2004 Damon Challenger upgrades-handle, valances & diner tops

more updates-- we took off the (really grungy) valances over the kitchen window and door and the cloth toppers for the dinette and I made new ones out of maple and color matched it to the interior. In addition, I made new handles for the door exit-

Before (you can see the valances and toppers in these pics




Here are the results when I was done





As for total costs, we had budgeted $10K for everything.. (get car and RV set for tow, paint inside, new bunks, new br lights, new leds throughout, redo shower, new porcelain toilet, box in bathroom (take out carpet in bath), new dining table, recover cushions, new sofa and chairs, new TV, refurbish counters, renew hardware from gold to nickel, new sinks and faucets, oil change and checkup, tuneup, new slide seals, got AC fixed (new squirrel cage and maintenance)

All together, we're at about $7K so far... (but lots of sweat equity)
Thanks for looking- we're getting there, slowly but surely we are closing in on being done. Next up is a new dining table in maple. Our new captain's chairs and sofa arrive in about 2 weeks.

Lawrence

Outstanding project and results. I will be following your progress.

Job well done! And great inspiration for the rest of us.

Of course, those of you that really understand how this RV is laid out will see one problem... what about the slide?

In the original, the bed pushed RIGHT up to the edge of the hot water tank/electrical box...

We bought a new (RV length) mattress for the master bed so that now it is 60" versus the longer size, but this still wouldn't be enough room...

So I came up with this... when the slide comes in, the bottom bunk lifts up (manually) on piano hinges

Underneath is storage room (three cloth boxes) as well as room underneath that for shoes

When the slide comes in, the bottom bunk nests over top of the master bed (excuse the trim in this pic)


As to the other question folks had... weight... I worked really hard to keep the weight down and though the structure looks "weighty" it is an optical illusion created by the framework being structured out in a torsion frame. We also removed considerable weight when we took out the closet-- 3 heavy mirrors and lots of solid wood came out.

As for color matching (I know someone is going to ask)
I pulled a piece of the original wood and took it to my local woodworker's source-- then I went from gelstain to gelstain (with the manger's permission) putting a q-tip in their test can and trying it on a piece of maple. When I found the closest match, I took a can home and dialed in the color with dyes.

Thanks again for looking all- more update pics to come soon (we've been doing a lot)

Lawrence

Of course, that looked WAAY too rough :) (I called the better half and said "it's done!" when it was just studded out... she about freaked :)

Then I furred and covered the whole thing with 1/8 ply which I colormatched to my RV's interior.


Here you can get an idea of how much room the boys will have... it's plenty (and plenty strong too... I am 200+ and was jumping up and down in them without a creak)

After the ply, I edge trimmed the whole thing to finish it off (and cover my poor workmanship when needed :) )
Here is what it looks like now (note I moved all the controls to the bath side when I re-sheathed the wall I expanded)

Bunk bed upgrade-

As I've mentioned, we wanted to add bunk beds to our bedroom area.

Here is what it looked like originally


We tore everything out and then added 6 inches or so to the wall (and enforced it to hold the bunk's weight better)


Then I studded out the framework which is where the bed gets its sturdiness without being too heavy. The wood I picked is VERY light but strong (kiln dried DF)


more to come

Looks really good. Keep us updated as you go!

Very nice! Subscribing to this thread.

Very impressive. I wish I had half of your skills!

Great job. I just hope my wife wont see all this.. I could have a winter project.