Dave's Grandby build starts...slowly

[oldhotrod]

Ok, last year bought a well worn Grandby after a long search and many missed opportunities...first trip out figured out the following...ice box wasn't going to work for my purposes, block ice proved hard to find. Roof vent kept working its way open and eventually self destructed. Two part flop down bed/storage area constantly flopped down and was just a primitive design and difficult to access. Sliding cabinet doors were loose and fell out...often....so once home, the fun stuff began...and sorry if I had covered some of this before, just wanted to make one post for everything...

 

[oldhotrod]

Once I replaced the vent cover and lift mechanism, I attached a little spring to maintain tension on the knob to keep the lift arm from ratcheting up...5000 miles later still working.

 

[oldhotrod]

Second course of action was to determine where everything was inside the cabinet so that I could map out any future mods...and to remove the ice box and couch/bed assembly...and measure everything

 

[oldhotrod]

Built two pedestals for a dinette set up to try...the tops flip up and there is a storage area at the back...more on this later...the boxes are a few inches taller than the old couch and a few inches narrower than the FWC dinette. I wanted more room to store a bike inside when needed...and bought an IndelB chest fridge that was probably too big for my needs and needed to make space for it....

 

[oldhotrod]

So with the bases kind of done, I bought a Lagun table mount and made a table top for it...but didn't like the weight of the top...so, went online and searched through many, many options and eventually found a folding plastic table that could be made to work. Took the table apart, attached the Lagun mount to the bottom and made a lock bar for the back to keep it from sliding outward when in bed position...looks like it was made to be there...

 

[oldhotrod]

table top in bed position with table arm and mount in storage area...

 

[oldhotrod]

so dinette is almost done cept for clear coat and maybe a little tweaking...want to make it easy to remove, probably attach tracks to the floor with mounts for the bases...but it is usable now...so ordered cushions from Cushion Source and here ya go...

 

[oldhotrod]

on to solar...made a mount to attach the 160watt overland solar flex panel to the roof. Mount is designed to raise the panel off the roof for cooling and so that I can easily remove the panel for remote use or storage. I attached the flex panel to an aluminum sheet to stiffen it a little, The solar panel then slides into a track at the front and attaches with dzus buttons at the back. Unplug the harness and remove 3 1/4 turn fasteners and it is off...

 

[oldhotrod]

Went with a 50ahr Battle Born Battery and Victron 75/15 mppt controller with Bluetooth...Programming per battle born specs was simple and everything has worked perfect so far...plus I can expand the battery if need be...also installed a 400wt inverter...it will move from this location later when I get to redesigning the galley...way down the road...

 

[oldhotrod]

So with the solar and dinette all done (for now), I needed to do something with the opening for the ice box...have a grand plan for a complicated to build drawer system but tired of working on it so I installed this plastic drawer unit from bed bath and beyond. Used rare earth magnets at the back of the drawers to keep the drawers from sliding out when camping on not quite flat ground...unit is strapped down with a custom fit lash strap and keyed into place to prevent it from tipping over or out...and built a lock bar to keep everything closed while driving...not ideal but will work for the time being and is simple light and cheap...

 

[oldhotrod]

Now to the little cabinet sliding door issue...the outer box will not stay square and the doors fall out. I installed T-nuts in the top of the box and used epoxy to glue all thread into the nut Slid some plastic tubing over the all thread and called it done-for now...with this fix, I can adjust how easy or hard the doors slide simply by tightening the nuts on the bottom of the box...eventually I want to make some soft storage pouches to attach to the side wall but will need to learn to sew first...down the road...

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

It looks like you’re both doing a great job and having fun doing it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[WjColdWater]

Very nice! Keep the pics coming.

 

[Wango]

Great work!

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]