the back side where I drove in a t-nut.

I have yet to give it a coat or two of paint (PVC is not UV resistant) so all of my construction marks are still visible.

After our weekend at a nearby state park, my wife really likes it. The door jamb holds the assembly very rigidly without any flex.

[LoveToCamp]

Creative! And, no modification to the TM itself. Great mod!

[klpauba]

Thanks, LoveToCamp. I've been trying to find another post of a similar solution so that I can give credit for the idea. For the life of me, I cannot find it yet.

The other solution clamped the railing to the shell supports alone and would seem to be equally effective. I always like to try out something different.