Idaho Doug's Sunrader build

[IdahoDoug]

Getting the seal of approval!  So the smaller center cushion will come out to allow 3 people to sit and eat in the U, and a 4th in the hallway. I am going to see if I can have the removable cushion become the seat in the hall, as it is correctly sized for that. Table will be a swivel arm from that Swedish company.

[IdahoDoug]

Diamond pleating came out very well.  Wow that's a lot of work. Glue special fabric lined foam to the back, mark with chalk roller, then sew a LOT of stitching - perhaps 10 times as much as the other cushions - knowing any screw up turns it to scrap.  Didn't know I could hold my breath that long.  

 

 

Here are the base cushions out in the Sunrader, and the diamond panel clipped in so I could decide if cosmetically this is what I want to do. The base cushions are a perfect friction fit:

 

 

I've decided with success here, I will go ahead and do diamond pleated padded leather as an accent above the back window on that weird convex ceiling/wall shape, and also on a small perch at the doorway for a place to sit and get shoes off/on.  Headed out to cut the plywood for the back plates..

 

[RaderDog]

39 minutes ago, IdahoDoug said:

Diamond pleating came out very well.  Wow that's a lot of work. Glue special fabric lined foam to the back, mark with chalk roller, then sew a LOT of stitching - perhaps 10 times as much as the other cushions - knowing any screw up turns it to scrap.  Didn't know I could hold my breath that long.  

 

 

Here are the base cushions out in the Sunrader, and the diamond panel clipped in so I could decide if cosmetically this is what I want to do. The base cushions are a perfect friction fit:

 

 

I've decided with success here, I will go ahead and do diamond pleated padded leather as an accent above the back window on that weird convex ceiling/wall shape, and also on a small perch at the doorway for a place to sit and get shoes off/on.  Headed out to cut the plywood for the back plates..

 

Very Swanky! Like a old school Italian Restaurant (except it would be that classic wine color). Great work!

[IdahoDoug]

Thanks, RaderDog.  So, got this "feature" cushion all sewn together and used the thicker batting as a gamble to see if I could stuff it all in.  Worked and very pleased at the softer feel than the thinner batting I have on hand.  It's coming together.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Just finished the lounge in the back of the RV project this evening.  Replaced the rear dinette with a leather relaxation lounge. It converts to eating, but frankly this is a better use of space in this tiny thing.  2 and 1/2 Italian cowhides, it's 6'4 X 52" and will have speakers, twin flexistalk reading lamps, coffee cup holders, ceiling fan, a little bookshelf, phone chargers, and a place for binoculars as it has big windows on 3 sides. My fingers are sore, and I'm happy!

 

Converts to eating with one of those swing arm tables, but we'll rarely eat inside, so I suspect this will be the 99% configuration. 

 

Center piece will hinge up on gas struts for storage, remaining leather will go on that curved ceiling section as padded diamond stitched just for show.  I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, and this has me major motivated to keep cranking on the rest of the interior.  Thanks for all the tips, encouragement, and help.

 

[MaineJed]

Looks amazing, 👍 

[Andrewups]

Nice job 👍.

[Ctgriffi]

Gorgeous work! Really enjoy seeing this excellent project come together.

[IdahoDoug]

Getting back on this after a busy period.  Today, I ran new bolts through the new plywood subflooring at the 6 attachment points.  Back two went fine, the the next cross member forward had a very unfortunate coincidence.  I removed the factory structure under the dinette of course, for the extravagant "pit" thing and in a bit of poor planning, the spot I chose for the structure lined up perfectly with the factory mounting hole. I pushed the structure to the right a couple inches to preserve the hallway width as the left side cabinets will be a couple inches deeper to account for the larger fridge.

 

My simple process with the new subfloor was just to lay underneath and use the old holes in the cross framing to drill up through the subfloor.  This one did not pop through with the drill bit all the way in.  Argh. Had to drill a new mounting hole slightly outboard and the only available location was tight up against the truck's frame member.  So I had to go get a foot long drill to accomplish that.  Argh - $20 hole. 

 

Then, over the winter the ground has settled here and there and the vehicle was slightly off level.  So, I had to put new jackstands and wood chunks under it and the nose ended up high.  With no way to jack it "down", I resorted to filling two 6 gallon water carriers and putting them in the cab. 

 

Now that it's level again (I have permanent reference marks), I can proceeded to the "face plate" for the cabinets, fridge, heater, closet and such along the left side of the hallway.  The floor is not perfectly flat, so I made a 6 foot template out of a 2" wide strip of wood, using that age old technique of drawing a pencil along the part, that follows the undulations and draws a matching line.  The face plate should now nearly touch the new subfloor with this adjustment, making for a solid glued and screwed connection. 

 

The leather components are back in the house as I'll be cutting, sanding and making a mess for the next couple months to build. Kind of a challenge to build a cabinet in situ in there!

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2025 by IdahoDoug

[IdahoDoug]

Shaping the face wall of the left side cabinets. The floor edge is now cut to follow the not perfectly straight floor, and you can see the green laser line I cut to keep everything perfectly level and square. The rear of this piece becomes the brace for the dinette, and in the second photo you can see the dinette brace also forms the front wall for a box where the inverters, solar controller, chargers and fuse box will live.  The shapes of the various cutouts in the face wall will be drawn and cut, then I will temporarily mount it and measure and cut the top third, join the two halves with bracing, then start building the inner structures (closet walls, etc).   I made this wall a few inches farther from the wall to accommodate the larger fridge, and fortunately the factory furnace has enough adjustability that it will be able to handle the change as well (thanks, Sunrader!). 

 

 

 

[IdahoDoug]

Finished that blank panel with a nice friction fit against the ceiling. Now mounting the (larger) fridge drain pain which is what our fridges sit in.  Once that's done, I will shoot the laser through the outside vent hole to mark the blank panel for the fridge opening cut out, and the furnace cutout. These are the two anchor components.  Then the whole panel comes into the shop to mark where cabinets in the remaining space will go.  My wife will be delighted I have managed to not only save the large closet feature, but it will be even larger.

[IdahoDoug]

Refrigerator pan and furnace temp installed to mark the cabinet face cutouts. Cabinet face is now in the house where I'll mark each cabinet door cutout.  Then cut and temp install the cabinet face.  Then each storage area (closet, smaller spaces, etc) will require measuring its 4 walls, temp installing for fit, then for real install one at at time.  There's no other way to build this - the largest interior structure.  Gonna be laborious but worth it in the end.  Strong and light!

 

 

[IdahoDoug]

Well that was a waste of time.  The cumbersome factory tub is also not quite square, and also a bit of a pain to mount securely (see photo above) without a bunch of blind screws and bracketry.  Opted to toss it after all my work.  

 

Switched to a simple cabinet, then realized the wall I installed (see pic above) does not play well with the outside wall paneling, which is not flat.  My dimensions were such that the fridge would fit fairly tightly, but wow - literally zero clearance to play with, considering the space would taper slightly on the forward end due to the coach wall.  It was going to be SO tight, I could not trust my measurements, and the space is both tapered AND a trapezoid.  I'm pretty good with geometry, but lost my nerve.

 

Ended up drawing an exact duplicate of the space on the pattern paper I bought for the dinette project and this stuff. Then cut an exact duplicate of the new/larger fridge's base to lay on top of it and confirm the fit and where the cabinet opening needs to be in this slightly off space.  Worked a treat.  Ready to build the fridge cabinet floor, and walls now.  Which means I have to wait till that's done and installed to mark the opening for the fridge in the cabinet face.  Argh.  Back at it.

[Ctgriffi]

How goes the Sunrader build, Doug? Still making headway?

[IdahoDoug]

Thanks for checking in.

 

Definitely slowed down for summer, travel and camping.  In two months time, I've only built the fridge base piece, and just yesterday built a cardboard template for the other side wall that will define the space. Sunday, I'll lay that on more baltic birch ply and cut it, then the fiddly part of filing here and there to a friction fit.  If I get that done early, I'll screw and glue it in place.  Because of the weight of the fridge, this strong structure will be the hardest part of the left (US driver's) side cabinets. And I'll be glad to be done with it.  The rest will simply be storage, and who cares if storage cabinets are off by 1/4" here and 1/8" here due to the walls tapering and the arched ceiling, etc.  

 

To finish the fridge enclosure, there is still a top piece as well as a false back wall to do.  This false wall ensures the heat goes up and out the upper vent.  If you've never seen it, this enclosure is pretty complex.  The floor also has to have a sloped section against the wall to allow any condensation dripping to go out the lower vent.  

 

I've already given up any hope of using it this season, but haven't lost enthusiasm for what is going to be a pretty cool setup when I'm done. I'll post pics on Sunday.  

[IdahoDoug]

So, got the super complex next bulkhead cut and it friction fits in place.  That feels good:

 

I need to mark it for holes down low for the wiring, water lines and propane lines to go through. The edge closest to the camera pokes out intentionally.  Later the last thing I'll do before glue and screwing it into place is mark a vertical line on that edge from the laser sitting there on a tripod.  That's the only reasonable system I've come up with to trim all the structure edges (bulkheads, shelves, etc) so they come up against the front face of this cabinet when I later mount it.  I have a bizarre plan to put a rough hole in all the openings, temp mount the face, reach in with a bright light and mirror to mark the openings on the back side, then cut the actual openings. Definitely the strangest "build it in reverse....er, sideways, er..." project I've done in a while.

 

Below is a straight in view of the fridge mount.  On the bottom there is a missing section by the wall.  That's going to be a sloped piece of fiberglass actually fiberglassed against the bottom of the bottom opening. The new fridge is a couple inches wider than the opening at bottom, so it will not have a slope the full length of the rear.  I'll use something in that corner to guide condensation out the opening. I also have to build a shallow box against the upper wall that will mate with the fridge's top rear edge and funnel hot air from the fridge out the upper opening.  Kind of a false wall.  Who knew there was so much going on  

[Ctgriffi]

Nice work and great to see the progress, Doug! Plenty of good ideas in here, too, for anybody else that's going to attempt the same/similar. Wish I could pitch in and help. It's gonna be a really nice rig when it's all said/done. I mean... it'll probably never be "done done" ha—I know I can never stop working on mine, here and there—but it'll be so satisfying to hit the mostly-done-milestone, take it out on the open road, and get some trips logged.  👏👏

[IdahoDoug]

Agree - will be great to get it rolling and just do tweaks from then on.  Got that bulkhead glued and screwed into place this evening.  Now I need a trial fit of the larger fridge, and then I'll put some fiberglas under the fridge as a drip pan and tab it to the side wall. These are also further strengthening the roof, adding to the 14 curved beams I installed and acting as vertical supports.  

 

[IdahoDoug]

Trial fit on new larger fridge looks good - buddy came over to help as it's an awkward object with the weight near the rear.  Now building the upper vent, and the lower angled condensation ramp.  

 

 

[IdahoDoug]

And today temp installed the furnace and cut the left side cabinet face plate.  It's held on with masking tape, and will be on and off as I fit the shelving behind it.  Woohoo!  My wife needs to leave for the weekend more often to get this project squared away.

 

Trial fitting the doors on the cabinet face.  Opted to reuse them as I cannot possibly build them so light, and frankly they make good use of space and will look good when I refinish them.  The larger fridge was accounted for with making the cabinet above it a single large space.

 

Cabinet face held in with tape.  Wow that was a lot of cutting and I have a lot of time invested in this piece.  Whew. That shelf at the top of the fridge enclosure will be closed off, and was my way of maximizing space in the cabinet above - giving it a "dropped floor" that means full size bottles, kitchen appliances and things will easily fit up there.  The fridge has to be completely sealed off and vent to the outside, so I figured "why waste that 4" of space.  At the rear of the upper cabinet is the open hole where the upper vent grille goes and I've got a piece cut that will be angled and force hot air from the fridge cooling fins out the vent. 

 

Edited September 8, 2025 by IdahoDoug

[Ctgriffi]

Great progress, Doug! Really cool to see this thing coming together, piece by piece. What do you estimate the weight of your fridge being, when it's full of groceries?

 

You've got my own wheels spinning as I try to think about how to best replace my own Norcold 875EG2 someday, since its dimensions are well nigh impossible to match exactly with a modern unit. I might need to make a little, custom cubby to make up the difference and utilize the space.

[IdahoDoug]

I'll get you the model number as the basic data is out there.  Wouldn't be surprised to find even though it's larger, that it's only a few pounds more than the old one, due to 40 years of advances in refrigeration and materials.  Hard part for you is it's both taller and wider, which might be quite the challenge to simply cut into the existing setup.  Though, maybe not.  Hmmm...

[IdahoDoug]

Well, back at it after a project pause. Then a 100' tree fell on the garage while we were traveling for Christmas, which I removed and hauled off and took the $$$$ insurance money for - 8200lbs if you're curious (without the stump).  

 

I have the next panel trimmed to size - the one that goes in front of the bathroom. Quite the pain as the black water tank under the bathroom was released from its straps during the demolition.  Which meant there was a 3" gap above it.  Which a squirrel filled tightly against the bottom of the floor with pine cones, so I could not pull it up properly to position the bathroom until I crawled under there, and of course I have it sitting on jackstands so it remains perfectly level during construction. Can't lift it off for room to work for fear of losing my level.  That was fun - especially the ones he tucked in the space outboard of the tank.  Why?  Because the space tapers as it goes down.  Meaning I had to pull on the raw fiberglas bottom of the body to release them one by one.  About 60 of them.  I have been chucking the little guy nuts and little pieces of apple for years, so not sure why the hostility here.

 

Then, the fiberglas bathroom door surround is poorly cut, flexed inward, not square, and not level.  The factory just built a 1" wood frame and screwed the flimsy 1/8" paneling to that, then covered the exposed edges with a custom anodized "L" shaped aluminum frame.  I'm using 1/2" birch plywood, which is not strong enough to force the fiberglas to be straight (so the door will close evenly all around). So, I'm in search of some aluminum "U" channel to cover the exposed edges, and add enough rigidity along with the birch to flatten the fiberglas.  Found some, but shipping 8 footers is insane, so will be calling around to see if I can drive and pick some up. If this works out, the entire wall will be 1/2" closer to the fiberglass, opening up the hall that meaningful 1/2". Hope you all are well.