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Most Recent Three Posts
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Super kind of you to consider my work worthy of pay! I'm happy to guide you or someone farther along the learning curve with tools in your world to ensure success. But as of this writing, while I am in the throes of finishing the Sunrader, I want nothing more than to put all my tools back where they belong, and drive this magnificent beast out into the beautiful NW woods. Next year I may feel differently, but my deadline is September 15, which is only 7 weeks away.
In fact, a bit of a milestone today. I informed my wife that as of midnight tonight she is forbidden from looking inside the Sunrader. Once I finish the drawers for the kitchen unit, most of the "building" is completed and from then on it is a very high % on the cosmetic and appearance that paint, trim, carpet, marine liners in the cabinetry, and such will produce. So I want a "reveal" type of event to happen for her to ooh and ah. Bit of a tradition here in that the yellow Vanagon we currently adventure in was done in secret and revealed on the front lawn with a big bow.
So, readers of this forum will get to see this next phase and my wife will not. I have the carpet for the hallway, the expensive paint ($120/gallon), even a beautiful metal wall sculpture that you will see before she does.
Today I finished the first drawer box - the huge one under the stove for big pots and pans and baking sheets. Sunday I hope to do all 4 of the other ones including the complicated slide out "pantry". Then I have to try some fancy work for the drawer faces that hide the drawer boxes. The drawer slides arrived and are they heavy! Recommended by a guy on YouTube who does cabinetry.
That is a full size clipboard and 8.5X11 paper for scale. Its sliders can handle 110lbs of weight. I reimagined the storage from the factory, which was already large. I eliminated a lot of upper storage cabinetry and found at least 15% more total storage by resizing the cabinetry. That opened up the feel of this Sunrader quite a bit, and the storage spaces themselves are larger. That may seem counter intuitive, but if you own a Sunrader, imagine how much more open it would feel if a lot of the head height storage were eliminated, and that cubic feet of storage were slid down the walls into slightly larger cabinetry and under the rear dinette as well as also optimized. That's what I did, except for the cabinets over the kitchen which were kept, but shortened and made about 30% less intrusive, yet more useful. The direction is to make this vehicle capable of extended self supporting trips like a year long foray to South America or similar, and I think it's there. There is also a hidden safe, and of course the heated BMW M leather seats will make long journeys more comfortable. Here's the largest drawer, which is still curing and needs to be sanded and painted:
Edited by IdahoDoug -
Doug - what great work you are doing! I am attempting some much less intensive work on my 1989 Sunrader Shorty - need to replace the windows and saw just saw Tikka's post and yours. I am sure I DO NOT have the talent to make my own - I have just learned how to use an electric drill/screwdriver etc. Lol.
Is a window replacement something you would consider doing for the right price? Would love to make a trip to Idaho!
Amy
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That's a nice saw - I've watched videos where the cool kids use them. Interesting that it's double sided with different teeth, too. For tight spots/sawing, I bought a reciprocating tool, which uses tiny movements to cut tight spots of wood, metal, ceramic, etc.
Today, I got the drawer cavity set up. The side plates that will hold the drawer slides are all in - parallel, square and vertical. I also assembled the fuel line cover with it's fresh hoses and I used expanding foam to fill the air gaps to keep rodents and bugs from coming up the irregular hole. I'm going to caulk some tiny gaps in the wood to try and keep this rig as bug free as possible since we will use it in the woods a lot. All openings in the floor are tightly caulked and I devised an anti-rodent cover under the shower that cannot be chewed through - thick steel wire mesh. Slides should be here tomorrow and I'll be building the drawer boxes themselves.
Did a trial fit of the countertop and stove/oven to ensure I do not have interference issues and there is space to run the gas lines and water lines. Looks good. The sink is super close to the triple set of drawers - much closer than I intended with only 1/4" to spare. Making good use of the space, I guess. As you can see the drawers will be huge compared to the factory ones, which only went halfway to the wall. I'm using "full extension" ball bearing drawer slides and the drawers go to within an inch of the wall. The one under the stove will be a foot deep, which is where large pots and things will live I suppose.
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