Posted on by DouglasVB

Map Case Instructions

Editor’s note: I am preserving Leland Sheppard’s PC800-related content after his passing. This is one of his pages that I felt the PC800 community would want to have preserved. Leland may be on his final Iron Butt ride but he is not forgotten.

I made my prior one with the baggie glued directly to the pad and the suction cups glued to the baggie.  The problem is if you mess up and pull too hard on the baggie opening it the small diameter of the suction cup attachment rips a hole in the baggie and then you have to make an entirely new unit.  That is why I tried to make it with Velcro this time so the baggie is replaceable.  The only glue I have found that reliably sticks to the suction cups and the baggie is Krazy Glue.  Even epoxy made for plastic pulled right off.

This is a picture of needed materials.  The baggies are 1 gallon freezer bags.  I wish there was a size between a gallon and a quart.  I use the freezer bags as they are thicker.  The rubber tool box liner I bought at Harbor Freight but Sears and other places should have it.  I tried to find something solid that I thought would not scratch the shelter but could not find anything cheap.  This is cheap and works.  Note the alcohol pads.  No glue sticks to the baggie if you don’t wipe it down with alcohol.  I did not try the putting the Velcro on without wiping it down.  The Velcro is probably the most expensive thing here.  The nice thing is it removes all the writing on the freezer bags.  Also wipe off the top of the suction cups where they will attach to the Velcro.  The Velcro I used had some strong adhesive on it so I initially decided to just try attaching the suction cups to it.  I had to Krazy Glue them on about an hour later as they popped off.  So far that has held.

I then punched 6 holes to allow the suction cups to poke through and attach to the Velcro and I did not think I could get a strong enough attachment to the rubber pad.  The pad is cut to exactly the size of the baggie including the slider so the slider cannot touch the shelter.

Here is the pad with the Velcro installed.  Do I really need this much Velcro?  After installation I doubt it but I figured if I used 2 inch wide on the pad and 1 inch wide on the baggie I could lessen the strain on the baggie if I stuff several maps into it by loosening the edges and moving them in slightly.  This gives me room to do it
This is the bottom of the pad.  Note the position of the removal tabs on the suction cups.  It is much easier to remove the map case from the bike if you remember to point the tabs for removal of the suction cups outward so you can hook them with your finger when you pull them off.
Here is the pad and baggie with the Velcro installed.
Here it is installed on the bike

Installed on the bike with a map folded up in it.

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