Building an Adventure Van

[Geek]

Originally Posted by geode

and the slots are accurate to .0005".

[Geek]

I think we've decided to change things up a bit. We really love the light color and warmth the maple brings to the interior.

We're going to do the entire floor in the maple hardwood as well as the cabinet ends (like we've done so far).
I bought more than enough to do the job twice.. so if it wears over the years I can completely replace it easily (and it has a 55 year warranty ).
Then we'll use some indoor/outdoor (rubber backed) carpet throw rugs on top.
This will make clean up super easy; being able to remove the rugs to beat them and sweep the hardwood underneath.

I'm going to keep a 6 foot by 24" rubber isle roll-out for when I put a dirt bike in or for when I'm putting the mountain bikes in all muddy.

We're going to change the walls between the bed and the overhead cabinets and cover them in matching vertical carpet (i..e creating something flarespace compatible).

I'm still undecided on cabinet doors. My inclination at this point is to get a few cabinet frames/ends done and then try a few different solutions and see what looks best.

[ian408]

Gotta say that I like the clean look you've got going so far.

[Geek]

we're doing 6 doors overhead (4 driver's side, 2 passenger side) and then 5 rear cabinet lower doors.. and then who knows how many in the kitchen and slider cabinet.. probably another 5.

I gotta admit.. I just spent the last hour searching tambour again

It is hard to find quality/nice stuff.. but it is ~$9 for a 5/8" by 8 foot slat (that's $9 PER slat ).
i.e. the overhead doors alone would be ~$1000

What are "face frame doors" geode? Have a link or some pics?




ian: Thanks

[AdvRat]

If you're interested in making the tambour doors - they are pretty simple as long as you take your time and make sure everything is laid out correctly. Here is a link to Rockler.com that sells the router bit set to make your own tambour pieces.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...filter=tambour

This way you could use the same maple wood you have for the sides of your cabinets to match. Rockler has a bunch of other pieces tambour related that may help you. Either Rockler.com or Woodcraft.com is a great source of wood working things. I have a bunch of other companies I use to get pieces for cabinet making.

Maybe with making your own pieces you could use the 8020 as the track. Rockler sells the cable and spring for the tambour doors but I'm not sure that would be a great choice in a vehicle.

[Geek]

Thanks for the info!
Of course I'm an idiot so I want "aluminum" slats

Searching "rv tambour" brings up tons of airstream links.
Apparently the old airstreams had tambour rollers overhead.
Here's a video I found.. the slats I'd love to use would look just like these:



but unfortunately.. those are the ones I've only been able to find for $9/slat

Maybe I could route my own... and then paint them to look like that...

[Geek]

Originally Posted by AdvRat

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...filter=tambour.

Watching the video on that page.. now I wanna make some tambour just for fun.

"Honey.. the furnace room needs a tambour door eh?

[Geek]

Originally Posted by geode;17342300
face frame =

[IMG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f3/Cabinetmaking-faceframecabinet.gif/300px-Cabinetmaking-faceframecabinet.gif[/IMG]

frameless =



with either one you can use these hinges, which end up hidden inside the cabinet and are quite adjustable for alignment.

The material choice is the thing we're kind of stymied on right now...

8020 makes a bunch of different hinge options that'll allow us to mount the hinges right in the track.

On the lower cabinets the doors will likely have to be "inset" so that I leave the 8020 grooves exposed facing the isle.
One of my goals with the 8020 is to have a collection of "click ins" that can be used in the isle as bike holders, motorcycle mounts, mounting rails, etc.

I'm still garnering this fantasy that I can roll a dirtbike into the van and go "click!" and walk away with it securely in place. I'm envisioning a custom machined piece on the bike that an 8020 bracket snaps onto.

Maybe I should just buy an 8020 RAM ball and a really long arm and clip to the RAM balls on my handlebars (j/k)

[Joz]

Damn it Geek. Like I need more ideas.....

[OaklandStrom]

Originally Posted by Geek

They have new quiet ones?? Do tell!

I wouldn't call the new shop vacs "quiet", but they are much less annoying than the old ones. Look for "quiet series" when you're shopping.

[Geek]

I picked up a quiet shop vac this morning.. much quieter than the last one I had.

I spent the morning cleaning/rearranging the garage to perform better.
I got side tracked trying to figure out how to get my drill press's chuck to stop wobbling and haven't even touched the van yet.

It is up to a balmy 37 degrees now... was below freezing when I started this morning.

[Geek]

[Geek]

Cheryl spent the day "damplifying". Thanks sweetie!





Her next task is to put LLP in all of the same places..
It is too cold to use the spray glue.. hopefully over the thanksgiving holiday we'll get time.

[Geek]

I did some experimenting





...and in the sun







I need to take the floor out again (this was mainly a test just to see if we liked the look).. but we're both very happy with the results... we love the warmth of the wood's color.

I probably won't put the floor back in until we're near done to avoid wear & tear during construction.

[Bonnie Abbzug]

Ed, that floor looks beautiful!