The van is filling up.

More galley progress today, but it was another slow day with a little football watching listening* and movie night.

My work today was on cutting the final three pieces of the galley cabinet: two doors and the back of the drawer side of the cabinet. We knew the back would be troublesome because of the protrusions in the side of the van. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of the back today to show you. Installing the back required plenty of measuring and repeated test fitting. The two door pieces was a little easier, but I went slow to make sure we’d have a perfect fit. Just before I started cutting we also decided to change how the cabinet opens. I will have some pictures when it is all done, but the gist is that the backside of the cabinet under the sink will now fold down instead of hinging sideways. If we put it all together right this design should allow us an outside counter in nice weather. I also had to make my obligatory Ace Hardware run because I wanted to make sure our plumbing parts would fit in the holes we cut.

Trying to line up the cabinet with the toilet cabinet and push it back tight against the wall.

In between helping me test fit things, Sara spent a bunch more time staining pieces and starting to put polyurethane on them. Although we are really enjoying being able to work outside in the ~45 deg. weather, that is still pretty cold for polyurethane to dry so Sara cleared out some space in the gear room off the garage and cranked up the heater. This will likely be the last day we spend primarily on the cabinet because it is going to take a few days for the multiple coats of poly to dry.

Our biggest realization of the day is how much the space is going to fill up as we keep adding pieces. The galley cabinet blocks a significant chunk of the door and it really made us realize how little open space we (and the dogs) will have inside. We knew this abstractly from our measurements, but seeing and feeling a large cabinet fill a big space really drives it home.

The door just got a lot smaller. The open space on the right of the cabinet is where the door will fold down so as it opens it will make a useful outdoor counter space.

*First time I’ve ever actually called a local TV station to complain. Fox 12 KPTV Portland can have a sharp stick in the eye for not playing nice with DirectTV Now. In NH we had no problem getting all our local TV stations streaming through Direct TV Now, but Fox out here apparently won’t stream. They work with Direct TV, but do not allow streaming through the app. This is 2018 Fox, pull your head out of…

Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now.

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