Tunnel Boot Picnic Table Modification for Jayco Camper Trailer

Here I’ll show you how I did the tunnel boot table modification for my Jayco Swan.

[I’m trying to work my way through this list of the 35 most popular Jayco camper trailer modifications]

I’ll show the parts I used, and the most important thing:

Making it detachable. 

Here we go:

1. The parts I used to turn my tunnel boot into a table

The parts I used were:

• 1 m of galvanised wire rope
• 2 x snap hook carabiners
• 4 x eye strap brackets
• 4 x swages

I bought in bulk for another one of the popular Jayco camper trailer modifications I’ll be doing shortly 

(clotheslines between the bed support poles)

Also, I bought the PVC coated rope. This is about $10 for 10 m at Bunnings…

…or it’s around $1 for 1 metre for the non-coated stuff.

2. Create a loop at one end of the wire and fix it using an eye strap

I used swages and a swaging tool to do this… it’s overkill to be honest!

[I bought a swaging tool recently when I had to repair my broken main cable and wanted an excuse to use it again]

You could just use one of these instead:

Then, I just used one of the eye straps to attach the loop to the inside of the tunnel boot hatch

3. Attach an eye strap to the inside of the tunnel boot lid

I then attached an eye strap to the inside of the tunnel boot lid…

…making sure there was enough clearance to get the snap lock carabiners on and off easily

[another option is to just attach using the screw from the lock mechanism… but I wanted the cable out a bit wider]

4. Attach the clip gate and pull the cable through until the table is level

Here was the trickiest part:

I attached the clip gate carabiner, and put a spirit level on the inside of the tunnel boot lid.

Then, I pulled the cable through until the lid was level

(so I knew exactly where to cut the cable and crimp it with a swage)

NOTE: I can’t just say “make the cable 330 mm long” because it will depend on how long the snap hook carabiner is too… otherwise your table won’t be level

Then I just repeated on the other side.

Here’s why using snap hook carabiners is important:

It makes the caravan tunnel boot table detachable. 

Now, attach it all up and you have a table

Summary: Tunnel Boot Table Modification

It’s not perfect: 

You can’t have the table out and have the door completely folded back at the same time.

But it’s a pretty easy modification to make… and it will definitley come in handy for holding a beer or morning coffee

After any other modifications?

Then check out the 35 Most Popular Jayco Camper Trailer Modifications