The weather was beautiful today and I put in a big day working on the van. I spent the entire day working on the storage space behind the galley on the passenger side of the van. I started out by securing the frame to the van. I drilled four 1/4″ holes in the aluminum extrusion to bolt it to the unistrut channel. I also added one connection to the galley frame. It is very solid and ready to hold some weight.
I decided to remove the storage area above the toilet at the end of the structure. I don’t think I’ll need it and I am afraid that it will interfere with the use of the toilet.
Then I made the one fixed shelf that sits at 36″ off of the floor of the van – the same height as the galley counter top. After cutting the piece of plywood to the correct length, I had to use the jigsaw to notch out places where the vertical aluminum extrusion interfered with it.
Then I made seven vertical wall boards for the shelving. Three for below the fixed shelf and four for above the shelf. The three bottom boards (I’m using the galley board for the fourth board) were rectangles, so they were easier to make. The top boards I had to use a jigsaw to cut the slope of the van wall into the board. All the boards needed to have 1/4″ holes drilled into them for the shelf pegs. I put holes every two inches, so that I could adjust the height of the shelves for whatever I’m carrying. So, I drilled about 300 holes. Here is what it looked like with those wall boards installed.
I made three shelves to help me square up the wall boards with each other. Here are some pictures of the shelves and the shelf pegs that I am using. The shelf pegs have a hole in them, so I can better secure the shelf board to the shelf.
I then cut out the doors for the shelves. I’m following the same design that I used below the sink. I glued some 1/4″ plywood strips to the doors to add the necessary thickness of the door. That will cure by tomorrow morning and I can work on them some more.
Tomorrow, I’m going to visit with my daughter-in-law, Lena, to build the six drawers that are in the van.