Anyone interested in 83 Pace Arrow Tear down and Rebuild?

Fair enough. For fun I just measured the drawers in our kitchen. They're only a few years old, custom built by a friend of ours. The one I measured was 19-1/8" wide in a 19-7/16 opening. He didn't waste a lot of room.

After making a template of the washing machine, which is in white, this would be a best case scenario.

I am not sure I'll get to use the tiny little space on the left for any kind of storage, and may have to abandon that idea.

Worst case scenario, I can mount another drawer above the washer, and the 8x12 one to the left of it.

My wife like to leave the covers open to allow the inside to have ventilation and keep it dry in there.







Yes, all those drawers will be full length.

Here is the pic of the washing machine I am trying to stuff in the rear of the coach as well.

The red arrow points to the lids of both the washer and the spin dryer. If I can force them into a full upright position, (they are spring loaded), then I may be able to gain extra drawer space around it.

Bruce Brown wrote:

fulltimin wrote:

PastorCharlie wrote:

This drawer will be roughly 12" high and about 26" long. I figure I've gained roughly about 1" in width with the wooden slides.

That translates to 312 cubic inches more useable space over using factory drawer slides. You have gained approx. 1/5th cubic foot space.

Well, there you have it. If you want more storage space, wooden slides will work. An extra 1 inch of width doesn't sound like much, but sometimes i will make the difference between items that will or won't fit.

Go figure.

Thanks for the figures.

fulltimin wrote:
Ok! I have finally gotten the other side of the drawer slide glued and screwed into place.

Here's a pic of that. Other than going a little overboard with screws, I am happy.

After coating all the slide surfaces with furniture wax, she slides like a hot knife through butter.

So now I look at the completed shelf/drawer/whatever, with the top slides installed you didn't really gain an inch. That shelf is no wider than a standard shelf with standard under mount slides, or side mounts with a small reveal for the slides to be mounted in.

But hey - why do it in 10 minutes when you could take a week! :B :B :B

I know, it's more about the project. Carry on.

I looked at full extension slides that were side mounted. Because of the space limitations at the back, I figured I would have to shim the drawer slide away from the wall a minimum of 1/4".

The slide I looked at was 1/2" thick, so now we're at 3/4" and then I needed to add a side for the drawer. Using that combination, I would have used 1/2" thick plywood, so now the inside of the back drawer is 1 - 1/4" away from the back wall.

As it is, it's 3/4", so I gained 1/2" on the back side. If I had used the side with it in a groove that completely encased the steel slide, then I would have used 1" thick side. I I used a piece of 3/4", that leaves 1/4" to mount the slide to, and I would not have trusted that.

The current height of the side of the drawer is all the higher I am going to make it. Since this will be holding an oven, I want plenty of ventilation, so it won't be "in" a drawer, as much as it will be "on top" of the drawer.

Based on my calculations, I think I still saved a minimum of 3/4" width.

Weight is another one. This setup is way lighter than the steel slides would have been, plus the additional weight of extra wood that I figured I would need as well.

Then, looking at the cost of the slides I saw, I calculated I could build about a dozen sets of drawer slides for what I would have paid for 3 sets of the steel ones. The 24" ones I looked at were about $20 a set.

I can buy a whole sheet of plywood for $60.

So, that's my reasoning, right or wrong, on why I did it this way.

Weight, cost, and maybe only a little extra space.

fulltimin wrote:

PastorCharlie wrote:

This drawer will be roughly 12" high and about 26" long. I figure I've gained roughly about 1" in width with the wooden slides.

That translates to 312 cubic inches more useable space over using factory drawer slides. You have gained approx. 1/5th cubic foot space.

Well, there you have it. If you want more storage space, wooden slides will work. An extra 1 inch of width doesn't sound like much, but sometimes i will make the difference between items that will or won't fit.

Go figure.

Thanks for the figures.

fulltimin wrote:
Ok! I have finally gotten the other side of the drawer slide glued and screwed into place.

Here's a pic of that. Other than going a little overboard with screws, I am happy.

After coating all the slide surfaces with furniture wax, she slides like a hot knife through butter.

So now I look at the completed shelf/drawer/whatever, with the top slides installed you didn't really gain an inch. That shelf is no wider than a standard shelf with standard under mount slides, or side mounts with a small reveal for the slides to be mounted in.

But hey - why do it in 10 minutes when you could take a week! :B :B :B

I know, it's more about the project. Carry on.

Here is a pic I forgot to post showing the close "shave" between the drawer slide and the rear window cover.

The section below the drawer I just installed will mostly be used to house a portable washing machine, that will be on a slider, so it is able to be pulled out to use, and then slid back into place when finished washing.

The area above the blue lines and to the left of the blue lines will be used for some kind of drawer space.

I may break this up into 3 independent drawers, or it could be all one, although I don't think so at this point, or a combination of the two.

I want to as much of this space as possible for storage.

This is why..... Lol.







If I had not countersunk those screws, they would hit the frame and the rear window cover. Yea, it's a little bit of a close fit.

By the way. In case you are wondering why I countersunk the screws in the picture below.........

Here are a couple of pic with the drawer extended. The first only has about 4" holding the drawer in place.

The second one has about 6" holding the drawer.

I plan on stopping the drawer about 6" from the end of it's travel. It is very stable, whether at the 4 or 6 inch mark.