Slowly I built, step by step, inch by inch….Niagara Falls!
No, I haven’t given up. It’s been 3 weeks of steady work, evenings and weekends, to build two closets. It just takes a lot more time than you might think owing to the fact that there are lots of pieces, shelves, doors, etc. to be made and painted before they can be installed, caulked, and painted again. I suppose it would be faster to buy prefabricated cabinets, and to some they might even look better, but I don’t know how you would ever make really efficient use of the space. There is so little space in the Stealth Camper (or any RV) to begin with, it would seem a shame to waste any of it.
I have uploaded pictures under keyword “Stealth” (as always). It’s nothing special to look at. They are just closets after all. You can clearly see my “tailgate” door design and how it gives maximum access with minimum “swing out”. You can also see how it eliminates the need for door handles.
There are no doors on the closets themselves. They just seem unnecessary to me. You can see how the empty space under the bar for hanging shirts and pants is partitioned with lots of shelves. You can also see how every shelf has a generous lip to keep things where they belong. I may ultimately need to augment this with a bungee or similar solution. We will have to see how it works in actual use. Eventually all the shelves will be lined with that soft waffle rubber mat to further reduce the impact damage.
You may note that even the floor is a useful “shelf”. The right side closet (not shown) has a toe kick board that acts to keep things on the “floor shelf” back where they belong. The left side has no such feature as I need free access to the makeup air inlet and the louvers that control airflow.
The top shelf above the clothes rod on the left side had to be notched out to allow access to the crank handle for raising and lowering the TV antenna. Note that when the shelf door is closed it is pretty much hidden from view.
The next step is a simple single shelf cabinet to hold the refrigerator. This one should go a bit more quickly, as there are fewer parts. The only concern is that the Sunfrost RF-12 is heavy so I need to make the cabinet that holds it plenty strong. I am considering the addition of a small 12V fan to make this already very efficient refrigerator even more efficient. It’s not something I need to work on right away though. I can always retrofit it later.
Meanwhile my 2nd mattress arrived. It fits the bunk beds fine, though a little snug on width and a tad short on length. I don’t know how all this will work out in terms of ease of making the beds. I will need to live with for a while and report later. In the mean time, it is even firmer than the other foam mattress I bought. I am not sure if I like that…
To be continued….
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