hooptytank
Advanced Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2015
- Messages
- 36
While prepping for a 3 week Baja trip, i realized the house batteries were weak, the cabinets needed some patching up and my new whynter fridge has no where to fit. I ended up tearing out and replacing the cabinets and counter top, removed the upper bed portion that extended permanently into the living space, cut the front storage box lid in two, relocated the batteries forward, replaced most of the old wiring/switches/fuse box, and added a charge relay/battery isolator.
This camper is probably over 30 years old now, has had multiple owners and I'm not sure what was factory installed or P.O. installed. We use the couch as the bed and the upper bunk was merely storage when the top was up. The front lower storage box was too small for the fridge to fit in, so the fridge will sit on top of it. This box had a one piece lid on a piano hinge, so I cut the lid to the footprint of the fridge.
Attempted fix of cabinets, and tear down. view with bunk extension removed from above front storage box
Trying to patch up old cabinets, but their design and use of space was awful. One small drawer, a sliding door beneath it that made it a royal pita to get to anything. One PO turned the old icebox into a cabinet.
Cut lid and icebox cabinet view
cabinet face and appliances removed
counter top removed, the last cabinet was also removed and only the outer wall remained
measured and cut new face, then measured and cut doors and drawer faces. used skilsaw to cut long runs. I wanted flush fitting doors, looks cleaner to me.
before fully cutting doors out with jigsaw where skilsaw blade didnt reach, i measured and mounted hinges so i wont be fighting with alignment later on. I used a centering drill bit to mark predrill all holes. home depot hinges.
Everything cut out. After this sanded all edges smooth. The face ready to install.
building drawer boxes
made and installed divider walls, installed drawer slides (pain in the you know what) in retrospect I wish I used full extension slides.
This camper is probably over 30 years old now, has had multiple owners and I'm not sure what was factory installed or P.O. installed. We use the couch as the bed and the upper bunk was merely storage when the top was up. The front lower storage box was too small for the fridge to fit in, so the fridge will sit on top of it. This box had a one piece lid on a piano hinge, so I cut the lid to the footprint of the fridge.
Attempted fix of cabinets, and tear down. view with bunk extension removed from above front storage box
Trying to patch up old cabinets, but their design and use of space was awful. One small drawer, a sliding door beneath it that made it a royal pita to get to anything. One PO turned the old icebox into a cabinet.
Cut lid and icebox cabinet view
cabinet face and appliances removed
counter top removed, the last cabinet was also removed and only the outer wall remained
measured and cut new face, then measured and cut doors and drawer faces. used skilsaw to cut long runs. I wanted flush fitting doors, looks cleaner to me.
before fully cutting doors out with jigsaw where skilsaw blade didnt reach, i measured and mounted hinges so i wont be fighting with alignment later on. I used a centering drill bit to mark predrill all holes. home depot hinges.
Everything cut out. After this sanded all edges smooth. The face ready to install.
building drawer boxes
made and installed divider walls, installed drawer slides (pain in the you know what) in retrospect I wish I used full extension slides.
. only a 12 GA wire and way too long a run of wire. All that resistance effectively killed the batteries because the alternator had no way to sense the house battery voltage accurately, and they got overcharged and boiled, damn near ready to catch fire. 2 GA, is good up to 150 A and about 15' run. I had nice flexible 2/0 and 4 AWG cable from other projects.
