I've tried to get the message out, but there are still some who wonder where I went. That's sure understandable, as not everyone gets back here daily, nor are many probably subscribed to all of my resto-mod threads. Even though it adds a lot to your list, subscriptions to each are probably the best way to avoid missing any of the rebuild posts.
But it sure was nice to be thought of. :)
I do believe however, that I will now be getting back into daily posts as other life occurrences are smoothing out some. I was really surprised yesterday while working on the camper just how easy it was to get out of practice - and so quickly. But things started to fall back into a rhythm toward the end of the day.
Over the past two weeks I've gone out into the shop on occasion and looked at this spot. Over the past two days it was much more intense. What am I going to do here?!
There's a lot going on here. The big cabinet above the grey tank is for my battery compartment. It shares that space with the bathroom sink drain pipe connection coming from outside under the wing. Should the two be separated? Should one be sealed and vented to the outside? Should they be relatively heated and just use vented battery boxes? How to connect the cables and other wiring? Will there be a control box/charger here to house circuit breakers and 12V fuse block? How much space do I have to run multiple cables and wiring back and forth especially around the fridge cabinet?
When push came to shove I realized while I had a pretty comprehensive list of 110V and 12V appliance/device wants/needs I didn't have much in the way of a schematic. It's hard for me to work toward an end without that visual plan, but perhaps because I'm out of practice, the plan just wasn't gelling in my head.
Part of the problem is how to build one thing on top of the other. And I simply won't know how to do that until I do it. But two days ago was spent in planning and scribbling wiring diagrams. Those were good enough for me, but not good enough to take pictures of so you'll just have to be surprised.
The electrical conclusions were some of the most interesting, and I'll detail those under Electric when I get to that but for now, I had an idea of how to proceed.
It involves moving these furnishing pieces in and out many, many times.
This is the original set-up, or maybe stated more correctly, what I inherited.
Note the door bottom is shaved and missing a piece of trim. A close looks reveals the bottom hinge cut back in size and drilled differently for a mounting. That looks like owner modification to me. Why retain it if it isn't useful?
I had planned to partition the battery compartment and use the door to cover a control panel/charger, the least expensive of which I could find (and sized small for my needs) was $145. But using one required running cables/wires to it, then back away from it. Not the best for my camper. Splitting functions became much more reasonable.
For example I could run only ONE 110V cable to this area (behind the fridge), powering the lower dinette region on one circuit, ending under here as an outlet to plug in a three stage battery charger (a much cheaper piece of equipment).
I could use the original 110V circuit breaker box in the original location of the galley overhead cabinet, limiting by far, the required runs of cable, but centrally reaching all my camper corners.
I can run a couple of heavy 12V cables from this battery box area to the wiring run channel at the lower fridge vent access and locate all my 12V fuses and connections there. These plans would greatly simplify the wiring runs, create excellent repair/maintenance access and be cheaper overall. It made sense.
So the modified door wasn't necessary, or even desired. What else can be done here?
Travel Queen used these cute little magazine racks.
Neither DW nor I wanted this up on the wall where it was originally, and where you can bang it with your head, or get her long hair entangled. Couldn't go higher - the TV would be there. But we still wanted to use it for its charm and the camper's character. Plus it's functional, especially if placed near the dinette for access while sitting.
This piece...
is the sliding board for making the wider bed. Our bed will not extend; we've already decided a twin bed here is big enough. We prefer the open aisle over the extra sleeping. I used the board to shore up, and act as a support, for both the battery compartment and the furniture strength itself. It will also act as a backing for the cabinet face making, since I didn't yet order my OWN Kreg pocket screw jig and my neighbor needed his back. So I made do and did make.
Follow along.
Then I cut open the top where a hinged lid will be installed for battery compartment access.
The "rounded corner look" reminds me of either what I've seen in older and vintage campers and trailers of my past, or what my memory remembers about the past. It just has that craftsman, functional look to my eye.
And here is the battery shelf board, resting directly ON the top of the grey tank for support, then it will also receive cleats to screw into the side walls for additional support strength of the battery weight. Between the two, it should hold some heavy weights without moving or bouncing at all. The grey tank is pretty hefty material!
I did my sanding and surface prep as I went along. Next is to do some wood filler, more sanding and finish prep, detail trimming of cleats or gimp, replacing some cleats, completing the added panel at the far left where the wider drawer is being replaced with a narrow drawer front to act as another flip down door (next pic), finalizing fasting method plans, and then apply finish.
The resulting setup will allow for use of vented battery boxes, vented out to the exterior of the camper box wall into the truck bed below the wing, and creates enough room inside the cabinet to not only easily access the bath sink plumbing, but also to mount or otherwise place battery associated stuff, such as a three stage charger, and two, at least group 27 and possibly group 31 batteries. I'll make that choice later on after I evaluate the camper's final electric amp hour needs, but it's nice to know I have the space reserved.
