Well I didn't make doors yesterday. I figured if I was going to do that I should make them all at once, and I needed to determine door sizes first.
Let's see, there's the two at the fridge (above and below) with the door openings already completed - those will be easy enough.
Then there's three more that need openings built first. Those are: A-in the left front camper box to access the wheel well storage, B-in the galley cabinet face, below the water heater access doors toward the left (rear) side of the galley, and C-at the far left side (very rear) of the galley between the camper back wall and the water heater location. And the latter two require partial build of the galley cabinet face. Better start there.
This is the last holdout for interior cabinetry and partition walls requiring re-finishing (other than future touches and pieces for various small portions build as determined later). But that's hard to believe, being at the last main piece!
When I first started this project somebody said they were looking forward to the birch paneling and woodwork refinishing. There's good reason for that. The stuff is beautiful! It wasn't too many years after 1968 that camper paneling went almost entirely to photo paper paneling. Take a picture, apply it to paper, apply the paper as the last finish surface veneer to the "wood products" paneling sheet (like Pringles are made of potato products). And of course particle board made it's move into RVs and kind of displaced the real world wood of camper's past.
Our earliest RV was when we started out in married life and had our first baby. We purchased a 1954 canned ham for $300 on six payments, don't remember the brand, but I know it wasn't Shasta. That's the one I made a crib wall for the rear upper canvas bunk that lifted back and up, made of wooden dowels and 1x2s. But there were some water stains on it's paneling and I never did any refinishing work.
Then a few years later we wanted another one (after selling the first to buy back-packing gear) and picked up a very similar 1960. That's the one that got the 1972 truck camper salvage parts and fresh water stayed liquid until 15 below zero F on that one elk hunting trip.
But 1968 is toward the last of the real wood paneling. :/
So again, this is the last main hold-out for re-finishing.
The large area at the bottom held the original heater (or heater option), some sort of a catalytic heater, not furnace. Note the two propane supply holes?
I don't remember, and it appears I have no photos of it, but the heater I removed was an aftermarket add-on and it used one of the two holes for it's supply line, so I can only assume the other hole was for an original supply line. Then there are all the mounting holes, and it's in the main traffic pattern so the face has many marks and scratches.
Here's the back side (and upside down) of the same area.
And the front once again. The door opening needed is intended to be the width of the above drawer openings for the appropriate visual thing. The height is as large as possible, taking into account the existing framing members. The OTHER door opening to make at the rear of the camper will be in the small recessed face surface just to the left of the bigger door area. And the two larger drawer openings are in reality, pop-off door accesses to the rear of the water heater.
I started by drilling 1/8" pilot holes in the corners of the planned larger cut-out. You see them in these next photos.
This next photo shows the rear face and corner of the galley cabinet. This is the surface that greets you when you open the entry door before you climb inside and view the galley face from its broad side. Notice all the marks and holes and water stains, etc.? And the corner board is only fastened to the front face board with five 8d finish nails! It's a narrow feature and then juts back left with another board to complete the enclosure above the rear wing (at the bottom right).
That smallest jut out board is the part that needs a small door opening cut into it. But it's marked up too! Mostly finish nails that were pulled out and left major holes to fill.
Both of those boards were small enough that I felt I could replace them with good original wood. I chose this piece - the front wall of the original camper, standing on it's right side, from which to select the larger piece.
So let's get the cabinet disassembled for rebuild. First thing to go is the gimp.
And gimp was everywhere! Note the separation here of the boards held only by a few finish nails? The groove on the left was for the corner trim.
The gimp was some of the cleanest batch of the entire camper!
Here's the back side.
Separating the boards. Some of the nails pulled through and left the finish surface in great condition. I pulled the remaining three through the same way and saved the face.
Using the pilot holes I marked the cut lines on the face.
Then I laid out the old piece on the replacement board and chose the "good woodwork" surface to refinish, but from a spot that allowed me to INCREASE the size of the replacement board to accommodate a new build style. That style incorporates the sidewall of the water heater cabinet (which is the same board as the right side wall of the far rear storage cabinet). You can see it in this photo if you look close for the pencil mark, indicating a kind of "flag on a pole" shape, where the original board is the pole, and then new pencil mark is the flag straight out to the left.
Now the flag doesn't need to be pretty because it will be painted. But the pole is another story! That pole is the "in your face" surface you see when you open the camper entry door. Now see how pretty that will look as I shift the template to the left.
I also moved one pencil mark (dimension) to one side by 3/8" to force the rear camper box side wall, and the upper adjoining far rear storage area face wall to be on the same flush surface. Don't worry if that doesn't make sense. I know what it means.
Here's the saw I was talking about the other day. Pre-1986 and probably by a long shot, as they old man who sold it to me had lost his need to use it - probably after many years of use.
So here's the final cut-out. It took several fine tune shaves before it fit into it's final resting spot in an almost "fits like a glove" fashion.
So resting "in place" this is how it works.
That's a good shot. Let's talk about it. The first thing you notice is the big new opening at the bottom. Can't put a heater in there because it's "too recessed" for safe installation. But it's a big storage spot right? We've thought of many things to store here, from shoes, to canned goods (or other heavier foods), to a laundry hamper. I think we've most recently chosen "kitchen garbage". Yup - kitchen garbage. The top will swing out like a flour bin and house a swing out wooden box holding a trash bag. Handy to the exit door, handy to the kitchen, handy to the bathroom. Much handier than the area originally planned for garbage under the bunk step up.
So what are we going to do with the two garbage can spots under the step? Laundry! As the ideas came to us both at about the same time we each sat there, basking in the "light of each other's bulbs" hovering just above our heads, and tried not to throw out our arms as we patted ourselves on our backs.
Okay now back to this picture. Notice the "bread board" hole.
The sink may prevent it completely, but I intend to widen it somewhat for a larger surface, hopefully reaching the width of the drawer openings below for that whole visual thing.
And finally (refer to the above picture again, I won't post it a third time), see the new space to it's left?
That area will become a bathroom supplies storage (TP rolls, two shower bags, etc.) and the face will be made anew with an opening holding a pop-off door. Makes a pretty good storage space reclamation huh?
Here's the other side. This is where the water heater resides, with the new trash location below and to the left.
With heavier, larger cabinet pieces such as the new water heater partition board, I'll be able to build the entire cabinet in such a way as to make it assist the camper structure, like floor attachment and incorporating the wing-assembly geometry into the walls and cabinetry. Strengthening things just "a little bit" but "in many ways" adds up to quite a stout little overall camper assembly.
