Camper Mods - Part 1

I took the day off and started on my camper mods. I thought I had plenty of time today, but things took longer than expected, not to mention work just wouldn't leave me alone - so I had some distractions.

I set the camper up in the drive way and just went nuts taking things apart. This is what the camper looked like to start (this is the view from the door looking in):





The top picture shows looking left - that is the sink flipped upside down with the blanket in the bottom, and the middle picture is the view directly in front of the door showing the ice box and storage cabinets. The bottom picture is looking immediately left at the bench seating closest to the door and the drop down table.

The sink isn't of much use, even when we are hooked up to water at a campground we hardly use it. I don't want to total get rid of the sink - I just need to be more creative. The ice box is useless with a vertical door - we just throw stuff in there and never use it. The bench seating holds a lot of storage, but the 4 foot long plywood covers over the benches are hard to maneuver with one hand and in such a tight space. I had some better ideas for that space - but I needed to roll up my sleeves and see what I can change/add/delete.




As you can see above, I started taking everything apart - first removing the icebox from the front, and removed the flip over countertop/sink. I also removed the bench plywood and cut them in half. I yanked the sink drain out of the cabinet as well.




See the top photo above: I cut the plywood bench covers in half, drilled a finger hole to open them, then added two hinges each so you can pop them up - and only half as wide - so much easier. As you can see from the bench, the left side has a porto-potty, that makes late night potty breaks a lot easier - just pop that side up and have a seat - extra storage for hoses, water jugs and toilet paper as well.

See the bottom photo above: I put the ice box horizontal, making it like a cooler with the top flush with the cabinet - so it isn't in the way when the beds slide in. I had to move a wall slightly and add some wood for support along the edges of the icebox. I also had to add some support to the bottom, since the icebox didn't touch the floor and would be heavier with food inside that the edge pieces could handle. This made a nice little storage area about 7.5 inches high and 22 inches wide.




Well, now that I had the icebox moved, I had to cover it all with the panelling so it would blend in. As you can see from the bottom pic (above) the storage space under the cooler is pretty large.

Well, that was all for the day - I only hit Home Depot once in the morning and bought the hinges. I have plenty more to work on it next time, including:

Add a mini-table going across the benchs (instead of the huge table - which usually ends up outside).
Add carpet tiles.
Add radio.
Add a battery.
Add hooks on doors for tools.
Mount carbon monoxide sensor.
Add rink holders.
Add paper towel holder.
Add PVC pipe on outside for storage.

As you can see I got a good start, but have my work cut out for me!