Ideas? Outdoor clip-on galley table

georgianwinds

Hello. I am looking to build a removable outdoor table for my 320 clamshell T@B camper. I want it to attach to the counter perpendicular to the sink and flush with the existing counter. It would then give me an L-shaped counter. I have pretty well designed it and ready to build. It will be 36 by 18 inches, with rounded-over edges, and with one folding and adjustable leg at the far end (so to accommodate uneven ground). It would clip on to the counter end at the other end of the table. Problem is the clip on. The standard RV table wall fastener (readily available ) is too tall to fit under the counter lip without having to trim the lower cabinet doors. So I came up with the idea of using two lengths of U-channel to make my own fastener but have not figured out how to keep the two sections together when they are in use. A gentle bump might dislodge them and then the table would collapse. Has anyone come up with an idea to hold the table attached the the camper counter when it is in use? Thanks in advance for any ideas. Looking forward to the 2022 camping season. 

georgianwinds

Perhaps a pin that slides in from underneath through holes in the two sections would work. Simple but, looking to see what others have tried.

Sharon_is_SAM

I copied this post from @WilliamA over on the TaG forum.  Very clever idea using a piano hinge and brace.

I've been mulling this one over for a long time. We finally got a small hole in the cold (it's 30 degrees today) so I thought I'd put the parts I've been saving to use. I'll not say this was complex, but it was a bit tricky. There's little room between the clamshell and the counter at its narrowest point so I had to think it through a bit. In addition, the landing leg for the countertop didn't offer many places to fold down into. Have a look:

The new top is made from 3/4" Aspen glue-up. I got a piece 18x48x3/4" from Fleet Farm for $22 bucks. Add another $15 for the nickel-plated piano hinge (1 1/2" open width x 48") and that's what I've got in it so far.

Finish size is 41" wide x 18" deep at its deepest point. Right corner is cut to 45 degrees, then rounded to a radius equal to a roll of masking tape, whatever that is. Large inside radius in front of the sink is.....aaaahhh... curiously, it's exactly the same curve as a ceramic kiln shelf.... Just a coincidence....

It folds up nicely inside the top of the kitchen. 18" is about all the depth you can squeeze into it and still clear the hatch. The fold-out leg is screwed to the bottom of the counter with the leftover piece of piano hinge and folds tightly to the bottom of the counter when raised. In the stowed position, there's about 7/16" of clearance between the folded up counter and the hatch inside. That distance is tightest right at the edge of the O.E. countertop. The clearance gets larger as you go up from the edge of the countertop. I back-cut the fold-down leg where it goes between the cabinet doors so the width narrows to 3/8" and widens over 3" of run. A tricky hand cut with my skilsaw. Use a sharp blade!

In this photo you can see the way the support knife-edges down to 3/8" where it contacts the space between the cabinet doors. That's not to fit between the cabinet doors. It's to clear the hatch when you close the kitchen lid! It's tight. To get my depth for that, (it's nearly impossible to get a good measurement with the rubber seals etc) I put a wide strip of duct tape on the bottom face of the folded up countertop, then rolled out a 1/2" rope of ceramic clay and stuck it on the tape (the tape was just so the clay wouldn't stain the wood), then closed the hatch and pressed it down good and tight. When I opened the hatch, the clay was squeezed out into the exact minimum space between my new countertop edge and the hatch inside face. It's tight, but workable. One of the problems was I needed to overhang the leg so it folded down and about 1/2" behind the face of the countertop in order to sit flat on the cabinet face. A bit of head-scratching took care of it. In the photo below you can see how far the leg hangs down past the edge of the countertop. Without that, the new countertop would have a 6 degree pitch outward to it. I wanted it level.

 I got my exact target for the landing leg between the doors by simply folding the countertop down (before I put the landing leg on) then opened both cabinet doors and drew a line where they opened to. That gave me a handy target for where the leg needed to be when unfolded. There's no particular reason why it folds to the left. It could have folded either way without any problem.

I can still access my big dry-goods drawer by simply grabbing the edge of the countertop and rotating it up a bit. I also have a small drawer in the sink cabinet and it's accessible in the same way.

A bonus that I hadn't really thought through but works well is with the leg cut to a knife-edge, when I fold the countertop out, the leg simply folds down and goes where it needs to be without touching it. Didn't see that one coming, but I'm takin credit for it......

I had actually wanted the countertop to swing down to fold. I had a cool spring-leg holder designed and wanted to use that, but for many reasons, most of which should be obvious, folding up was just much simpler. I could have sourced a double-piano hinge, but in addition to being upwards of $100 bucks, it also had a number of additional problems that would have made things more difficult.

I will now take it all apart and sand the whole thing down, drill the screwholes for 1" deep x 3/8" hardwood dowels and use longer, finish screws in place of the 1/2" jobs that came with the hinge. The tiny little screws it came with won't hold in that uber-soft Aspen softwood for long. I could also inject a bit of CA or wood glue into each hole but think the hardwood dowels will be simple to install, drill and put together. Once in, they'll be atomically strong. I also plan to drill the face of the O.E. countertop and put the same dowels in. The stock countertop is pretty cheesy and didn't take much effort to drill. I'm sure it's just formica covered particle board. I will also add a strip of some soft stick-on material where the leg contacts the cabinet face just to be kind to the cabinet.

Most of the rest of the work can be done in the house so if it gets cold again (IF?) I will have a nice inside project. Once it's all drilled, glued sanded and edges routed, I'll stain it, then put a layer of clear epoxy over it to add a bit of longevity.

Fun stuff. Can't wait to give it a test drive.....

WilliamA

Sharon_is_SAM

Here is another idea from the TaG forum:

georgianwinds

Thanks Sharon and much admiration to William's table solution. That is quite a project. I might just have to kick my 'simpler' table up a notch ... but at least I will now need to post a few pictures once I am done. Thanks and I'll post once I can dig out of the snow.

georgianwinds

Sharon, your second reply is very close to the idea that I was thinking. However I was trying to avoid attaching the one half of the table fastener to to face of the camper counter. But that would be the simpler way to go. Thanks.

ckjs

@georgianwinds
What about installing a section of t-track between the lip of the counter and the top of the under-sink doors? Then you could put some 1/4x20 hex bolts sticking out the edge of the narrow side of the countertop add-on and slide the hex heads into the track to hold them together. 

If the t-track is too wide to fit above the doors, keder rail is narrower and would fit (at least on my clamshell). I guess you could attach some keder rope to the add-on.

Marceline

I thought about this a while ago but in the end I decided that it wasn't worth the effort. Instead I got a good small aluminum table the right height and I just place it where it need it for more countertop space. 
https://www.rei.com/product/866034/gci-outdoor-compact-camp-table-20

georgianwinds

Thank you. Some more inspiration. I like the idea of the t-track. And I happen to have a piece. The hatch to the camper is frozen at the moment and so I'll have to wait until the ice melts before I can measure if the track will fit. It'll be close.

Mickerly

I made a larger table top for the Lagun mount. I mounted it off center. When the table is on the outside wall mount, the new table top sticks out about 7 inches past the end of the trailer. Now, I have counter space past the refrigerator to use without loosing access to the normal cabinets. When we're finished cooking, just lower the table for an outside dinette.

Denny16

That is a grand idea! Cheers