The Camplite 14DBS was a great size for me for this project, except for one thing: I didn’t need a two-person table. I wasn’t planning on having guests for dinner, mainly because I was never much of a cook, and I’m even less of one now. But also, this was a solitary venture. I had no intention of having sleepovers, visiting guests, or family pop-ins. The purpose of the trip was to clear my head, not clutter it up people chaos.
What I needed was a desk for my laptop, room for a large second monitor on a riser, a few drawers, and space for my cell phone, pens, coffee cup, and a bag of cookies (trying to get off those without rehab).
I thought about the design and how I could remodel the space with minimal complications, make it look nice, and improve functionality. I also had to keep it lightweight (you can’t be adding heavy stuff in a tiny trailer; every pound counts because that affects your tongue weight— a post for another day. And I didn’t want to do anything permanent, like screw directly into the wall (there’s no drywall; you’d be screwing into the hull of the trailer, so, not good).
It seemed like a straightforward project, and I’m pretty handy with tools. Even when I was married, I was the one fixing stuff, but that’s another book.
To test out one idea I thought would meet that criteria, I made detailed measurements of the area and started with Phase I—the try-it-in-plywood phase.
But before I could even get to that, I took a long look at the underside of the table, the pole, and how it was screwed in. I noticed that the screws were weird. I may be pretty handy with tools, but I’d never seen screws like that.
So, I did a bit of research and went to the hardware store. I had to take a picture of it because I couldn’t get a screw out to take with me for show and tell. At the hardware store, I ran into an expert. I’ll pass on his words of wisdom so you can appreciate the beauty of the Torx screw as much as he does.
“Ah, the Torx screw—my pride and joy. You see, I invented the Torx screw to solve a problem that was plaguing the world: screws that, heaven forbid, actually slip out when you try to tighten them. And also because the world needed a screw that looked like a mini ninja star.
The real beauty of the Torx design is that it’s nearly impossible to strip. You know, unlike those Phillips head screws that seem to exist solely to ruin your Saturday afternoon with a power drill. With its six-pointed star shape, the Torx screw spreads out the force evenly, making sure you don’t have to endure the frustration of cam-out. That’s when your screwdriver slips out of the screw head, leaving you with a screw that looks more like modern art than a functional fastener.”
Camming-out, I thought silently in my head? Sounds like some form of sex kink. But I listened carefully.
“People seem to find them funny. Maybe because they feel like the engineering world’s inside joke. You go to grab a screwdriver, and suddenly you’re staring at this star-shaped enigma. And the best part in hardware world? You probably don’t have the right driver in your toolbox, leading to a variety of swear words that ends with you wondering if you should just go back to using nails.”
So yeah, the Torx screw is a bit of a chuckle in hardware world. It’s like the screw equivalent of an overachiever: does its job flawlessly, but makes you feel a little out of the loop if you’re not prepared. But once you’ve got that Torx driver in hand? It’s like stepping into the future—smooth, precise, and with just the right amount of smug satisfaction that you know more than that hack in the garage two doors down.