Passenger side remodel idea

[Kirah]

Kept banging my head on the upper cabinet above what was the dinette, so that came out next, along with the oak valance and the microwave cabinet. This is how I learned that my side window is crooked I was nervous about getting the electrical right - not my comfort zone - but it ended up being pretty simple.

The upper cabinet had two outlet boxes, a light, a speaker, and a surface-mount outlet for the microwave. The two bottom-facing outlet boxes and the light all dropped down easily so I could disconnect them and tape off the ends of the wires. The speaker was under a plastic box with screws in awkward places, but then it just had a custom plug that I needed to pull apart. The outlet for the microwave could stay attached to the wiring, just backed out the screws holding it to the cabinet and unplugged the microwave. Then it was just a matter of finding all 573 little screws holding the cabinet up, and it came out easily in one piece. FWIW, mine was nowhere near as heavy as I expected from other descriptions.

The microwave cabinet was similarly simple. Back out the screws, pry up the trim around the microwave (it also had some kind of sticky tape), and the microwave slid out. That gave me access to the connector for the control panel. Once that was unplugged, I could get under the hood and back out all the little square-drive screws, and the hood came loose. The control panel just popped out of the hood and I was able to plug it back in. That's the bit I was really worried about - being able to turn on the water pump is non-optional for me - but it turned out to not require any re-wiring. Plugged it back in (inside the cabinet) and everything just worked. Yay! Then back out half a million more screws, pry off a couple pieces of nailed-on trim, and that cabinet came down too, in one piece.

It's getting hot, so I'm really kicking myself for not getting more of this work done before summer showed up, but oh well.

Question: Behind the microwave is a gray electrical box labeled "AIR CONDITIONING CIRCUIT. THIS CONNECTION IS FOR AIR CONDITIONERS RATED 110-125 VOLT AC 60 HZ 16 AMPERES MAXIMUM. DO NOT EXCEED CIRCUIT RATING". It's nowhere near the air conditioner, and it only has electrical wiring coming out one end. Is it likely that the A/C is plugged in on the other side of the wall panel, or what is this for? I'd post a picture, but, uh... the Attachments tab seems to be missing.

[Blue~Go]

My Concourse came stock with roof Air-Con and mine was as stock when I bought it. I have that same box, which in my case is a junction box. With DC wiring you can make connections anywhere you want to (hopefully sensibly), but with AC wiring all junctions have to be in a box.

I can think of two reasons Chinook has the junction box there.

1) This made it convenient to "pre-wire" for Air-Con on models that did not come with it standard (maybe some Premiers?).

2) The AC wire for the Air-Con runs through the molded roof so this way they could build that part of the wire in and then add the "regular" (i.e. runs around in loom and clips) section later when doing the rest of the wiring.

On mine you can also only see wiring going in one end (aft end, in loom). The other outgoing section is in the wall/roof heading up to the Air-Con unit. I still have the attachments tab, so let's see if this works (never mind, it doesn't activate when clicking on it).

BG

[Kirah]

Thanks!

[Kirah]

We got two brilliant days of tolerably cool weather, remarkable for the end of June, and I took advantage of one of them to get the rest of the cabinets removed from the passenger side of my camper.

Then I turned around and took it out for my annual July 4th camping trip.

I thought I'd show y'all my prototype storage solution, which I know is NOT what most people would do, but... when I showed these photos to my mother, she laughed and said it was "so you". After living with it for a few days, I think I'm on the right track. Loads of clean-up and minor details like building properly-secured cabinetry still to come.

Before I do pictures, here are the problems I am trying to solve:

• Can't find things when I need them. With a ton of little cubby holes - and that big cavern under the stove - it was easy to lose things.
• Things get left behind when I move out. Having to check 35 cabinets and hidey holes to make sure I got everything leads to a lot of errors. My camper is parked 20 minutes from my house, so going back to find something that was left behind is a real annoyance. Leaving temperature-sensitive things in the camper in the middle of summer is a good way to ruin them. I don't even store cooking oil in the camper year-round.
• I want the move in/move out process to be fast and efficient. I'm so sick of packing and unpacking twice for every trip.

A while back I found these semi-rigid storage totes on Amazon, and have been using them around the house, and for hauling stuff around. They turned out to be a great size - big enough for most normal household items, but small enough that you can mostly just put your hand right on whatever item you want. They stack reasonably well, which makes them useful for hauling a lot of gear back and forth in the car.

For my prototype, I got a set of those metal wire shelves that happened to be about the right size: about 3 feet long, 18 inches deep, and counter height.

This is what the main living space looks like. The cooler-fridge works great as a side table for my drink, and I LOVE having room for a proper trash can!

Open wire shelves with bins, topped with non-skid shelf liner. The bottom row has tools and bottled water, so it's very heavy and not prone to tipping. The final solution will, of course, be properly attached to the floor/wall. All the electrical will go into conduit, etc.

There's a gap between the shelves and the remaining plywood wall which turns out to be a perfect place to slip in my folding table and my extra chair (they were set up outside when I was taking pictures).

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the space behind the 'wall'. I keep thinking of it as 'the closet'. I may just add more open shelves there, since it's visually hidden from the rest of the space and wouldn't make things feel closed-in or dark.

For now, just stuff piled here. There's room for several more rows of bins, though.

[Kirah]

FWIW, this is my kitchen. It works very well for the type of cooking I do when I'm traveling, and the stove stows away quickly when it's time to move.

[Blue~Go]

I think you are now approaching 5# of flour (or maybe 4#?) in a 5# sack. I think we start with 10# (original setup very successfully met Chinook's goal of appealing to downsizing Class-A peeps who didn't want to "give up anything).

I have a few times mocked up a "one side kitchen," although in mine it was always extended a bit forward (and bed on other side). Didn't go past mockup stage (yet anyway).

I hear you on the cubbies! In a previous camper everything was in tubs and it was so easy to pack and unpack (or change tub sets for different types of trips/gear). I was not fond of the change to having to unpack (like having open suitcase on stand in motel vs. unpacking into the dressers and then repacking).

If I often moved in and out as you do (and also did not want to leave things in humid heat), it would drive me more nuts. I like that you have customized to suit you (and I'm sure will continue to refine). As our rigs get a little bit older and less valuable it feels a bit freeing that way.

Oh, btw, don't ever remove the "entertainment center" front piece. I have that out for some re-upholstery/maple-izing/door rearranging, and oh my, that space as one huge wide-open area is so easily usable! (I have a lightweight temporary curtain so it does not look cluttery). It's going to be an adjustment to go back to doors (although I did modify the passenger side by glassing in the solar controlller hole and then making a square door/hole to match the driver's side one).

[Kirah]

While I was out camping last week I took out the TV and then spent the the rest of the weekend looking thoughtfully at that front piece, wondering what it was hiding and whether I would regret pulling it off.

[chin_k]

Well, my wife complaint about the various holes in my rig, and so I found that there is a mounting base for the VCP that I removed, and it fit nicely inside the TV opening. The base is make out of the same material as the cabinet, so I assume everyone have the same part.

[Blue~Go]

I found that there is a mounting base for the VCP that I removed, and it fit nicely inside the TV opening. The base is make out of the same material as the cabinet, so I assume everyone have the same part.

On my '99 Concourse, the TV (and maybe VCP) sat on a little base piece made of the lovely "oak" MDF used to make the cabinet carcases. So in that way it's a match. BUT, the "entertainment area" surround in my year Concourse is made of molded fiberglass covered in the same headliner material as the lower pillars and living room walls. So not a match. I've noticed older units (earlier 90's) used wood (or "wood") for the entire upper entertainment center surround (but pillars still fiberglass).

Kirah: That panel may provide some slight roof support (not the panel itself exactly but the frame around the center door is fairly substantial. (So it should have been located under the Air-con ) OTOH older 18+ had that whole area open. The "floor" of the upper compartment is strong. It's a carpet covered piece of plywood over the cab roof, which was left completely intact.

The lower edge of the entertainment center front piece catches the aft edge of the cab headliner with a wooden trim piece, so that's left unsupported unless you do something. Also the tops of the pillars would want something (I can't visualize that at the moment because you have to remove those first to remove the EC face (you could put them back without the EC face tho).

[Kirah]

Thanks for the description. Gives me an idea of what to expect. I'd best leave it be for now. I do have a FEW other more-important things to do