I am making preparations for the upcoming season and our travels. High on the list is the design and installation of a baby gate before Miss Annabelle makes progress from sitting to crawling and walking. My current theory is to make a post with a bracket to the right of the stairs as you enter using a plate on the floor that attaches to the same mount for the easy chair. My struggle is that I want to make the gate hinge and slide behind the half wall on the left of the stairs as we are removing the dinette to make room for the playpen. Currently I am in the broad strokes stage so any suggestion of kits or hardware etc are appreciated. I am trying to avoid putting a whole bunch of holes in that I have to try to hide when I can remove it all.
How about a hinged cover that would fold up against the half wall when you are using the stairs. When you are not using the stairs it would fold down to cover the stair well and make a flat floor in front of the door. Probably wouldn't be any more hassle than the baby gate, and would gain you a few extra square feet of real estate inside the coach when it was down.
I actually seriously considered doing this to our coach, after the DW almost fell down the stair well right after we got our GV.
I actually did this to the '81 as when my wife would go the refrigerator to get me a Pepsi she fell into the well while I was driving after that I made the cover.
I had initially thought that a cover would be the way to go but I was concerned about how heavy I would have to make it and how cumbersome it would be to pull the cover up from inside the coach with a baby in hand. My friend had a factory cover in front of his passenger seat for when in motion and it was a long way down to stow it away from inside.
@craneman how did you lift the cover out of the way from inside?
How about an 'inverted stair' made of blocks of high density foam.
Light, easy to pull out and a soft landing if she falls?
@dave head that's an idea that never crossed my mind. That would really eliminate adding any holes to the interior.
Didn't have baby in hand. Had small hole to put my finger in and it wasn't heavy 1/2" ply wood. Our coaches are probably different but middle entrance and width of steps should be similar.
The wife has a couple of big bed wedges. A sharp knife, some glue and fabric - put a velcro band around it for a handle.
I'm surprised they didn't make an air step cover optional for mid entries...
One could engineer a built in sliding cover just like a drawer.
The foam would be at least an excellent temporary option and a good one to try first. If nothing else it buys me some time only have a month until the first trip and working six day weeks right now. The sliding drawer might work if I find some really great drawer slides and figure out what is under the main floor behind the steps.
If it's like our coach, under the steps is open area in your forward storage bay. That is where my original inverter was mounted, along with the 12v aux air compressor.
@chuck & Jeannie that's a good long term solution. In the mean time I am attempting to figure out which short term solution will function better for me either the gate or the foam. (wood working guy comes sunday) Also on the books is removing the factory dinette to create space for the play pen.
For those of you who have removed the dinette am I up for any hidden suprises? I see some of you have reused the brace that comes out the wall for the table top to support the shelf but I will be removing it completely.
There is probably a duplex electrical outlet on the support, which will have to be relocated (to the wall?).