Fun with the Rebel Bird

[Ryan Wright]

Here Jon, like this:

http://www.ryanwright.com/tmp/jon-porch.jpg

Get some heavy duty linear actuators off eBay, or build your own with
electric motors & some thick all-thread & welded-to-the-frame nuts.
The drawing doesn't show all dimensions perfectly (I threw it together
in half an hour) and I didn't draw in all three floors because of
that, but you get the idea. Each platform would need to slide
underneath the previous. You'd then want some way to make all
platforms level. I'd do it two ways:

1. On the front most floor (closest to the bus), have the main floor
anchored to the deck frame and a secondary floor that sits on top of
it and is hinged on the back. So when your center floor slides out, it
will be 3/4" lower than your front floor. But the front floor would be
made up of two 3/4" floor panels hinged together, so just flip the top
part 180 degrees and it would settle right onto the center floor,
making it level.

2. Then, for the back floor, have a 1.5" thick flooring on hinges,
vertically connected to the rear railing. Flip that 90 degrees toward
you and it would settle onto the rear deck, which would be 1.5" lower
than the front, and now you have a level deck. To retract, just flip
the floor pieces over and reverse the motor(s).

3. Stick a zip-dee awning on the roof, so when the deck extends or
retracts, the awning follows to provide shade.

There you go - you've solved your overhang problem, mostly, and you
can make the deck big enough to enjoy.

-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92
Tri-Cities, WA

On 6/10/07, Ryan Wright wrote:
> Hey Jon,
>
> On 6/10/07, Jon wrote:
> >
> > I'm totally retired and I love to have challenges and since this will
> > take up a little of my spare time-why not?
>
> Well, I'll be the one to encourage you, then. I think you should do
> it. If nothing else, it will be unique. If I had a useless rear door
> hanging off the back of my coach, I'd do it. A back porch on an RV is
> just a cool idea. Then again, I was raised by hippies, so that gives
> you some perspective on why I like the idea too. ;-)
>
> If I were doing it, I'd try to make some sort of three layered
> electric slide-out deal, so when you're driving down the road it only
> sticks out two feet, but when parked you flip a switch and now it's 6
> feet. Would be fun to engineer something like that and not too
> difficult a project I'd imagine. Your idea with the three receiver
> hitches is a good one, I think, and would make the project removable
> should things not work out as well as planned.
>
> Pete's ideas on a hinge-connection and/or skid are good ones. I'd try
> to implement those and you might also add some large steel "wheels" to
> the back - you know the type, long and skinny like they use on the big
> garbage bins. Should stop you from catching the ground with the rear
> most platform cross member and ripping the whole thing off your coach.
>
> Good luck with it.
>
> -Ryan
> '86 PT-40 8V92
> Tri-Cities, WA
>