We are back in La Grande for no more than a week to get some modifications done. Some things we learned on our trip, others we just wanted to get done before we head out for a longer road trip. Sara also has actual paying work to do so she is focusing on that while I work on the van.
First, we definitely learned that our drawers will not stay shut just with the minor catch of the drawer slide. I am using a number of different products to help lock the drawers depending on the size of the drawer. The difficulty is that I built our galley cabinet with all the drawers flush against each other so there are limited options to install catches. On some drawers I’ve used magnets, on others I’ve used the clips pictured below. Where I can I used some heavy duty RV latches that are very popular for this problem.
Another project was to finish the last electrical component. Our solar in CO was amazing and it was great to see the batteries easily recharging, but there will obviously be times the sun is not shining so I needed to get the battery-to-battery charger installed. This Sterling unit connects to the van batteries and when the engine is running and the alternator is feeding the van batteries it siphons off some of the power. It can deliver up to 60A so it is huge potential energy source. Any day driving between ski areas would easily charge the batteries full.
Another project was to finish the rear door of the galley cabinet. We had not taken the time to install the door at all so it went in. The door is held with a piano hinge on the bottom and the paracord to keep it level. Now we have an outside counter when we want to cook outside, though I suspect we will have to reinforce it somehow to hold any meaningful weight. It is held securely shut by an RV latch.
On our trip I also realized that having a 20A outlet for the stove is silly. The circuit is built for 20A and that’s great because the induction stove pushes the limit of a 15A circuit, but I’m never going to plug an actual 20A appliance in the outlet. Sara said it also sparked once when she plugged in the stove (I suspect it was just static electricity) so I decided to change it out for a GFCI outlet.
The other major thing we learned on our trip was that the water line running on the floor will freeze when it is super cold outside. Even though the heater did fine to keep us warm up on the bed, the floor was much colder. The floor buried in the cabinets against the wall was even colder – obviously below freezing. Other than getting some warm air in there, which is how we solved the problem on our trip, I don’t have any really good solutions. I bought a short length of heat tape and some pipe insulation. I’m hoping this setup will work if we encounter such extra cold temps again.
We have more projects to work on, but these were the major things I wanted to get done. Tomorrow we need to take the van for a test ride to see if the drawers stay shut!
Great problem solving!