Travels With Miranda

It was too wet, yet again, to work outside today, but, at least, it was warm enough to do so in the workshop. Mr. Neelix wasn’t going to let me get any work done unless I got him cat food RIGHT AWAY (even though his bowl was still full) so off I went to check out the spoils at Windsor Plywood and Home Depot. Unfortunately, I came home empty-handed. So, I decided to use what I had on hand, even if it was planned for another project.

Since I couldn’t work outside, using the table saw to cut my panels was out of the question. It’s just too tight inside the workshop to do so. I have three scars on my wrists to remind me of what power tools can do to you when you are working in ideal circumstances and warn against trying to ‘make do’. I therefore pulled out my trusty friend:

We have done A LOT of work together! Sure, cuts with a jigsaw aren’t as razor straight as you can get with a table saw, but I wasn’t risking any limbs, so it was worth it.

Two more panels cut, I did a mockup on the base to make sure the dimensions were okay:

Which brings me to an epiphany I had in the middle of the night. It’s no wonder I’m exhausted all the time, my brain never shuts off! The thought was related to the space behind the drawer:

I was just going to write it off as wasted space, but realised in the middle of the night that I could make that space accessible from the side of the kitchen and use it for storing oversized cutting boards and the like. Nice solution, but I’m not sure it was worth waking up for at 4 in the morning!

And this is where I paused for lunch:

I’m out of angle brackets, so I need to take apart some valances. That done, I will install the final two panels; a shelf that will go over the drawer and the one that will be against the wall.

Before I bring the unit into the rig and install it, I will need to pretty up the base with some trim.

Once the unit is installed, leveled, and pretty, I’ll work on doors.

It sure feels good to have something done today!

While cutting some pieces of plywood today, I failed to probably plan all my cuts, with the end result being that I now have many nice long scraps that are only a foot or so wide. They’ll be perfect for the ductwork tunnel, but I need two pieces 21 1/8″ high for the interior divisions of the dishwasher cabinet and only have one suitable piece of plywood left. Before I steal more of Croft’s ugly scraps ( ), I’m going to go raid the other store he mentioned has a scrap bin. I went by there tonight just to scope it out and see where it is and, sure enough, there is a huge bin marked ‘free wood’. It’s behind a locked fence, so I’m going to hope for clear weather tomorrow so I can check it out. I also went by Home Depot, but their dumpster was locked up and there were only pallets outside of it.

The only other thing I’ll work on tonight is getting rid of The Ugliest Light Fixture In the Universe. I have four of these in Miranda; two in the dining area and two in the study, using up valuable wall space. The ‘shades’ are made of a rubber-like material. They have never worked, which explains why one lit up when I pushed on its switch yesterday. It was like it was telling me “don’t throw me away!” Here’s a picture for posterity.

It’s a shame these lights run off the 12V system. If it was off the 120V grid, I would have been able to replace the fixture with a plug for the dishwasher. I’m instead going to have to run wiring from the nearest plug to this general vicinity.

This picture also shows just how much of the window the dishwasher will be blocking as it is as wide as the counter and at least as tall as the bracket by the stove. The only other option would be to have the dishwasher facing out towards the dining room, but even that would chew up some window space. There really is no ideal solution and I want a dishwasher, dangnabit, so I’m just going to have to live with this.

This weather is going to make me cry.

I got out of bed at 9 this morning and promptly went to work. It was sunny and warm, albeit a bit damp. I set up my workshop outside, got all the tools, cut my first piece of plywood, and made a hole in the plywood for the furnace vent, then big, ugly black clouds rolled in and it started to spit. Thank you very, very much. Not.

So, this is how far I’ve gotten today:

I used the wardrobe door plywood to make that side panel and still have more than enough for the three interior divisions, bringing down the cost of the wardrobe doors. It’s amazing what you can get  out of a sheet of plywood!

After lunch, I’ll start working on cutting and assembling the interior partitions. I’m not a cabinet maker and I don’t have the tools or the knowledge to do a really ‘pro’ job on the joinery for this project, so I’m going to rely on glue and angle brackets and focus on making the exterior as polished as possible while accepting that the inside will be stuffed to the gills and not all that visible.

The divisions will give me a space accessible from the kitchen side through a door, one accessible from the lounge with a door also, a drawer, and another space above it with a door. The two large spaces are being designed with specific storage in mind, which will free up a couple of cabinets in the study and give me easier access to a kitchen tool I haven’t used since hitting the road and miss very, very much.

Off to lunch; it feels so well deserved today!

It was much too cold today to work in the shop, even with a heater. I stayed in and got caught up on my contracts, washed the carpets in the cab, began disassembling the dinette bench, and took a few measurements. Since I was up so early, I’ll be going to bed at a ‘reasonable’ hour, enabling me to

take advantage of the clear weather and warmer temperatures we’re supposed to have tomorrow. I have a lunch date with my neighbour and I intend to have some work done before then!

I’m having a hard time deciding what’s the bigger priority; the ladder to the loft or the dishwasher counter. I’m already tired of climbing into bed via a stepladder, but it’s just an inconvenience. The dishwasher counter, on the other hand, would give me some storage space I sorely need and be the final piece in the puzzle of getting a functional kitchen in this RV.

Perhaps I should stop over analysing the situation and just get it done.

But not tonight; there’s a hoooooot bubble bath and a Milepost waiting for me.

GAH!

It’s been pouring all day and there is no relief in sight!

As if my leak worry wasn’t enough, I need to be able to work outside this weekend! The counter project will require me to cut a huge sheet of plywood (the remnant from the wardrobe doors) and there is simply not enough place in the workshop to do so. I need to do like the carpenter did and secure the sheet to my sawhorses with clamps, then use a circular saw to do the cuts. Hopefully, I’ll get a few hours respite to do that; the rest of the work can be done inside.

I’m getting pretty excited at the thought of getting that counter in once and for all and I’ve made two decisions in regards to it. The first is that the dishwasher is going onto the counter. I don’t want to cut into the plumbing and then have to worry about leaks for the next ten years. The second decision is that I’ll be taking the dinette bench apart after all. I’ll leave the seatbelt frame in place, however, and build my cabinet around it, repurposing as many bench pieces as I can. The current footprint of the bench is a bit too wide to look good with the counter and I’ll need to shave off about two inches.

So, those are my goals for the rest of this week; deal with the leak and get the counter in. I’m debating whether or not I should share my ‘to do by April 1st’ list to show just how crazily ambitious I am.