I took a few days off to go hiking and camping with my brothers in Red River Gorge Kentucky. So, back at it today. It is going to be a hot day, so I worked a couple of hours in the morning, and then one more in the evening. I’m staying away from working on the electrical cabinet until I can get the rest of the plywood that I need. So, I’m working on other areas of the van.
While I was gone, I received the second of three sections of stair nosing that I ordered. So, I installed that section along the back of the van. This was made more difficult due to the curvature of the floor to mimic the curve in the back of the van. So, I measured where I wanted the stair nosing to bend and used my jigsaw to cut away a piece of the stair nosing to try to match the bend in the floor. It wasn’t a perfect approach, but it was close and it was quick. My first cut was a little off, so I had to cut it a second time and then I used my Dremmel tool to clean it up a little. Overall, I think it was a good job. I’m glad to have this stair nosing attached, as I go in and out of the van several times each day through the back of the van and this will save wear and tear on the cut linoleum. Here is the final result.
I like how this stair nosing covers up the edge of the linoleum and the subfloor plywood and the aluminum joists underneath. But, it isn’t too long that the air won’t flow under the floor to keep it dry. I only am waiting for one more section of stair nosing, so I can attach it to the floor around the sliding door.
Next, I moved on to do some work on the lower bunk. I really want to get the lower bunk bolted down, and there are several small items that I need to accomplish first. I started with removing the lower bunk (hopefully for the last time) and drilling out the last 1/4″ hole to bolt the bunk to the unistrut channel.
While I was out camping, I received some aluminum extrusion hardware that I needed. I used that hardware to attach blocks to three of the upper extrusions to allow for the upper cushion to sit at an angle. I played around with the height of these blocks until I obtained the desired angle, then tightened them down.
By this time, I had to take a break for a meeting and didn’t come back to the van until after dinner, when it was cooler.
After dinner, I attached the moulding around the driver’s side window. This is the moulding that I stained and finished before leaving for my camping trip. I pre-drilled the holes for the nails with a 1/16″ drill bit to make sure they went in straight and where I wanted them. I broke one of my 1/16″ drill bits when I was testing the hole size for the nails. But I had another one that survived the work that had to be done. On one hole, the battery in my drill gave out with the drill bit half way into the wood. I was afraid that I was going to break that bit too, but I was careful to remove the bit from the drill first, then replace the battery and put the bit back into the drill to remove it from the hole. The last piece of moulding was about 1/4″ too long, and I had to trim it a little. But overall everything went well, and I think the window looks much better with the moulding.
I got Elizabeth’s help to put the lower bunk into place. We had to do this a couple of times, so that I could adjust the mounting bracket and the heater wires. We got it to fit and I reconnected the heater wires. By then, it was getting dark and I stopped for the night. I’ll finish with the lower bunk tomorrow.