Friday, July 16, 2010

When I said complicated, I meant it!

Worked for over two hours yesterday evening but not a heap of progress to show for it.  Things started wonderful.  I'm working on the frame that will be the front face of the galley box.  I finished the frame itself yesterday and today I intended to attach the paneling to it.  I carefully cut out the paneling so that the beadboard lines will line up visually.  It actually looked pretty good.


Now, all I had to do was attach the inner boards and the counter top.  Unfortunately, it was like a puzzle.  I had to go inside to my main computer to look at pictures I took of the original box so I could figure out how it went back together. 

This I had to do over and over and over again.

Also unfortunately, I didn't take very good pictures of the stupid box so the details I really needed were always just out of the picture frame.  Also, there was no good way to set the pieces up so that I could at least see how they were put together before attaching them with screws.  Nothing would set up by itself and I could only hold two pieces at a time.

In the course of this goofing around, the stupid newly built frame (pictured above) fell off my sawhorse table and two of the corners I screwed together were ripped apart stripping the screw holes. 

Once I finished cursing my bad luck, I reattached them enough to continue but they are now wobbely which made it even harder to try to set them up to see how they went together.

Frustrated, I decided to unhook the frame that was barely attached with the brackets and the newly stripped screws and take it all inside Frostbite to see it I could figure out how they went together on the wall.  I did get a better picture of the whole thing but the tangle of electric, gas, and water lines made it more difficult.

I realized that the fridge needs to be installed so that the box can be built around it.  Originally, the fridge was sitting on a couple of pieces of 2x4s to raise it up enough for the door to clear the bottom lip of the square.

These are the same 2x4s that I am now using for other things.  One is under the trailer hitch to protect the concrete and another is being used to chock the camper wheel.  The one used to chock the wheel is too short anyway.  I have another I can use but not a fourth that is the same size so now I'm going the have to figure out how to raise the fridge a couple of inches.  I have plenty of scrap counter top material so I'm hoping I can fashion a couple of lifts for the fridge.

It was starting to get dark at this time and, even though I have AC in the camper, I do not have any lights.  I decided to put it off until this afternoon and see if I can't make more progress.  I'll need to stop at the Tool Box to pick up some L-brackets and 1/2 inch screws so I can put the large square back together and try hard not to drop it again.  I also need some L-brackets to attach whatever I build to raise the fridge to the floor so it will not slide around.

A final disconcerning point:

There is more than a good chance that I built the front face with one of the two squares upside down.

Stupid pictures!

*sigh*  For this galley box, nothing is going to be easy.

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