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Duncan Crawford, Westminster, Maryland
Removable Step Knee Saver
2016 Ford F-350
2020 Northstar 12STC
Old knee injuries have made the step up into the cabover bed and down increasingly painful for my wife. Some sort of small removable and easily stored step was needed, preferably something that didn’t require bolting obtrusive things–like brackets–to the forward wall.
We did some test height measurements and settled on around thirteen inches as ideal and no wider than fifteen inches to avoid interference with the adjacent swiveling chair. With those dimensions as a guide, my wife picked a suitable folding step stool (among many) on Amazon for about $20.
I retrieved some leftover half-inch luan box store ‘project panel’ plywood from my woodpile, cut it to size (nominal 15×18 inches) and routed four shallow containment pockets for the legs.
To keep everything in place, I drilled a couple of half-inch holes near the back corners and used those to locate two half-inch high posts machined from some scrap brass bar stock. The posts are screwed to the step and are normally covered by a cushioned mat. The posts weren’t fixed in place until we did a dry fit to determine the optimal fore-aft position for the stool.
The cabover step in our camper is above the fresh water tank and is removable for access to the tank clean-out cover. Because of that, it was easy to ensure a drill or screw didn’t hit anything underneath.
This mod works as we hoped. It’s now easy to get in and out of the cabover with minimal knee strain. We store the adapter plate and folder stool under the mattress right above the step.
Materials Used:
Nominal half-inch plywood “project panel’ from a box store – most 2×2 run around $12
Suitable folding stool from amazon.com (many to choose from) – $12 to $30
Your choice of something to use as locating posts, depending on your camper. Even a dowel glued in place could work. You just need to keep the plate from sliding side-to-side and fore-to-aft.
It took me about three hours to complete this modification and cost me less than $40.
Disclaimer: The modifications above are submitted by Truck Camper Magazine readers. It is your responsibility to make sure that any do-it-yourself modification project you undertake is safe, effective, and legal for your situation.
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