DIY CAB GEAR LOFT FOR THE AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

We had resisted adding some kind of storage loft or cargo net in the cab in our 2007 Airstream Interstate.  My husband is 6'1" tall and has already found an abundance of different ways to smash his head inside the Interstate.  He didn't need one more.  Plus, I didn't want a claustrophobic feel in the cab.

But necessity continued to dictate my actions, and I had a Eureka moment when I realized that I didn't have to permanently modify the cab, or even add any fixtures or appurtenances, to accomplish this goal.  Airstream had already laid the groundwork for me.

"Eureka!  I found it!"  Or so the claimed quote goes.  

Excerpted from this Scientific American article. 

The T1N Airstream Interstates (2004 - 2007) include a row of snaps around the perimeter of the cab, so that an included privacy curtain can be hung there.  But we don't use that curtain.  We use Heatshield brand windshield and cab side window covers, that were specifically fitted for the T1N Sprinter.  I've been very pleased with them and they've stood up well over time.

With those snaps not being used for the privacy curtain, they were freed up to accept other things.

Airstream used a standard five-eighths inch sized snap, nickel-coated brass from the look of them.  They are compatible with this snap product available at Joann and other retailers (I like Joann).  

My big Eureka moment was in realizing that there was no obligation to "hang" something from those embedded snap backs.  One could instead "support" something above them, in the available un-used volume of the headliner.  Like a gear loft for bulky but low-weight items.

You can see one of the snaps at photo right.  As I usually do, I started framing this project by first developing a cardboard template.  The cab headliner is irregular in shape, and so this helped me to get a handle on it. 

There were two other minor Eureka moments that characterized this design.  The first involved my realization that this type of project has a very unique point of reference.  Let me explain, because the head space is important.

Every crafting and construction project has some point of reference, to which it must relate back if it is to be successful.  That point of reference is almost always concrete.  For example, the point of reference for crafting a custom awning screen is, duh, the awning itself.

From that earlier blog post. 

The gear loft's point of reference was virtual rather than concrete.  It was... the air.  Seriously.  With the headliner being curvy and irregular in shape, there was no way to anchor the project to anything else, no way to measure and build off of any other fixed reference point that made sense.  I had to relate it back to the invisible straight line through the air from the aft-most cab snap on one side, to the aft-most cab snap on the other side.

OK, once I had that understanding, then I had to pick my materials.  Here, too, is where a departure from convention became necessary.

When we think of gear lofts, toy lofts such as these often come to mind.  In fact, the fabric used in this Pinterest image above is reportedly the same as the Joann mesh fabric I show in the photo below (right side), only it's white instead of black. 

If I were choosing a conventional fabric, I might choose one of these:

That's the Joann fine-mesh cargo netting at upper right.  The other potential choices were noseeum netting (lower right) and adapting a conventional cargo net (Bell brand small gauge cargo net from Autozone at left).  

The issue was that this gear loft could not hang down, as most of them do.  It had to be largely flat on the bottom, or else it would quickly be hanging down around our ears, literally, and partially obstructing our driving views.  For that reason, the only fabric I could realistically choose was the same rip stop nylon that I had used to edge and strengthen my awning screen.

I started by measuring side-to-side across those aft-most snap bases.  I did the front seam, with a pocket for elastic so that I could gather up some of the slack in this "lip" area.  Once I had the side seams hemmed, I started adding snaps, measuring them in one at a time, first one side, then the other side.

I've used grommets before, but this was my first time using snaps.  Here you can see the point of reference at photo right - the straight line across the "front" of the gear loft, with the waist elastic in a front pocket I sewed there.  It's a very simple matter to embed the snaps - a punch tool comes with the little snap kit I linked above.  (The sledge hammer you see here had only one purpose - to keep the thing from sliding off the workbench).  

I literally would sink a snap, take the work piece back to the van, use a small awl to punch a hole at the location of my next snap, and continue - first one side, then the other side, because the back was trickier and I did it last. 

Once I got my back holes punched "by feel" (by holding the back side in place and feeling around for the existing embedded snap backs), I marked them with safety pins just to be sure I could re-locate them once I brought the piece to the ironing board.

It looked like this at that point, with my reference template on top of it.

Here is an example of one of the pre-punched holes that I used as forming guides for the rear seam. 

Again, form the back hem around the holes punched while manually fitting.

I have just one recommendation over and above what I'm presenting here, and I don't really know how to express it well.

It would be best if, while fitting, you find a way to ease a bit of extra fabric into your spacing.  Every time you crimp a snap, a bit of fabric gets consumed in the crimping process.  That effectively shortens the work piece beyond what was initially measured.  With just one snap, that wouldn't be a big deal - but on five snaps across the rear side, it makes a difference.  Rip stop has no bias and no stretch - so what I did by not expanding appropriately to account for the snap consumption was to make my piece really more taut than I would have preferred.  It will snap on and stay, but I may have to go back and do a bit of retrofitting to make the snap fit less demanding (if necessary, I'll expand by adding new snap faces on small tabs that extend outward from the bit-too-short seam periphery).

Here's what the piece looked like once completed:

The purpose of those two Velcro tabs on the front elasticized portion will become apparent in the money shots.

And here are the difficult money shots - the loft was getting back-lit from sunlight coming in through the cab, so these pics are not ideal, even with the window shields in place.

The Velcro tabs give added support on that front side, so it won't sag.  They are attached via the existing trim screws which extend into the metal rib of the Sprinter. 

Here's the lofted inventory for the pic above:

1. Goose down winter jacket.
2. 3M reflective biking jacket.
3. Goose down small pillow.
4. Marmot brand rain pants.
5. Rumpl trekking blanket (our other Rumpl is now stored in a special slot next to our new Vitrifrigo fridge, meaning, I now have no blankets taking up valuable cabinet space).

That's a lot of volume occupying a previously-unused space.  None of it weighs very much, but all of it presents a storage challenge which is hereby solved.  It's actually a fair amount of weight - but remember, that weight is distributed among eleven snaps and two Velcro straps.  So it does hold.

Here's a view from below-ish.  The two unfilled loops you see at the cab roof trim piece are the existing loops to hold the Heatshield windshield shade.  It still fits nicely on those loops, but I can't take a good quality pic of it with the sunlight blasting in the windshield.

If my husband bumps his head on this, he'll just be bumping into goose down-filled textiles for the most part.  

Here's what it looks like from the underside:

I don't notice it when I'm sitting in the driver's seat. It's not claustrophobic.

Here is an added bonus of this design:

When it's not in use, the two central Velcro tabs can be hitched upward, like hitching up your britches, for even more headroom with it still in place.  

It's yet another load off my mind to have a new storage space for all that stuff!