Yes, it was bad from every angle, but not now.

1. New upper cabinet doors. Originals were hanging ugly as Florida chads after a Katrina.
2. New lower cabinet doors and in fact the design had to hide badly cut openings and missing bottom fiberglass. Multo-ugly.
3. New shelving and inner/under cabinet support structure. (Wasn't anything there.)
4. New faucet because the old one needed to be flung a far far distance.
5. New stove because the old one had unfixably froze aluminum valves that cost too much to replace anyway, and all the metallic surfaces, and knobs, wuz truely-ugly.
6. New lighting because I don't need no low-rent-looking floorescant AC fixtures under the cabinets in my kitchen. (Got a converter.)
7. New storage space where the fridge was because I removed that fridge, just because I could. Well, it was ugly, very heavy, and hardly space-efficient. That was a knuckle-busting, filled with curses job, for sure. Anyway, still glad I did it.
8. New kitchen utensils/cups/potholders hang-bar over the countertop. Made from some nice quarter-sawn sycamore, by the way.

Still much to do. In fact, though the stove works beautifully the water pump isn't hooked up to send water to the faucet and the drain won't drain anywhere good, since I fiberglassed up the original vent for the fridge.

.... And I'll post a picture if this ?@*%#+@¿ software ever allows it!

Still can't post a pix!

Hang on Myron...it's not you. We're working on the problem. Believe me, everyone is frustrated.

My nephew, Chad, heard a lot of election jokes...


Congratulations on your upgrades!

Here's my Burro kitchen counter/cabinets on the day I first saw it. This egg had obviously been layed (laid?) to rest many years ago.Click to view attachment

This shot taken today, after a final tidying up of tools, spare parts, containers, and other stuff.

WOW! I love before and after pics! What a beeeaaautiful job!

You'd make Ty Pennington jealous!

Thank you, Webmaster, for clearing up the picture posting trouble.

Here's another shot of the kitchen improvements. (I need the postings practice.) One of my problems with this repair was that the bottom of the fiberglass cabinet underneath where the refrigerator was ... was missing. Previous owner had cut out bottom of the fiberglass case to make the fridge fit.

Simply using 1x2 wood framing would not be enough. I ended up using white plastic corner bead for sheetrocking. Ran it across entire bottom of the cabinet. It was wide enough and flexible enough for use as bottom trim. I even think the perforated holes pattern is neat.

First class work. What have you used to replace the carpet that was up overhead on the ceiling?

Good looking job! I like the rounded theme carried out. How did you attach the frames on the fiberglass? Is the frame plywood or solid? What kind of cabinet latches did you use?
Thanks, Jim Munson

Ah, the carpet. Glad you asked, Gary. Originally there was no carpet up there. There were seven individual hornets nests, though. (Small, abandoned ones. Seems even the bugs had given up and left the area.)

It so happened that a week after I got Burro home it was bulk pick-up week in our town. I never fail to peruze the pickings, since our town is considered "upscale" and people with money throw out the darndest things. I paid particular interest in the McMansion areas and new construction. Didn't take long to find the perfect color remnants from a new rug installation. All brand new, and the best. Got plenty left over for the floor, too. But when I get to it, this floor will be hardwood.

Oh, and those cabinet doors? Got the 7ply wood from the dump. We have a great-great county landfill-recycle-dump. Left overs from a kitchen renovation. (I did pay for the stain, varnish and hardware at Home Depot.) The hinges are self-closing but once this egg gets its road test we will see if additional latching is necessary. If so likely will be magnets but currently, no latches.

Attaching the frames to the fiberglass: I did not want to simply surface mount the wood thereby keeping the fiberglass edges exposed when opening the doors. There was a great need to hide rough edges. So I rabbited the framing to make it nest into the rough opening(s). I was making the three door frames as one big unit. The framing becomes both the face and the interior side and makes a clean opening. I drilled through the face, used three 10/24 machine screws to bolt the frame assembly in place. I can easily remove the whole thing if necessary. When all is done I will cover the counter-sunk holes with plugs.

Yes, thanks, I appreciate your noticing. I am particularly happy with the rounded corner theme. Seemed logical, given the roundness of the egg itself, and is very easy on the eyes.

Oh, forgot to answer... the frame wood is all solid poplar. Only doors are plywood. Here's a picture of the framing and the router bit used.

That looks really nice!

Tho, I am somewhat disappointed you RUINED that fridge face.. the grey plaid was so... well, grey!

(I am doing my cushions in Red Plaid, but I don't think I will add that little mod )

Thanks for showing the open ceiling. I just saw mine the other day in a small spot and was somewhat suprised they did not bring the seam together at the middle. Guess you get more headroom that way.

I may pull my covering out and insulate under there. It should help quite a lot and is easy to get to. I didn't realize it WASN'T.

Nice job. The woodwork and hardware all mesh nicely, in my opinion. The hinges and knobs are particularly interesting choice, giving a "period" look in keeping with the vintage of the trailer design, and suitable for the woodwork style; although I realize the faucet is an up-to-the-minute design, it fits in.

Gina, I say if you gotta be a plaid, be a red-plaid.

I like the brushed aluminum look and was fortunate to find a style at Home Depot that looks both modern and retro at the same time. Found other hinges I liked better in a boat catalogue but those crazy people think money walks on water. The hooks are $3/pair coat hooks from Sears hardware dept. The faucet was $30 at Costco.

Myron,
Glad you were able to post the pictures, you've done a "first class" job. Seeing where other's imagination has led, is inspiring for us all.
Thanks,
Kurt & Ann K.

But my kitchen still has no water.

The struggle to remove this 11 gallon tank turned out to be nothing compared to trying to return it to this spot in the curbside front storage corner of the coach. Its removal, simply for "new-owner preventative maintenance," revealed a hole in the floor but no drain connection to the tank. Why the kit builder chose to locate tank in this spot (contrary to Burro instructions) is anybody's guess.

After attaching attachments to tank so drain becomes functional I simply could not get the thing back into that hole. Besides, no way to even get a hand down there to connect up a working drain. Gol-darn knuckle-scraper-buster-bratcha-blaster! So glad I tried a dry-fit before committing to drilling any new holes.

Burro instructions call for this tank to go in rear streetside bunker. Have been resisting this move (no idea why) until now, and so, in accordance with what has been learned to date, have re-routed all the transmission lines to that area. It means cutting open another 3 inch hole in the back for water filling, and cutting another hole in floor for drain valve, but, what the hay.

Myron, thanks for sharing your step-by-step refurbish.

Just wanted to share with you something that I garnished from the archives before our loss...you may already have thought of this but... when cutting holes in our plywood/fiberglass sandwiched floors, cut the hole a little larger than the actual hole that you need. Then mix fiberglass resin with filler, fill the hole, making sure the new raw edges of plywood are saturated. Once hole is cured, cut new smaller hole for your fitting. This makes sure that plywood is completely sealed and there is no entrance for water.

I will be predrilling all bolt holes for connecting flooring to frame, saturating the edges with fiberglass resin, and using a marine epoxy to seal. Call me paranoid but I do not want to discover any soft spots in the floor or ever have to replace floor again.

Thanks, I appreciate that and will follow your good advice. In fact, I did not think of it. It took awhile to find, but just bought drain valve from an ebay seller. Now I'm thinking I haven't done enough when I replaced my bad flooring. .......Nah, of course I did!