Time for a little assembly.
Here's the back side of the galley cabinet left side wall. The edge with the cleat fastens to the left edge of the front face. I held the two pieces together, chose a full length cleat method for attachment, then glued and screwed it to the side wall board, because I didn't have long length staples handy.
Here's the edge it fastens to.
Notice the groove in that edge. That's how the original plastic outside corner attached. It was about 1 1/8" wide over the main edge to cover, and overlapped on the other surface only about 1/8". We still haven't decided difinitively on our outside corner trim, but the plastic was so damaged in many areas I didn't want to keep it. Possibly a metal edge - maybe wood. A few ideas are floating around.
I screwed the cleat to the face board so that it can be disassembled.
I first located it alone, positioning it based on distances, measurements, etc. I didn't use plumb for now, and didn't go overboard on square, but I did eyeball it good. As it turns out, the pencil mark for position was only about 1/8" off of final placement.
But with the faceboard attached I placed it and started checking other fit issues.
The first thing you notice here is the cleat. It is shortened to allow space for the copper 1 1/2" drain pipes to go through this region. Caopper drain pipes did he say? What?! Copper?! Drain pipes?! Ummmmmm, let's see, how do I justify this?
Well you know the whole drain system isn't copper right? You knew that. It's just this little double elbow corner where the drain makes it's appearance into the interior. Behind the scenes it'll be PVC. (Whew, I think I got though that one unscathed.)
But that's why the cleat is shortened.
Also notice how tight the back of the face board fits the wing assembly.
That's because I drilled space for the board to fit tight where the carriage bolt heads reside (the ones at the inside of the wing where they hold the jack frames in place).
So the plan is a screwed and glued cleat to the perimeter of the side board (and other places along the face board for that matter), and then a pre-drilled hole in the cleat to use a removable screw for cabinet installation to the camper surfaces.
See these screws along the lower edge of the face board? This is the original fastening method. The factory used silver colored decorative washers and screws. I used brass washers, and black construction screws. The black and brass is a pattern we used in our home for a specific application and we're duplicating it out here in the camper.
The one store wanted something ridiculous for these washers, like they thought they were gold or something. 27 cents a piece maybe? I bought the entire amount shown on the right in a packet at another store for 97 cents total. You have to watch that sort of thing huh?
But notice on the left, some fewer, but of a darker color. It's probably age tarnish, because I had those on hand from something for who knows how long. I used the darker ones first, not because I want to use them up before they go bad, but because I like the aged look better.
To do this job right I had to verify level and plumb in this important area of the camper. You don't want your head too low in the sleeping area, but beyond that, I think the galley counter (and thus the stove top) is arguably the most important to level up in the camper.
If you pull in somewhere and throw a level onto the counter near the door, you should be able to count on the rest of everything being good: shower, bed, table. So the counter is the starting point in my mind. Especially now, since I use a smart phone app for my level.
There are many level apps. I like multipurpose so I use the free "Swiss Army Knife" app from Google Play Store (Android device, but I bet there's one for iPhone).
So here's the starting blocks I used for each camper corner.
And then it was a matter of incremental thicknesses added until level, front to back and side to side. I used the tops of the wings for the surfaces. The furthest forward was just aft of the fridge cabinet, and the furthest rearward was just forward of the bathroom.
I found a hump in the framing at about mid-level here.
Yes! A chance to use my grandpa's plane. You've all seen these. Not sure if you've ever had a chance to use one. In the right spot they can't be beat. These days we mostly use belt sanders for this sort of rough work.
A true artist will use these for very fine work. I'm not one of those, and you can tell because I haven't cleaned up the tool and verified the blade is sharp, yet. Someday I'm going to. I'm using it as it was given many years ago. Found in a box of grandpa's tools, it had probably sat for many years unused before he died, and then for a long time again before it came to me.
I had to use it most recently last year on a bathroom remodel, where a couple wall studs had to be shaved. I love this tool!
But once I got the top edge shaved, I leveled it and fastened the screws. Then I was able to set up the back wall ledger for the counter top. This was the original board, as shown with the vent hole cut out for the sink plumbing.
The galley cabinet is not fully fastened, but it's close enough to continue a build. Then of course, it will all be removed, finished, and then re-installed. Lot's to do before paint and finish.
