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Pahaska · 09-04-2008, 09:23 AM

I have been trying for over a year to come up with a wine rack that suits me. For most of thet time, I have had a 2-bottle wine rack mounted on top of the microwave/pantry cabinet. It was way too small and I was not really pleased with the appearance.

Saturday, I pulled out the microwave and removed the top of the cabinet above the microwave. There is enough space above the microwave to allow for a partially recessed 5-bottle wine rack with the portion of the cabinet top above the rack piano-hinged.

The rack is done now except for one piece of wood that needed to come back home to the table saw for a 1/8" reduction in length. The bottles lay on their sides in felt-padded partitions. The piano-hinged top has a magnetic catch to prevent bouncing when on a rough road.

I'll post some photos when the rack is complete.

Pahaska · 09-18-2008, 09:30 AM

Here are the photos of my 5-bottle wine rack that I promised . The rack is partially embedded in the existing cabinet and raises the top of the cabinet just under 3". Our cats can still hop up to their favorite napping place.

I ornamented the new oak with a fly-cutter and used wipe-on semi-gloss poly which matches the existing finish quite well. The oak board on the side of the cabinet extends down 1/2" over the white wall so that there is no ugly seam showing. When these photos were taken, I had just put the first coat of poly on the oak.

The top has a L-cut and is piano-hinged. The 3" nearest the bathroom wall does not swing up so that the top clears pictures and other items on the wall.

The interior is padded with a remnant of felt that cost me all of $3 at Hobby-Lobby. At both ends of the bottle slots, there is additional padding under the felt at both ends. Standard bottles fit quite snugly and we now store our wine glasses in an unused slot when the rack is not full. In addition, our soft, padded wine carrier stores nicely over the necks of the bottles.

The periphery of the cabinet, under the top, is padded with fuzzy velcro. I put strips of self-stick weatherstrip over the bottles to prevent them bouncing up against the top. I'm still looking for a suitable latch to positively hold the top down on the road.

I had to provide an opening at the rear of the top for the TV plate and the power outlet. I sacrificed a plastic storage bin to trim the opening.

SilverToy · 09-22-2008, 10:22 PM

John -

As previously mentioned by folks far more qualified than I am, you are simply brilliant! Your AS mods are wonderful!

Brilliant, wonderful......!!!!

Now, I know that you don't see these things that you think of in that way, but, well, they are simply brilliant!

What a terrific use of otherwise dead space. Then there is the terrific workmanship to achieve your objective. Then there is the ample and wonderful documentation - WOW! Keep up the awesome work. Your unit must be the envy of ALL AirStreamers that are lucky enough to get a tour.

Can't wait to see what you think of next!

Axel
SilverToy

Pahaska · 03-26-2009, 08:38 AM

I haven't posted for a while, even though I have done a lot of small changes to the trailer. Many of these smaller changes end up in my column in Airstream Life and I prefer to not reveal them here until they come out in the magazine.

My latest change was to move the bed about 2" toward the front of the trailer. The space between the bed and the rear wall was so small that my foot would become wedged if I tried to slip my leg between the bed and the rear wall to make up the bed. At the same time, there was about a 2 1/2" gap between the bed and the bedside cabinet.

Moving the bed was easy. There are a few vertical screws near the foot, into the floor, and a line of screws into the wall at the head. Once the screws were out, it was just a matter of shoving the whole bed structure forward and screwing it back in place.

I did have to move the electrical box on the wall under the road side head of the bed slightly forward. This box is where the outside power cord attaches to inside wiring. That was simply a matter of removing 2 screws and reattaching the box at a new spot.

The drawer on the front side of the bed can no longer be removed from the tracks because of reduced clearance from the bathroom partition. Actually, this can be good since the usual cause of track failure is a loose drawer coming clear out while travelling. With the drawer movement restricted, the tracks should never fail and there should be no reason to fully remove the drawer. There is still plenty of access to the drawer.

There is still not a lot of clearance behind the bed, but I can now step back there comfortably to make up the bed. With the additional space back there, my next step will be a small bedside table on that side, big enough for the alarm clock.

wiegabr · 04-06-2009, 10:18 AM

I just bought my first AS--a 2003 Classic with rear twins, so I am ready to start my project list. Thanks for sharing all your fine work.

My coach is fully carpeted except for the bath. It will be a challenge to keep it looking good, but we are used to removing shoes after a recent 6 years in Japan.

Pahaska · 04-14-2009, 09:59 PM

A friend recently died and his widow sold their 1988 32' Excella which he had extensively modified. The thing that caught my eye was the two great chairs with footstools that he had put in in place of a couch.

The buyer called me for some advice and mentioned that he wished it had a couch. I have been wanting for a long time to get rid of my couch and put in some comfortable chairs. Voila! They came and looked at and measured my couch this evening and we have a deal. They will be at a rally the end of the month and, since I am doing parking, they will parked be right next door. The last evening of the rally, I will round up some willing labor and we will do a swap between trailers.

I'll need new carpet in place of my carpet squares, but I have located a real nice 8'x10' that will look nice. I'll move the converter box to between the battery boxes and I have a 3' wide unfinished oak cabinet that I will modify to sit between the batteries. On each side of that, I will build storage that will not protrude more than the depth of the battery boxes. I will end up with a lot more storage than the present drawer under the sofa provides.

I'm excited to tackle this project and I will have it complete and ready for the trip to Madison.

Roadtoaster · 04-14-2009, 10:39 PM

John, as always I keep an eye on this thread. Nice find on the swap. I did a mod to mine that involved moving the couch and adding a recliner. If you have not seen my post, it is titled "we want to recline too". I too was going to build matching oak enclosure around one of the battery boxes. I bought the oak and had it all dry fitted when the wife suggested I cover the oak with carpet. I liked the idea and did it. Wish she had made the suggestion before I bought the oak, would have saved some money. Good luck on your swap.

Happycampers · 04-15-2009, 08:14 AM

Hello John.... We are in Ontario now.. saw pics of that 1988 Excella... great design the fellow did .. and it is a beautiful trailer also... Marvin talked to the widow because he was tempted... BUT the Argosy is enough... will miss everyone at the rally ... looking forward to seeing pics of the change out ...Annie

Pahaska · 05-03-2009, 07:36 PM

We swapped my sofa for the two easy chairs just before leaving the rally in San Marcos this morning. The sofa looks great in their 90s narrow body and the chairs are going to look great in my trailer. The chairs have a tube frame and are covered with light beige suede.

When I returned the trailer to storage about noon, I just had to start tearing things down. I removed the foldout table completely and it went to the truck since it will not go back in. That folding table weighs a ton! It probably weighs as much as all of the cabinetry that will go across the front of the trailer. The credenza is stored in the bathroom and the writing table in the bedroom.

I removed and stacked the carpet squares that had replaced the carpet in front of the couch, then ripped up the remaining old carpet and old carpet pad. I have a discoloration across the front of the trailer, but absolutely no indication of plywood deterioration. I did have a leak at one time and that may be the reason for the stain, however, the discoloration is so even that it may have been a sealant applied at the factory. At any rate, I am going to apply a coat of Thompson's Water Seal to the front 6" or so of plywood before replacing the carpet.

Tomorrow's mission is to move the converter box between the battery boxes. I found that I can cut about 2 1/2" off the sides of the converter box so that the center cabinet doesn't have to project so far into the trailer. It looks like all wires are long enough if some wires are disconnected, rerouted, and reconnected. There is space under the road side battery box for the rerouted wires. I'll have to swap the battery positive cables. Otherwise, a couple of hours should yield a relocated converter.

Once the converter has migrated, I can do the final cabinet design and start cutting wood.

I am attaching two photos: one before the carpet was removed and one after. The floor discoloration can be seen in the second photo.

Pahaska · 05-04-2009, 03:18 PM

Today, I went to the trailer with the intention of moving the converter box, but, instead, I ended up putting down the carpet pad and laying the carpet. The carpet is a random pattern that should not show soil too badly. The pattern is random and may look in the photos like it has been spliced. Not true ... it is a single piece.

The width of the carpet is 8' and it just barely fits between the walls. I had to trim the edges only at the door area. All trimming is done, but the transition strip between carpet and vinyl has not been installed yet. I will need to take my miter saw and portable table with me in the morning to fit the strip.

The light colored chairs look great, but the light-colored suede will need some protection at the head and arm area to stay that way. I'll probably put a plastic cover on the footstools. The chairs are super comfortable and both rock and recline. Even the footstools are hinged to glide with the chairs.

In taking out the curved molding between carpet and vinyl, I ended up removing a big piece of vinyl to get a straight rug to vinyl transition in an appropriate place, I hate the remaining vinyl; the color and pattern is such that it always looks dirty. An Airstream friend with a matching floor has the same complaint. When things settle down, probably this fall, the vinyl will be replaced with cork.

maxandgeorgia · 05-04-2009, 06:17 PM

I like this change, John

Our AS sofa is really uncomfortable for any extended period of sitting, ie a rainy day, but these would be so fine. We have a similar chair in our house that has made me consider making the same change. Thanks for the inspiration! ~G

Pahaska · 05-04-2009, 10:37 PM

I should comment on the trash that I uncovered. There were dozens of pop rivet mandrels. Even the converter box had a couple of dozen mandrels in it.

There is an opening at the edge of the floor where the ceiling wiring harness comes out of the floor and into the wall, I can see all sorts of trash down in the hole including mandrels. There was a big sliver of aluminum hanging on the cable just below the floor. Flattened out, it was about 4" long and 1/2" wide at the big end. It was bent in a circle around the cable.

There was also a collection of loose screws and a couple of washers. When I started removing screws, I found that there was no consistent size. It appears that the worker just used whatever screw that he happened to grab out of a bucket of assorted screws.

Pahaska · 05-05-2009, 10:11 AM

I forgot the camera this morning and that is a shame since big changes happened today.

After seeing how nicely Roadtoaster repackaged his converter, I disassembled the converter box and threw away all of the wood parts.

I found that I could temporarily remove the wood block under the battery box, and that allowed me to route wires under the box without disconnecting them. The converter itself is now lagged down in the curved area on the road side of the battery box. It just barely fits there. There will be two vents in the lower cabinet face to insure that the converter has plenty of air circulation.

The ground bus is now screwed into the front wall. The positive terminal block will be pop-riveted to the side of the battery box tomorrow if I remember to take my rivet puller with me. The battery box, being non-conducting, is a great mounting place for the positive terminal block. The black box that services the running lights and brakes will be pop-riveted to the battery box behind the positive terminal block. The switches and the circuit breaker panel will be mounted on the new cabinetwork.

Not having the converter box frees up the space between the battery boxes so that I can build a lot nicer cabinet there

Pahaska · 05-06-2009, 07:44 AM

I went out this morning before breakfast again while the trailer is still cool without needing the AC. I trimmed the carpet in the corners and finished mounting everything around the converter that can be mounted prior to installing some cabinetry. This time, I did remember the camera.

There is quite a rat's nest in that corner, but everything will fit nicely beneath the base cabinet which will be 1' high and 1' deep. The switches and fuse panel that are laying out on the rug will be mounted in the new cabinet

Pahaska · 05-07-2009, 09:43 AM

This morning's work consisted of installing the wood trim strips at the junction of the new carpet and the existing vinyl and making a template for the sides of the center front cabinet.

I used my miter saw to cut the carpet trim. The 45-degree jog at the left of the photo is an artifact of the curved trim that Airstream installed. The vinyl in that area was full of holes and had to be concealed.

To make a template for the curved front, I stapled a piece of corrugated sign board to a 2' x 4' piece of plywood. The extra width of the plywood insured that the template always stayed vertical. I cut the template by eye to a rough shape and then repeatedly slid a Sharpie pen along the inside front, putting a line on the template. I trimmed to the resulting line with a sheet-rock knife. The result was a well-fitting template to use in shaping the plywood sides of my new cabinet. Critical dimensions are written on the template with Sharpie pen and can't get lost. I will use the same method to determine the shape of each end of the bottom side cabinets which will conceal the battery boxes.

Today, I pick up the oak for the face frame. I will use pocket-hole joinery to build the face frame and attach the 1/2" plywood sides to the face frame. For the cabinet top, I plan to use material salvaged from the fold-out dining table that I have removed. The new center cabinet will have 2 deep drawers.

Pahaska · 05-09-2009, 04:30 PM

I had to get some new rubber on my car, and that took up most of yesterday. I did stop by the trailer and reinstall the credenza along the roadside wall and cleaned up a bit.

I stopped by Lowe's and bought oak for the face frame. I don't like the oak-faced plywood at Lowe's, so I will pick up some nicer oak face at a different place on Monday. It will cost more, but look a lot better. I'll go for 3/4" ply sides for the center cabinet since it is key to all other cabinetry in the front. For the amount of framing that I need, the dimension red oak at Lowes will do the trick. It looks just fine when sanded and the poly finish coat is applied.

This morning, I drilled the pocket holes for the face frame, but I have not assembled the frame yet since my shop table is tied up with another project.

Pahaska · 05-11-2009, 04:31 PM

I didn't have a lot of time today, but I did get the front cabinet started and it looks nice Everything is assembled using pocket screws. I went with 3/4 ply for the sides since this cabinet is the keystone at the front of the trailer and will share sides with the shallower cabinets on either side of it as well as anchor the lower cabinet that conceals the converter and the battery boxes.

Tomorrow, I will install the shelf and the 3/4" square strips that will attach the top and serve to attach the cabinet to the wall and the floor. There needs to be a small box at the lower left to protect a bundle of wires. I will also install the mounting board at the rear of the drawers and the drawer slides.

This is my first pocket hole assembly and I an really pleased at the ease of assembly and the strength. It is nice to have no waiting time while glue sets up.

Pahaska · 05-12-2009, 08:28 PM

The main front cabinet carcass is complete, waiting for the doors and drawers. Today, I installed the shelf, the top, the osk trim around the top, the drawer slides, and sanded the assembly before applying two coats of polyurethane. I installed medium-duty drawer slides with 75# capacity. For the extra $2 per drawer, the hardware looked a lot more substantial than the light duty slides.

Early tomorrow morning, I will take the carcass to the trailer and install it. At 11:00 tomorrow, I report for some surgery on my right hand which will slow me down quite a bit for a week or so. I want to get the cabinet installed in the trailer before the surgery.

Next project step will be the cabinet doors, followed by the drawers. Next after that will be the base cabinets covering the battery boxes and converter.

Pahaska · 05-13-2009, 06:35 AM

I took the cabinet carcass out to the trailer this morning before daylight. It slid into its place between the battery boxes perfectly and I shot the nails into the floor and wall to permanently secure it.

I still have to cover the junction of the battery cable on the front wall and protect the lump of wires coming out of the floor near the street-side battery box. I haven't started the side cabinets, but I already have more storage available than I had in the pull-out drawer under the sofa, plus I will have two large drawers.

Pahaska · 05-13-2009, 07:42 AM

I don't know why I typed "nails" in the previous post. Obviously, I meant "screws". I had pre-drilled all of the 3/4"-square attachment strips so that it took only a minute to drive the screws.

In the photos above, rear attachment for the drawer sldes has not been done. That's why the slides look a little bit awry.