Happy Campers SA

This past weekend we spent some time on simple mods and builds for our new Xcape bush caravan. We are largely happy with the features of the caravan but there were some practical niggles that we wanted to get sorted before our next camping weekend. One of the things that I wanted to change was the dish washing stand. The original stand that comes standard with the caravan was just too impractical and we set out with a simple design plan and we built one that suited us perfectly.

We’re quite tall people so the original stand was just too low for us, and we also needed something bigger than the Addis basin that comes with the standard stand. I really like the LeisureQuip range of foldaway kitchen accessories and I’ve invested in one of their wash up bowls a while ago so it was a no-brainer to re-use the bowl in a different way. I also decided to move the dish washing stand to the back of the caravan as the space is really restricted in front, so we’ll use the shower outlet to fill the basin with water.

We recently found local suppliers of the Connect-It range of fittings so we were excited to test it out on our new dish washing stand. The project came out perfectly and I’ve drawn up a little how-to guide on how we built and fitted the stand to the Xcape. Needless to say, I’m sure there’s things that we could have done differently so feel free to change it up if you decide to follow any of our guidelines…

We bought the following items and materials:

LEISURE QUIP Foldaway Drying Rack

LEISURE QUIP Large Foldaway Washing Bowl

Connect-It fittings (From Mica Hardware in Vanderbijlpark)

• Brace piece 19mm (4 ea)
• 3 way Connector 19mm (2 ea)
• T-piece 19mm (2 ea)
• Corner piece 1933 (2 ea)

Various caravan fittings from Gibbons Caravans in Vanderbijlpark

• Tent pole ball ends 22mm (4 ea)
• Square base sockets (4 ea)
• Round base sockets (2 ea)
• Table brackets with ball (2 ea)

5.8mt length of Connect-It aluminium square tubing 19mm (from Falcon in Vereeniging) (1 ea)

3mt length aluminium round tubing 22mm from Gibbons Caravans in Vanderbijlpark

Pop rivets and silicone

The square tubing was cut into the following lengths:

• 390mm (3 ea)
• 370mm (1 ea)
• 455mm (2 ea)
• 490mm (2 ea)
• 920mm (2 ea)

The round tubing was cut into the following lengths:

• 700mm (2 ea)

After we cut the tubing into the correct lengths we went about fitting them together with the Connect-It fittings. The fittings were pop riveted to the tubing to make sure that they won’t come loose and then it was time to fit it to the caravan. The caravan fittings were also riveted to the caravan sides and the supports were measured and fitted. It was a real easy build and the pictures are pretty straight forward to follow. In hindsight we should have used two long pieces on the sides instead of cutting it into two pieces and joining them with a t-piece, but we’re quite confident that it is stable with the supports we put in.