Building a Bathroom Wall - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

garyk52 · 09-15-2012, 06:19 PM

Since I'm almost finished with the rebuild of our 96 Hi-Lo I decided to try my luck at building a wall for the bathroom rather than the curtain things that came with the camper. Two of the curtains were rotten and I didn't really like the looks of them. Here are a few photos of the idea I came up with. I used pine because I didn't know if this was going to work or not. I still have some tinkering to do on the fit but it looks like it's going to work.

PappaP · 09-15-2012, 08:46 PM

Looks like a good fit. I have seen someone post here with the same kind of method for the bathroom walls except they had the wall flip upward and was held in place near the ceiling when not in use.

JackandJanet · 09-15-2012, 08:49 PM

Looks pretty classy! It "accordion folds" against the side when you lower the top?

I'll have to remember this if I ever have to replace our fabric walls.

- Jack

sam · 09-15-2012, 09:35 PM

Your design seems to be workable.

garyk52 · 09-15-2012, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PappaP

Looks like a good fit. I have seen someone post here with the same kind of method for the bathroom walls except they had the wall flip upward and was held in place near the ceiling when not in use.

I thought about doing that until I crawled inside with the top down and found I had less than an inch between my new ceiling light and the top of the wardrobe.

Jack asked: Looks pretty classy! It "accordion folds" against the side when you lower the top?

Yes, it is hinged so the smaller end piece folds behind the larger piece and both are held against the wall with a chrome baggage latch. The bottom piece is hinged because the wardrobe is to high and interfered with the pieces that fold against the wall.

RudyRedNek · 09-16-2012, 10:06 AM

I'm stealing your idea today!!! I think that is fantastic and it looks great! I have been trying to figure out how to do something similar on the shower side. I'm going to see if I can do the "swing-up" thing over there!

Post more pics when you get 'em.

garyk52 · 09-16-2012, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RudyRedNek

I'm stealing your idea today!!! I think that is fantastic and it looks great! I have been trying to figure out how to do something similar on the shower side. I'm going to see if I can do the "swing-up" thing over there!

Post more pics when you get 'em.

My idea for the shower side is a swinging wall like the wardrobe side with something like a pocket door built into it. I can make the wall all one piece since there is enough room to swing it back against the side bathroom wall.

gus · 09-16-2012, 06:09 PM

looks very professional, the factory should have designed it this way in my opinion.
beside the pine for the frame what did you use for the middle part?

garyk52 · 09-16-2012, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gus

looks very professional, the factory should have designed it this way in my opinion.
beside the pine for the frame what did you use for the middle part?

That is actually the window cutouts from rebuilding the walls on our 96 Funchaser. I have lots of scrap pieces of paneling and plywood left over from the rebuild.

gus · 09-17-2012, 11:59 AM

very smart to re use the old paneling, nothing gone to waste. I see that you used mortise and tenon joinery. Is the bottom half supports the upper part ?
on the shower side how are you going to prevent the shower curtains from interfering?

garyk52 · 09-17-2012, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gus

very smart to re use the old paneling, nothing gone to waste. I see that you used mortise and tenon joinery. Is the bottom half supports the upper part ?
on the shower side how are you going to prevent the shower curtains from interfering?

I used a half lap joint between upper and bottom, but there is approx 1/16 to and 1/8 gap between the joint.

As far as the shower curtains go I'm thinking of making a rectangle out of 1/2 pvc pipe which I can attach to the ceiling with clips and then lower into the small tub with the curtains still attached. That's still on the drawing board

robobd · 09-17-2012, 01:48 PM

now that is truely a beautiful job that i would be very proud to show off . great idea and can't wait to see the other side! what are you going to do with the "slider section"

garyk52 · 09-18-2012, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robobd

now that is truely a beautiful job that i would be very proud to show off . great idea and can't wait to see the other side! what are you going to do with the "slider section"

I'm working on designing a sliding door inside the wall. Don't quite have it all figured out yet in my head, but I believe it is doable. Just have to make sure the wall is not to thick where it won't slide between the halves when I lower the camper.
I could also do like the other side using 3 panels 2 small and 1 large and have the outer 2 fold like the bottom half bathroom door, that would be easier to build, but might end up with a see thru gap in the middle. That's something else I need to think about for awhile before I start building.

I want to pick the best and easiest design to build, Just in case someone else would like to give it a try. I want to go with the KISS principle.

For those that don't know KISS= Keep It Simple Stupid (That means me

)

sam · 09-18-2012, 08:41 PM

Garyk,52 You might want to look at this shower modification on the Yahoo group HiLo Trailers. 2403T Shower Mod by prote55 Jan 20th-2009. Hope this helps.

gus · 02-06-2013, 08:52 PM

I decided to do away with the fabric walls that separate the bathroom from the rest of the camper with solid walls and I wanted it to be as simple as possible, that to set it up or dismantle it takes less than 1 min, held in place with 2 wing nuts, so far dismantle takes about 1 minute, to set it up it takes about 2 min, mainly because to realign the 2 half's of the upper part of the door there is a hing and it is in a tight spot, but I think that is reasonable, number 3 pic is before painting, now it feels like there is some privacy in the bathroom, total cost of material around $27 plus paint.

garyk52 · 02-07-2013, 12:23 AM

Gus,
Looks like a good plan.
Where do you store them when not using? I stopped working on mine right now because of the weather. I'll start again when it warms up in the spring. Being just the wife and I it's not a priority at this time.

gus · 02-07-2013, 04:48 AM

garyk52
there are several options, one of them is on top of the couch just lay them flat, the other is stand them in the isle, next to the kitchen counter, but i like the first option better, i made them light enough, but very strong , iI havent tried it on a trip yet, yesterday was warm enough to do some work outside so i decided to finish this project