Converting Scamp 5er Loft

[lynneh]

Whatever the name, 60" x 75" should be a nice bed.

A bed length of 75" might not work for taller folks. We're both 5'8" so this shorter length will work well for us. We played around with a tape measure in our own traditional queen-sized bed to make sure the shorter length would be comfortable for both of us (this sounds more, ahem, "interesting" than it really was).

In every reference I have seen to real (not RV) bed sizes, a Queen is 60"x[b]80" (e.g. size tables from the first Google hit for "queen bed dimensions").

See above post about what space we're in at the Oregon Gathering. Some people are numerically challenged Thanks goodness Peter believes in measure twice, write it down, check it again and THEN cut.

--Lynne

[peterh]

And the update continues. Last week and weekend I finished the loft deck substructure, put in the steps, the dog kennel floor, the laundry hamper sides & bottom, cut the deck, and ordered a memory foam mattress.



The dog kennel substructure. I've installed wiring under the bathroom for 12v & 120v plugs and for a wireless LAN antenna.


The floor of the kennel has storage underneath. There's a strut under the removable temperboard floor panel so it doesn't sag under our 60+ pound poodle.


And with the floor down.


Steps up are in. Drawers will go under the deck and middle step. A tool and setup stuff chest will live under the bottom step with room at the front to kick off your shoes.


"Big" chest of drawers area with laundry hamper off to one side.


The laundry hamper (and all of the dividers) are pegboard


And here's what it looks like now.

[Christi V.]

wow.. looking good! makes me jealous! LOL did you say you would do mine too?

[Gina D.]

Pup Pup gets his/her own room???? How cool is that?!!!!!

Back off Christi, he has to build my rottens a room first.

You ARE bringing your tools to Bandon, right, Peter?

[peterh]

Pup Pup gets his/her own room???? How cool is that?!!!!!

Back off Christi, he has to build my rottens a room first.

You ARE bringing your tools to Bandon, right, Peter?

I was thinking I'd bring a vacuform jig . . .

--P

[Christi V.]

Back off Christi, he has to build my rottens a room first.

GINA...

PHFTTTTTTTTT!!


LOL!!!

[peterh]

Not a lot of progress on the loft remodel this week. My 81-year-old-dad was having chest pains and wound up in surgery for a quadruple bypass surgery. He is doing well (thank you), but I've spent a lot of time with him and my mom the last week.

I did make four drawers (but not the drawer fronts) and the new memory-foam mattress arrived in the mail.





These drawers are made differently from most drawers. I used thin (4mm) plywood for the sides, back and bottom so that the drawers lightweight but still be strong. Bits of wood in the corners support glue seams for the panels and will (eventually) provide a glue surface to attach the fronts too.

The bottom panel is glued flush across the bottom of the drawer. Usually they're inset in a groove 3/8" up on the drawer sides, but that would allow stuff in the drawer below to shift while the trailer is moving and wedge itself under the drawer above. The flush-bottom will (hopefully) prevent that. (And, for the drawer makers out there, because the sides and bottom are the same material, they'll all expand and contract at the same rate, so the bottom doesn't have to be free-floating.

And the mattress arrived It's sitting up in the loft so the foam can expand. Tomorrow or Friday I'll cut it with an electric turkey carver knife so it conforms to the curve at the front of the trailer and to match the planned 75" RV-Queen form factor.

--Peter

[peterh]

Family issues and school have kept me from doing as much as I would have liked on our Scamp 5er, but there has been progress. The loft platform is installed and glued into place with (some) of its trim, the loft ribs have been installed, and I've made the drawer fronts and added a coat-rack-bar over the laundry hamper. I'm hoping to get the carpet onto the steps and in Lex's dog kennel/bed area before tomorrow's Oregon Spring Gathering . . .


Attachment 7059
Here's what the loft area looked like with the drawers made but not the drawer fronts.



The new drawer fronts are 1/4" Poplar guled on an "O" shaped piece of masonite/hardboard with a punched aluminum mesh (From Lowes) center panel. The little black rectangle below the drawer fronts is one end of a plastic belt buckle where the web "belt" that holds the drawers shut while in motion snaps into place.



The poly strap tucks under the bed matress when we're set up. And you can see the three-hook coat rack and one of the new loft ribs, too.

--Peter

[Brian B-P]

Very nice job, especially the drawer fronts and the innovative strap system.

[peterh]

I'm finally getting back to working the mods in my loft. This week I took the old overhead cabinet in the loft out, added a hang-space closet at the foot of the bed, and got the new overhead cabinet started.



The "before everything" pic.


The new hang-space closet and shelf for the overhead cabinet (which will have a facing and both will have doors.

--Peter

[Gina D.]

I would like to see how the dogs room turned out.

[peterh]

I would like to see how the dogs room turned out.

This is the "dog's room" with our 60lb standard poodle Lex inside. The floor of the kennel is at the same level as the bottom step up to the loft, so not only can we can sit on the bottom step and scritch his chin, we can also store longer-term items in the space under the flip up floor panel. The kennel is 28" deep from the edge of the step back about 30" wide at its widest point at the front, bigger than his kennel at home. The second step leaves a roughly 10" gap to the bathroom wall that Lex has no problems navigating.





--Peter

[Gina D.]

Thanks! That is so cool!

My dogs are not allowed near your trailer.

They will want their own room too!

[lynneh]

Peter was incredibly busy last week, finishing up multiple projects to get the Scamp ready for camping this weekend. Peter and son now away at the Arlington air show, so I am posting this update. Peter can post the rest of the update pictures when he gets back.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the old and the new upper cabinet in our Scamp 5th wheel loft:

--------------OLD-------------------------- NEW --------------




The new upper cabinet is beautiful! Plus we have extra storage since Peter extended the cabinet all the way back to the new mini-closet next to the bathroom (not shown in this picture).

I finally got a chance to work on my Scamp project as well. Last week I got busy too and finished sewing a new set of curtains.

--Lynne

[Suz]

I agree, Lynne - they ARE beautiful. He did a terrific job!

[Jeanne and Steve]

WOW!!! An incredible job! The cabinet is a perfect combination of elegance and function, and your new curtains look great. Excellent work!

Jeanne

[Jan Adams]

Love your new cabinets and interior. Wonderful job.

Question, what is the insert material in the cabinets. It looks great.

[peterh]

Love your new cabinets and interior. Wonderful job.

Question, what is the insert material in the cabinets. It looks great.

The insert material is a punched aluminum sheet from Lowe's; the idea was to create a lightweight drawer fronts & cabinet drawers that provide ventilation during the Pacific Northwet's damp season when it's a good idea to allow for air circulation so the dehumidifier can do it's thing in all the corners.





Here's a pic of the stairs up to the loft with the 4-drawer chest-of-drawers to the right, a two-door cabinet under the middle step, and a 20" wide x 7" high x 12"-14" deep (it's deeper at the bottom than it is at the top) drawer under the top step. The bottom cubby (where the wood is now) is slated to have a setup tools chest/stool at the back and act as a shoe cubby up the front. Lex's open kennel space is to the left of the bottom step; the kennel floor is level with the bottom step and has a removable floor panel to access more storage.





This is a closer view of the punched aluminum panel in the drawerfront and of the embossed trim, which is stained and has black Sharpie marker detailing in the embossing.

[peterh]

Not technically part of the loft, but it follows the stylistic elements of the cabinetry I've been making for the loft.

Monday I installed a new microwave. Ordered this Sanyo on the Web from Walmart & picked it up at the store for just over $100; bought this one because it is almost the exact maximum size that'll fit in our microwave cubby above our 'fridge and it has a grill/browning element.





Things the picture doesn't show or doesn't show well: There are 2" vent holes drilled through the fiberglass cabinet side walls on either side of the microwave, one toward the bottom of the microwave cabinet on the sink side, which is where the microwave's air intake is, and one diagonally opposite, near where the micro exhaust is. Both holes are covered by little round roof soffit vent covers (from Home Depot) spray painted with white appliance paint. The front lower edge under the micro also has ventilation in the form of the same punched aluminum sheet I use for my drawer and cabinet fronts, and the inside of the cabinet is covered with Reflectix insulation.

--Peter

[Sam Halderman]

Peter: Will you have any drawings available of your modification? This type of conversion may be what I need for the wife. She wasn't able to sleep with comfort in the side to side bed of our previous Scamp 5th wheel.

Sam