We all spend thousands of dollars on our trucks and campers. And then there's all the toys: cameras, kayaks, bikes, etc. = $$$$$
But what about the other end of the spectrum? How much bang can you get for the least buck?
I'm suggesting we start a thread to share our low cost solutions; say
$10 $25 or less.
This is meant to be fun, so feel free to show off your rubber band powered, Rube Goldberg special edition mods!
Extra points for speed of install and reuse of something you already own.
Anyone else have something cheap and effective to share?
For a long time I used a 79¢ suction cup hook on the windshield of my vehicles to hold up my basic Garmin eTrex GPS unit. The hook would hook into the D-ring on the back of the case for the tether strap. It worked quite well even on rough off road trails.
Modern vehicle dashboard designs make it difficult to access under and behind the dash for wiring and mounting. So for my CB radio in my '02 Toyota Tacoma TRD 4WD pickup I rigged up a mount that was both cheap and effective.
* Mounting the radio was by "industrial strength" Velcro. It was very tough to remove the radio from the dash and it never fell off. I cut out a rectangle in the dash mat to put the Velcro directly atop the dashboard.
* To wire it up, I simply removed the 12V plug off an old, non-working device and spliced it to the radio's wires, plugging it into one of the 12V outlets.
* Immediately after mounting I found that no matter how hard I cranked down on those knobs on each side of the radio holding to the bracket, the radio would tip forward due to the weight of the microphone cord. I countered this by using rubber wedges. They worked just fine, seldom falling out, even on washboard roads and trails.
Oh, and those clamps on the dash face by the microphone? That was my no cost video camera mount. The clamps held onto a wooden dowel, with a hinge on top. Opening the hinge spanned the gap between the dowel and dash top, giving a good base for the camera to sit upon. Velcro on the hinge and bottom of the camera kept the camera from tipping over. The camera stayed put well enough, but video quality suffered as the camera was looking through a perpetually dirty area of the windshield where the wipers just didn't cover well, sun glare was ever present; so the mount didn't last long.
To carry my D-cell Maglight in my Tacoma I simply used a conduit clamp I had laying around my workshop, screwing it down on one side on the plastic door sill, leaving the other end unattached. The light could not slide forward due to the bulge in the floor at the front seat floor mount, but could be easily maneuvered by pulling it forward and around it, even with the door closed.
