Zirdu
Senior Member
My new Grandby had a strange hole in the panel in front and to the right of the sink. Here is the hole. (It was covered by a small piece of cabinet held in place in the back)
I was told that this space was for installing the solar controller and meter if installed by the factory. I choose to install my own solar, and I installed my controller (a Victron MPPT 100/30) in the battery compartment. This location for the controller works better since it senses the same temperature as the battery, and has the shortest possible wire from controller to battery, which is important.. So in my case the space behind this hole was totally wasted. In addition, there was a lot of space to the right of the hole, which was totally unused. I decided to enlarge this hole and make it into a small shelf, or cubby, with a hinged door. I first enlarged the hole:
Then I build a shelf with a back to it, just exactly to fit the space behind the hole, taking into account the fact that the space on the left side had to go around the sink. I built a template out of cardboard so I could easily fit and glue it up to exactly the right size. I had to make sure it would fit into the space by going through the bottom cabinet. I had to put a movable plate on the back, which I added after it was in, to make it fit in. Here is a picture of the cardboard template. I built the shelf out of thin plywood to match this.
Here is a picture of the installed shelf. I installed with cleats on the top to hold it up.
I ordered a door and hinges just like the door and hinges to the fuse area. I cut this door down to size, and installed it on my new cubby:
This adds some useful space out of formerly wasted space.
In addition to this, I removed the thin plywood spacer the factory had placed into the cabinet below. I think it was to separate the area where the hot water tank went. I did not choose to have a hot water tank, so again, there was a lot of wasted space down there. I fastened up the loose wires I found in this space, covered up any exposed wires and contacts, and added maybe 35% to 45% to the space in this big cabinet just below the new cubby I had built.
I was told that this space was for installing the solar controller and meter if installed by the factory. I choose to install my own solar, and I installed my controller (a Victron MPPT 100/30) in the battery compartment. This location for the controller works better since it senses the same temperature as the battery, and has the shortest possible wire from controller to battery, which is important.. So in my case the space behind this hole was totally wasted. In addition, there was a lot of space to the right of the hole, which was totally unused. I decided to enlarge this hole and make it into a small shelf, or cubby, with a hinged door. I first enlarged the hole:
Then I build a shelf with a back to it, just exactly to fit the space behind the hole, taking into account the fact that the space on the left side had to go around the sink. I built a template out of cardboard so I could easily fit and glue it up to exactly the right size. I had to make sure it would fit into the space by going through the bottom cabinet. I had to put a movable plate on the back, which I added after it was in, to make it fit in. Here is a picture of the cardboard template. I built the shelf out of thin plywood to match this.
Here is a picture of the installed shelf. I installed with cleats on the top to hold it up.
I ordered a door and hinges just like the door and hinges to the fuse area. I cut this door down to size, and installed it on my new cubby:
This adds some useful space out of formerly wasted space.
In addition to this, I removed the thin plywood spacer the factory had placed into the cabinet below. I think it was to separate the area where the hot water tank went. I did not choose to have a hot water tank, so again, there was a lot of wasted space down there. I fastened up the loose wires I found in this space, covered up any exposed wires and contacts, and added maybe 35% to 45% to the space in this big cabinet just below the new cubby I had built.