Anyone interested in 83 Pace Arrow Tear down and Rebuild?

This is the space between the open step cover and the end of the kitchen cabinet.

This would not interfere with the step cover, whether it was up or down.

Replacing the hinges and the cover and hinges look like this. I have not yet routed the cover for the hinges. I've been thinking about covering it with a thin piece of plywood.







Here's the close up of the recessed hinge.

I then laid the hinge across the bottom of the router, so I could set the depth of cut properly.







Then I proceeded to remove a small amount of wood.

I marked the area of the hinge on the floor with a pencil so I would know where to remove a small bit of wood for the hinge to recess into.

Old Islander wrote:
Is this door the only 'panic stations' egress from the coach? If something blows up in the night and you need to get out quickly, you sure don't want to be moving tables and lifting hatch doors to bug out...

That's the primary exit. I don't really plan on having anything sitting on top of that. I do plan on having a quick lift capability, possible with a cord, but in the worst case scenario, open the door and jump, I guess.

Then again, if I made it permanent, (not planned at this point), the steps would slide out automatically with the cover in place.

Is this door the only 'panic stations' egress from the coach? If something blows up in the night and you need to get out quickly, you sure don't want to be moving tables and lifting hatch doors to bug out...

When the stair cover is in the up position, we still have over 14" of space between the cover and the end of the kitchen cabinet.











That means I have more room for "something"! Maybe storage, or a folding table, or, who knows? Lots of possibilities!

This is last times photo with the hinges just temporarily screwed down.







Today, I flipped the hinges upside down, and cut a mortise in the plywood for the hinge portion to fit into.







These hinges will swing more than 270 degrees, so I can still stand the cover straight up, when I don't want it covering the steps.

I added some temporary braces under my step cover. (under red arrows)That will hold it up when I step on it, and I won't have to worry about stepping into that "hole" while working inside.







The more I look at it, I "almost" would like to leave it there permanently, and put all the steps outside. I don't know that I will do that, but for now, I can lift it up when I need to.

This is why I didn't line the two up.

When the step cover is open, if the pivot point lines up with the edge of the floor, then the cover will protrude into the step area, and I wanted it completely out of the way.

Moving the pivot back, allows that to happen.