Well, after 5 years of listening to Wayne (Reddog1)and my wife complain about the 5 step stairs and discussing what a good design for a deck on my Bigfoot 2500 9'6" would look like we decided it was time to do it. So when the weather finally cooperated, we gave up beer drinking and telling lies for a couple of afternoons and got to work building one..
Wayne is quite a fabricator and I am out of my realm when it comes to this kind of work so I was like a shop helper...
Here is the approved revision 1132 drawing of my deck. When the wife and I arrived Wayne had completed the drawing and with my approval, we were ready to start. We had enough chalk left over for a game of HOP SCOTCH...
Ok class lookie here!! Get those burrs off those cut edges...Ya might hurt yer fingers!!!
Ok class here's how you use this UniStrut stuff...Pay attention to the clamps and wood. This is an on-unit lay up! Geez it will be nice to not use those sloppy 5 step stairs anymore!
Wow look at that fit!!! You would get the impression that Wayne really knows what he is doingj!!! Hay, it's starting to look like a deck frame...
Oh boy....
Here comes the lower step brackets...We couldn't make up our mind about how we were going to provide mounting for the stairs. So we did three different ways. Two are shown here.
We were using Wayne's Bigfoot stairs for getting the mounting brackets in the right place.
The finished product. Currently I am using a different bracket for the stairs. It allows the stairs to be swung up and bunggee'e up.
The stored position using the swing brackets.
I have a set of stairs like Wayne's. They need some work but may fit better than this modified 5 step stairs.. Going to use it like this and see how it goes.
I did have a plug in rack that attached to the 2 inch receiver...It did set lower than the Tubs shown. I put my levelors and various BBQ stuff in the tubs.
The weight of the Deck is about 50 lbs..About the same as the plug in rack.
As for strength...the Uni-Strut is strong enough in this design to support both the wife and I...
I could not have built this deck without the expertise and help from Wayne...We do exchange our expertises and help each other do things, especially when it comes to Beer....
dadwolf2 wrote: Looks good, do you have any problem with the storage bins scraping?
My rack that plugs into my 2 inch receiver, which I do not need anymore, hehe, did not scrape. It sat about 6 inches lower than the bottom of the tubs.
I would worry about it about if I had a 10-11.5 ft camper. Since my camper is short, 9'6" the distance from the rear tires to the tubs is quite a bit shorter, thus less susceptibility of scraping.
Nice job, the only thing that would concern me is that plummers tape holding those tubs in place..Wouldn't something life a wide nylon strap like the truckers use or something simular be stronger? I would like to see a couple of pictures of the gen. racks you have attached to the ladder. How they are attached..That's a great job on them also...Happy Trails..
2003 Four Winds Infinity 37'
2011 Lance 855
3.5# Minpin named Darcy
Ford F250 Super Duty
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