RVer's laptop stand has some new tricks

Despite the era of e-tablets, there are still plenty of RVers who love their laptop – and find it useful while motoring on down the roadway. But it's not always easy to find a good stand for a laptop – so many are impractical for RV use, or just plain expensive.

Steve Willey is an RVer who loves his laptop. His rig is a Class C motorhome on a Ford chassis – one with a "doghouse" between the pilot and co-pilot seats. Steve figured there was a way to use this space to make an area for his PC, so he set to work and came up with a practical design you might find useful.

Using the bottom of the computer as a template, Steve cuts a chunk of plywood the same size. He makes cutouts in the plywood wherever inlet/outlet ports for cooling air exist. He using ½" angle aluminum as an edge molding to hold the computer in place. Cutouts in the aluminum allow for power and other wiring.

Flipping the platform up to expose the "bottom" of the stand, Steve attaches a swing arm. The heart of this swing arm is plumber's flange, attached directly to the plywood platform. He then uses appropriately sized PVC pipe fittings and elbows (which often translates to 1 ¼" or 1 ½"), the whole works attaching to yet another flanged mounted on (or inside) the "doghouse." All the pipe fittings – with a couple of exceptions – are glued. Those NOT glued are where the fitting attaches to the flange on the platform base, which allows the platform to swivel; and no glue on the bottom flange – which allows the whole unit to swivel between pilot and copilot seats. It also makes it easy to remove the unit when not required.

You'll also notice the computer power supply is attached to the underside of the platform. That's no ordinary OEM power brick, rather it's one that plugs –not into "shore power"—but directly into the motor home's 12-volt power supply. This alleviates the need of using inverter power to fire the computer, reducing the total drain on the RV battery system, as there's no inverter inefficiency. You'll find these devices at http://lindelectronics.com/auto-adapters/.

Thanks to Steve for his great idea!