Ethel has began

[Ben]

Well I've been working on the interior a lot lately and have made some progress on it and thought I would post some pics that's how it started. and with some stain and a little trim starting. test fitting some cabinets. start of the face frame and some stain. But as I progressed I'm adding some more shelfs and some a little more to the face frame but that's this weekends work along with a motor pull out of an s10 that my boy blew up so I have a full weekend planned and Saturday is my birthday and I have plans to become friends with a pirate called captain Morgan and a keg of spiced rum

[S. Heisley]

Well I got my wheels and they look pretty good if I say so myself

Pretty Good? Those wheels are gorgeous! The trailer is looking good, too!

[Ben]

Well not as much progress as planned but progress is progress. So the engine is pulled and the tranny out of the s10 and a little work on Ethel
The face frame for the cabinets on the inside is done just need to mount it

Here is the cabinets on the inside.just need the poly to dry so I can finish. and here is the start of the galley I didn't get as far as I wanted but the engine pull got in the way of my progress of the TD today. And yesterday was a complete waste with other stuff going on. So maybe this week will be more productive but with the weather I kinda doubt it. The rain is moving in and I don't have a good drive at the shop so it gets pretty muddy trying to get up there. But time will tell.

[Ben]

Well I finally got the face frame installed and some of the trim I think I'm going to redo the trim I'm not to happy with it but here's some pics

And I'm not sure of what I'm getting into this weekend but ill try to post if I get anything done it going to be pretty cold here this weekend.

[Captain Monkeyshines]

Looking good. Love the Cepeck wheels!

[Silvrzuki77]

Any updates? Looking good i cant wait to be that far along lol. Hey let me know whenever you decide to go to moab I have a trip planned out from the bottom of utah all the way to moab. Should be a epic trail ride. Plus if you ever drive out you need to hit death valley!

[Ben]

No real updates thus far. I've been working on the galley hatch and I'm getting my a$$ handed to me. And this weekend has a ball joint replacement planned on my truck. That's going to be fun since I've never done front end work before but if I can rebuild a 6.0 power stroke ball joints should be a piece of cake. I'm hoping Sunday I can work on her a bit with no interruptions.

Ps cris don't get in a hurry plan your work and work your plan!!

[Silvrzuki77]

I did the spintec hub conversion on 2003 7.3 and ball joints at the same time. Be sure to get a quality ball joint press with the extra large spacers. I had a hard time finding a rental that fit correctly over the ball joint. For reinstall it was easier to beat it in if i remeber correctly. Let me know if you need ideas on it.

[Ben]

I bought all the tools and adapters needed to change them I didn't want to get into it and not have the right tool or parts I bought all new parts except the wheel hub bearing.

[Ben]

Ok a little update not much done but a major mile stone for me since I found the key to the tractor to pull my head outta my a$$. So here we go a little bit of the lites
And the big part for me was figuring out the hatch and the proper way to cut it and after the big cut
and this weekend ill start the hatch its self as you can see I have a boo boo to fix but you'll never know it when I'm done. I also broke down and bought a tire I want to see how's it's going to look before I buy the second one its at a friends house getting mounted he had to order the beads before he could mount it. Needless to say I'm getting excited. Things are starting to come together and I'm seeing progress after being stuck for so long!!

[Ben]

Well here she is the tire and wheel combo
What do you all think?

[Ben]

I couldn't take it I had to see what they looked like sitting by Ethel

And I also got a little farther on on the galley hatch and the storage box on the front. So here are some pics of that I went to town and picked up some maple 1x2's so I can finish up the framing of the galley hatch.
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Here's the storage box I'm going to go with for now I had it from my truck so I though I would repurpose it for Ethel. The other pic is a wire junction box for the trailer lights. And if you can see it on the right side of the pic there's a conduit for the 120 volt in the galley. I plan on putting the batteries in there also along with the power converter. And maybe some other small stuff.

[KCStudly]

Looking good! Keep it up.

[Ben]

Ok so I've been kicking some ideas around and started on this.
And I started to frame the galley and plan is to finish the framing it tomorrow. And I think I'll start drilling the spars for the wiring.here is a pic of the galley

[Ben]

Well I think I figured the galley out I only got things cut and fit I never glued or screwed nothing in case I decide to change something

And one with the hatch on

So things are coming together pretty well. And we're going to the flee market today so I might be able to find some goodies at a good price.
I need to source some 1/8" ply for covering the outside so I have it when I'm ready. I've been looking at the security cable and man it's costly 150.$ for a 500 ft box and its only 16 gauge and I'd rather use 12 gauge. But all the lights I'm using are led so 16 will probably work fine.
In everyone opinion what hinge would you go with grant whip hh or the one from so cal ? I need to get this part ordered.
Has anyone done a cost comparison between finishing in aluminum and fiberglass? I found a place where I can get the 102" aluminum local I say local but it really comes from ga.