I took the last two days off of working on the van. I did spend some time over the last two days planning out the electrical cabinet build, and that set me up to have a productive day today.
The temperatures continue to be mild for this time of year, so I was able to spend a whole day working outside. Over the last two days, I received some parts at the house, so I started with finishing up a few small projects. First I attached the stair nosing to the floor near the driver’s and passenger’s seats. I like the finished look of it. I had purchased two additional pieces of stair nosing, but they got damaged in transit. So, it will be a while before I can install the rest of the stair nosing.
Then, I secured the decor panel around the air conditioner with the longer screws that I received the other day. It was a little hard to get the screws to thread into their holes due to their length and the fact that I couldn’t see where the hole was with the threads. But, I persevered.
Then I worked on the lower bunk. I noticed that when I secured the cushion, that the legs on the pull out part were not vertical and will interfere with the operation of the two drawers. So, I fixed this with some spacers under the bed and it seemed to work. Here is a before and after picture.
I spent the rest of my day working on the electrical cabinet. First I put together the frame of the cabinet. I started with cutting the aluminum extrusions to length. Then I tapped several holes to accept the bolts. Then I started assembling the pieces. It took me about four hours to get the frame built out. Here is what it looks like when I test fit it in the van.
I then cut out two of the boards that will attach to this frame. First, I cut the board that goes in the left side of the frame (as you look at it in the picture above). This board will hold the electrical system monitor, the master on/off switch, the fuse boxes, and some outlets. I also began work cutting and drilling holes into this board for these components.
Then I cut the larger board that goes along the back of the frame and above the wheel well. This larger board will hold the electrical control boxes. Because the lumber yard was out of 1/2″ Baltic Birch plywood until at least next week, I used some scrap pieces of 3/4″ Baltic Birch plywood that I had laying around from the subfloor. I’m glad to put them to use, because I didn’t know what else I would use them for. But that meant that the large board in the back had to be two pieces of plywood glued together. I glued them together, and we’ll see how it looks in the morning.