New understove drawer for scamp 16 -- 1993

[computerspook]

OK the drawer for my scamp 16 made in 1993 was falling apart and the draw slide system is kind of silly. Forgot to get pictures of this but it basically was a piece of cheap plywood attached to the bottom of the stove with aluminum channels as drawer slides. I really had to replace this so I decided to also do better. I decided to use real drawer slides and also to make the drawer bigger. Who does not need more storage is a camper ;-)


When I started this project I decided that I needed to use drawer slides. The plywood was some of that particle board stuff and it and the particle board that the drawer were made of were both falling apart and decided not to do the same mistake. This has been a bit of a project and learning experience.


I had to carve out a bit more of the sides of the fiberglass to allow the drawer slides to work. This did takes some clean up after. A oscillating saw and dremel tool are your friend. ;-)



I built two trials out of scrap lumber. I noticed that there was more room before the drawer so decided to use this. My first prototype was basically a standard drawer which was 12x16 1/2 with and additional 3 inches on it. I found that this would be helpful but had already noticed that I kept tools and etc and then cooking stuff on the same drawer. They kept getting mixed up and this was a nusance. So I partitioned off the extra 3 inches at the back for the tools and etc. I also make a new drawer front that was the same size as the old one from real plywood. After sanding and staining I used "spar varnish polyurethane' to cover this. I have found this is a great material for wood in a camper. this I placed it on the front of the box which I had made as the drawer.



I put in 15 inch drawer slides and used some angle brackets to make these square and level. There was a lot of trial fits to get this actually square enough to fit the drawer.. After using this for a while I find that half the time the drawer was opened when I got to a camp site. So I dropped the back of the drawer slides about 1/4 inch to make them angle back. This would hold the drawer shut. After using this for a while I was ready to make the final drawer. The old one was made with scrap lumber and was put together with drywall screws.


I decided to add another 3 inches to the back for more tools. I also decided to round over the divider and make it lower than the actual frame of the drawer. I made dado joints and strengthened them with dowels. The bottom was a piece of cheap paneling that was fastened with air finishing staples and glue. I still used drywall screens to fasten the drawer front on the drawer.


Here are some pictures of the process.

[tweistar]

Thanks for the write up! I got so frustrated with mine after trying to make it work better that I finally pulled it out last trip. It has been sitting in my shop waiting to get the same treatment yours did and make it to the top of the priority list. It will probably happen the day before the next trip!

I too was trying to figure out how to mount the drawer slides.

I am glad you don’t have to put up with the old funky one.

[computerspook]

If you need more details on any of it let me know?

If I was doing this from scratch even with the ride up I gave you I think I do use some scrap lumber to make the fake drawer. And then use that to help put my drawer slides in the right places and make sure everything was right before I made the real drawer.

[computerspook]

By the way one of the tricks that I used here for putting in the angle brackets to hold the shelf sliders was that I figured out pretty much where they were going to go and drill the holes in the stove unit. By the way you got to remove the stove top but none of the gas though to make this work. But then I drilled a hole for each of the angle bracket and then I put the red Scotch phone tape that sticks like the Dickens on the angle brackets that I'd fastened on to the shelf sliders. And I cleaned with alcohol underneath side of the stove thing.

Then I use the drawer model I made to fasten the drawer sliders on the sides up. And I fastened the angle brackets on those and then I put the whole thing in and essentially stuck it to the bottom of the stove unit. And no you can't really drill the angle brackets in that mode. But you can use your drill to make a hole through the tape and then when it comes loose there's a hole in the tape where the hole is needed and you can take the angle brackets to your vice it actually drilled the holes.

I use nylon lock nuts to hold them up. I used a lock washers and double netting on the sides.