Converting dinette into a "U" with more accessible storage. Options

[peterh]

thanx Peter. I did find one on the internet to order.
I'm going to keep looking to see if I can find a more modern looking one tho.
I only need one so I may also go for a socket conversion.

I think there'll be 1156 warm white bayonet base LED "bulbs" out soon. That would simplify converting them to LEDs.

[peterh]

I just finished adding a "backlight" to our fresh water tank. If you followed this topic you might remember I installed a "thermometer-like" viewing window in the face of one of our dinette benches so you could see the water level in the fresh water tank under the bench seats. The idea didn't work out as well as I had planned -- there wasn't enough light in the tank to see the water in the tank.

This weekend I added an LED light strip that "backlights" the tank when I push a button next to our water pump switch. Now I can see the water level really, really well!

 09Mar15_Fresh_Tank_Backlight_Shows_Water_Level.JPG ( 28.67K ) Number of downloads: 53


I used a hot-melt glue gun to mount this 2-watt red LED light strip to the bottom edge of a scrap of pressboard (on the bottom edge so the light comes up through the water instead of shining down on it) and duct-taped the panel to the back of the water tank opposite the "thermometer" viewing window.

 09Mar15_Fresh_Tank_Backlight_Panel.JPG ( 67.21K ) Number of downloads: 58


Now I can see my fresh tank water level at the push of a button!

[Steve Hilby]

Now that's a clever idea!

[Coach George Jes...]

....... duct-taped the panel to the back of the water tank opposite the "thermometer" viewing window....

is the LED light panel running horzontal or verticle on the back side of the tank. If Horzontal.. are you saying you put light along the bottom edge of back side of the tank?

[Roger C H]

Pete,
Interesting mod. I notice that you have tubes and wires going through holes in bulkheads. Please tell me that you grommeted all these locations to prevent the bulkhead from wearing holes in the tubes/wire insulation.

[peterh]

is the LED light panel running horzontal or verticle on the back side of the tank. If Horzontal.. are you saying you put light along the bottom edge of back side of the tank?

It's mounted horizontally to illuminate the bottom-most back edge of the tank. I did it that way so that the light gets trapped in the water, forcing it to act something like a fiber-optic cable and illuminate the front of the tank where the water is much better than further on up the tank wall where the water is not. If you ran it vertically you'd illuminate the "thermometer" viewing window much more evenly.

[peterh]

It's mounted horizontally to illuminate the bottom-most back edge of the tank. I did it that way so that the light gets trapped in the water, forcing it to act something like a fiber-optic cable and illuminate the front of the tank where the water is much better than further on up the tank wall where the water is not. If you ran it vertically you'd illuminate the "thermometer" viewing window much more evenly.

That's a good point. No, they're not grommeted, but the wire and piping is zip-tied into a tight bundle that runs through the center of the over-sized hole.

[peterh]

This week new upper cabinets made of 1/4" birch plywood with pine and hemlock framing replaced the smaller & heavier cabinets from Scamp. The new cabinets weigh 4 pounds each without their doors; the old cabinets weighed 7-1/2 pounds each. The new doors are bigger than the old so they weigh only slightly less . . . but the best thing about them is the larger door openings make it easier to get things in and out of the cabinet.

From this  Countertop___Stove_Side__1_.JPG ( 101.65K ) Number of downloads: 109
to this  09May24_New_Dinette_Upper_Cabinet.JPG ( 93.78K ) Number of downloads: 111
.

Yet to be decided is last "big" change inside our trailer, which is possibly adding a shelf or cabinet over the back window to span the distance between the two new white cabinets over the dinette.

[peterh]

The last cabinet I'm building for out 5er is taking shape. This one spans the back of the trailer between the two left and right upper cabinets I installed last month.

The center opening is designed so it'll fit a board game and will have a traditional door like the ones I made for our other cabinets. The smaller side cabinets are going to be more challenging. They're meant to be open storage cubbies that Lynne and I can easily reach up to while sitting in the dinette without having to open or close a door, but we still need a way to close the cubbies off so their contents don't spill out while we're towing. A standard swing-type door won't work here, though, because it would block the swing doors on the side cabinets.

So I'm making an oak "roll" door, like you find on a roll-top desk. That way we can keep the cubbies open when we're camping without blocking the swing-up doors of the side cabinets but still close the cabinets off for towing (or to hide the mess inside).

 09June22_New_Dinette_Upper_Cabinet.JPG ( 67.48K ) Number of downloads: 72


This post has been edited by peterh: Jun 22 2009, 09:47 PM

[Don N]

Excellent idea with the "roller" doors. Will also look very appealing when they are closed.

[peterh]

The new dinette upper cabinet with its swing-up and roll-up doors. I still need to make a curtain rod.

Roll-up doors Closed:
 09June27_New_Dinette_Upper_Cabinet_1.JPG ( 75.25K ) Number of downloads: 70


Open:
 09June27_New_Dinette_Upper_Cabinet_3.JPG ( 77.34K ) Number of downloads: 61


(Sorry about the lousy view out the back window: Our trailer is parked at the storage yard right now.

[Bill K]

Here I thought you had TWO trailers now.

Bill K

(Sorry about the lousy view out the back window: Our trailer is parked at the storage yard right now.

[Donna D.]

Here I thought you had TWO trailers now.

Bill K

He does have two trailers Bill, just not that sticky you see through the window. Peter and Lynn bought a Surfside last year: Inaugural trip of a new-to-us Surfside If the 5er is any indication, Peter has some fine, fine mods going through his head for the Surfside

[Frederick L. Sim...]

So I'm making an oak "roll" door, like you find on a roll-top desk.

Class, today's vocabulary lesson is:
Tambour Door.