We left on the 13th and got back late in the day on the 20th. On the 21st, it was back to work on the build.
Saturday, August 21:
First was to unload all the goodies we picked up in Elkhart and get them put away. Then we pulled out the countertop frames we had built earlier in the month and got those skinned up with Ply:
Then we "wrapped" the edges of the countertop with 1x2 to give it a built-up look:
Knocked-off the inside corner with a 45* piece, and we're done with that step:
We did the same for the 2 smaller tops, and then made up a countertop for the bathroom:
We finished up that day with some cleanup and planning.
Friday, August 27:
With the countertop frames finished it was time to move onto the Formica laminate. Started off by cutting the strips for the edges of all the tops:
Got the contact cement applied, let it dry and started applying the strips. Once on, they are trimmed flush with a router and a flush trim bit. Shown here is a tool I recently found out about - a laminate trim router with an offset base. The offset base gives a large surface area to keep the router sitting flat and also really helps with getting into those tight corners. A little pricy, but I'll never go back to a regular router for that kind of work again!
Working our way around the tops:
A little love from the sander ensures everything is perfectly flush and even:
More strip work:
Now, we're ready to do the horizontal surfaces. We rough cut the laminate:
And then we packed it in for the day.
Saturday, August 28:
Start with the contact cement:
Let it dry, apply the laminate, and go to work with a J-Roller:
That gives us this:
A little trimming action:
And you get this:
One last step for a real nice job, hand filing the edges:
Then a test fit, because you just have to see how it's going to look!
Now we can move onto some fixtures. The small sink we got for the bathroom did not come with a template, so I had to improvise a little. I covered the section of the countertop with masking tape, centered the sink upside down and traced it. Then I copied that tracing about 1/4" in to make our cut line:
Cut it out, drop the sink in:
Apply the vinyl inside corner trim (you have to look real hard to see it) and put the countertop in where it belongs:
The two smaller tops:
The we cut the holes for the galley sink & cooktop, dropped those in for a test fit:
The insert panel in the fridge was pretty ratty looking.. scratched up and stained. Wanted to go with a black insert but havent been able to locate a small piece of black formica yet. For now, this is an improvement (sorry, the flash really washes the color out - I'm a bad excuse for a photographer):
Last, properly mount the fixtures and install the faucet. Really starting to look like something now!
With that, it was time to clean up. More soon, we're trying really hard to get this thing campable by the week of September 20th to show to some friends. With a little luck, we're less than 2 weeks from siding!
- Frank
We made up a frame for the fresh water tank and got that hung, then pulled it back down for some touch-up painting. I'll get some pictures of the tank once it's back in. We also pulled wire for all the trailer lighting - the tails and the 11(!) required marker lights. We also got the shower surround cut down to size and had to re-do the tub platform to drop it 3/4" closer to the floor. Doing so was the only way to make the surround work, since it has a design cast into it. I'll get some pictures of this later in the week when the surround is hopefully permanently installed.
