Project Camper

 The cargo trailer already came with two interior lights - but they have to be connected to the car to work. I bought an over-head light and a under-cabinet light that should be sufficient. The under-cabinet light was easy enough The over-head light... not so much. First I couldn't use my hole saw kit because the drill bit in the center would have gone straight through the roof. The wood panel was very, very thin. So I got a little creative with it: Yes - Zip Ties. The ultimate fix-it.  It is not completely flush with the ceiling but - close enough. 

During the hottest part of the year I decided to go inside and work for a bit. I saw these really neat State & National Park maps on Etsy and made my own version. First I printed an outline of the USA & Texas in Poster mode. Did you guys know about Poster mode? I sure didn't until now. It's perfect for printing large things.  I taped carbon paper down underneath the outline and traced it. Then I used my wood burning pen to trace the outline.  I wanted to do little symbols of each national park instead of trees so I did a deep dive into what made each national park special and printed a copy of it.  For the Texas State parks map I used the star tip of the wood burn pen, then printed out a word document with all the park names written on it. This was so time consuming - but the end result was worth it! Looks good! Now to visit them all... 

 I was planning on doing a complicated pull out futon type bed but then I saw this on Pinterest: I thought this would be a better (and simpler to build) option. I started by setting out the legs - old fence post again. 18 inches high. Heidi inspected my work. Then the first flat piece - 21 inches long.  I ran out of wood so I had to improvise with what I had. Wood is so expensive right now! I hit a little snag with the rightmost hinge... But I managed to get it together in the end. When opened it is leaning a bit so I will have to add some fold down arms.

The kitchen upper cabinets were a challenge to build. Not build  but make secure I should say.  I used corner braces to secure all the joints and metal plates to secure the sides. I stupidly constructed the box without cutting out the hole for the power box. Cut hole first!  I made it work but it was not as easy or as neat as it could have been. I mounted the cabinet using heavy picture frame mounts from Home Depot. I used two 12 inch mounts for the top of the cabinet and one 18 inch mount for the bottom. I plan to put a divider and shelf in the upper cabinet so I can use the left side for storage after I get the power cord situation squared away. Why are there so many different cords? Initially I thought there was only 30 amp and 50 amp. But no. There are 4 prong 30 amps and 3 prong 30 amps. There are prongs with one bent prong. Argh! I had to buy one adapter for my 30 foot extension cord and a different adapter for my 50 foot extension cord.  This adapter connect...

For the Dinette I liked the idea of it being able to convert into a bed (like this guy did on YouTube) and also with storage underneath the seats.  First I made a rough outline of where I wanted the seats to go. Then I cut up some extra 4 x 4 fence posts that I wasn't using. I made them 18 inches long.  I am obsessed with Pocket Holes so I drilled 4 lower and 4 upper 1/2 inch pocket holes in each leg. I used 3/4 inch MDF board for the seats - they were 18 x 20. I left a 1/2 inch ledge on each seat facing the table for the bed conversion. 3/4 inch Tabletop was 27 x 20. Fit perfectly!  I added an extra fold up piece to make this longer using these brackets from Amazon. The table leg I bought from Amazon  and required a 2.5 inch recess in the floor. It is sturdy-ish. I will need to add a bracket connecting the table to the wall to make it more solid. Voila! Dinette! For the cushions I used some cheap foam mattress topper from Walmart and cut it to the size I needed....