I started the day with marking, drilling, deburing, and painting 17 holes in the drivers side wall to install rivnuts for the horizontal furring strips that I had cut yesterday. I also added several rivnuts to extisting holes in the van wall. It took a little over an hour. After lunch, when the paint had dried, I installed the rivnuts in each of the holes.
Most of the day was spent creating the frame for the driver’s side window. I’m not a carpenter, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to create this frame. I ended up cutting strips of 1/2″ Baltic Birch plywood at 5 1/2″ wide. I know that this is a little too wide, but better to be too wide than not wide enough. So, I’ll have to cut the window frame down to size after it is fabricated and fit into the wall.
I used my chop saw as a miter saw and made angled cuts of the ends. Then I glued and screwed together the boards to make a frame that would fit the window. I had a few do-overs as I went, but most of it went together well. The problem is that the window is not square and there are curved corners. The frame I created had to match this window closely, or else it wouldn’t fit in the wall of the van.
Fortunately, I still had the cardboard template of the window that I used to cut the sheetmetal when the window was installed in the van earlier this month. So, I was able to do most of the measurements from this template and not have to take the boards into and out of the van dozens of times. Here are a few pictures of the progress on the frame.
Elizabeth helped me to test the fit of the window frame in the van. With her help, I was able to measure the width of the furring strip that will be below it in the van. The window frame will sit on this furring strip, so it was important to get the right measurement. I then cut out that furring strip and put the necessary rivnuts into the wall of the van to hold it.
The furring strips on the top and sides of the window frame will also hold it in place. I’ll measure them once I have the lower furring strip installed.
I spent five hours in the afternoon on that window frame. It was slow going, but I’m happy with the result. I’m going to have to do some finishing work on it to make it look nice. But, I think it is going to work fine.
I’m still waiting for Amazon to deliver the M6 flathead bolts, so that I can mount all of these furring strips that I have been making this week. Hopefully, they arrive tonight so that tomorrow I can install the furring strips. If not, I’ll have to pivot onto other van tasks.