Sunday, May 10, 2015

Something for the weekend, sir?

This weekend was very busy and almost everything that I desired came to pass. I'd wanted to complete the bathroom partitions between the bathroom and kitchen\dinette. I almost managed it too.

By a strange quirk during construction of the shower side of the partition, I had to turn the 2x4 beam through 90° with the result being a much stronger partition. This was copied to the other side. In addition, as by some miracle I'd got one doorpost vertical, I started the other side by installing the doorpost first and got it so accurate that if there is a difference, its less than 1/16th. My construction techniques are improving!

The difference is quite visible between before this weekend and after.

The downside is that the kitchen counter I constructed now seems to have acquired a nasty instability. I assume that as the wood dried (and cracked as it dried), the thing worked loose. Its not all downside though. I would feel more secure driving the bus if the kitchen and partition were strongly built together, thus reducing the minuscule chance of a partition breaking loose and falling on me during heavy breaking.

Another upside is that I have better ideas about how I'm going to build the kitchen and have worked out also a way of dealing with the front passenger side where the hillbillies left the original seat back and stair rail, both of which waste a lot of precious space.

I'm estimating that between now and the end of next weekend, I should finish the incomplete partition and construct the drivers partition. The weekend after that I might have made some progress with the passenger side partition. That might take a while as there's some heavy construction needed.

The kitchen counter will remain for now but will be dismantled eventually in order to make space for the new kitchen counter. This weekend was great because I didn't have to buy any new wood. I think I'm pretty much set for wood for the moment.

My new thought for the kitchen and diner are that they should be a combination of cupboards and drawers, utilizing my existing plastic crates for storage. The dinette will have swivel seats and the diners will face the passenger side windows. Basically that gives the opportunity to look outside rather than watching the kitchen counter.

Its getting increasingly interesting. A few days ago, the mechanic I know asked about the bus. He was impressed with my progress. Apparently a lot of people would just have given up by now. I guess most other people don't have much staying power!

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