A few upgrades to Topper

We bought our 2002 Adventurer WSB100 last July. There were a few little things we were not completely happy with, so over time we have been doing a few upgrades. Below are a some pics.

The Problem: a disorganized dish locker. It was hard to get dishes in and out, and they were always in a jumble.

I decided to make some shelves. Using 1/2" X 1 1/2" poplar, I made up some frames.

The frames were then covered with 1/8" melamine hardboard. Everything was assembled with glue and screws.

Here is one of the finished shelves.

Here is the dish locker reorganized.

I also put shelves in the locker above the dinette. The front of the locker folds down to make a bed for a lightweight, so the shelves are removable, just in case the grandkids want to go along.

 

We found the lockers by the head of the bed to be a little clumsy to use. To improve the situation, we purchased an over the door cloth and net shoe holder and cut it up to make handy storage for socks, skivvies, etc. By placing grommets in the corners, we were able to screw the storage units to the inside of the doors.

Here's another one in the hanging locker in the saloon.

We also found this canvas organizer to hang on the saloon wall.

What are you going to do with those pesky pan lids? Here's my solution.

Then, of course, there were a few cosmetic items that needed attention.

The table, which is designed to drop down and make a bed, works fine, but it is a little hard to get around for some of us "less lithe" folks.

So, I made a round table to replace it. This is not the best photo, but you can see the table under the "stuff" on top. Notice the lighting in this photo. It is provided by some nifty LED tape that I found on Amazon.

Here is what it looks like installed. I have since installed a dimmer, so we can adjust the light to fit our mood.

Go back and look at the floor in the first table photo and compare it to the upgraded floor done with peel and stick vinyl tile that looks like hardwood.

Notice the drawer pulls in this photo of the kitchen. Don't they just scream, "1990's?"

We replaced them with these.

The cabinet that was designed to house a small CRT TV set had a slide out shelf. Since we put in a flat panel TV on a swing arm, the cabinet was of little use. BUT, it makes a great pantry with a little shelving added on top.

We also added some AC outlets: one in the dinette, one in the kitchen. And we upgraded three outlets by replacing them with combination AC/USB outlets. Now we can plug in all of our devices for charging.

On the exterior, I recaulked the windows, moved the fantastic fan from the saloon into the bathroom to make room for an A/C unit. There is some more caulking to replace on the roof, but so far no leaks.

Finally, I added a wireless rear-view camera above the door. It is powered from the license plate light, so it reminds me to turn on my lights when we take off. I know some don't like wireless cameras, but this arrangement has worked well for us, and it is so nice to be able to see what is behind us. 

I still have some exterior cosmetic things to attend to. Some of the graphics are faded and peeling. The whole camper needs to be cleaned and waxed, and the area that goes inside the truck bed is in need of some attention, due to delamination of the plywood. Stay tuned for more adventures with Topper!