Jamie/Enigmatic Nomadic's *Build Out Your Van Party"

[cyndi]

Jamie posted this yesterday

[video=youtube]

ETA:
Weird, it's fine when I try to edit it. My internet connection is really bad. That might have something todo with it.
here's the link

 

[wagoneer]

error occurred try again later

 

[DannyB1954]

It will take a lot of editing for some of the videos. As an example I was building a custom cabinet in a van and there were a number of steps involved so it happened over a week's time. There were probably a half dozen shoots. he will need to piece the various segments into something that makes sense.

      

Clicking on the pic will give a larger version. It is built on the passenger side of the van. The dark middle piece is a piece of furniture the owner got in Bali and has sentimental value. The rope and dowels hold the doors closed. when the dowel rods are released from the knobs the doors swing down and make counters. There is also a lower bottom compartment that swings down for more storage.

 

[Sabatical]

That is beautiful! Goes to show true craftsmanship can happen anywhere.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

 

[cyndi]

I hope you had some fun, too, Danny!!! All work and no play...

The cabinetry is beautiful!

 

[Belchfire]

Nice work

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[highdesertranger]

that came out real nice. highdesertranger

 

[DannyB1954]

Thanks all. The owner of the van was pleased with it. They like to go surfing so the dowel rods will also make a handy place to hang their towels.

 

[Vagabound]

....
Clicking on the pic will give a larger version. It is built on the passenger side of the van. The dark middle piece is a piece of furniture the owner got in Bali and has sentimental value. The rope and dowels hold the doors closed. when the dowel rods are released from the knobs the doors swing down and make counters. There is also a lower bottom compartment that swings down for more storage.

Very clever and nicely done, Danny. The top shelf is easy to see and understand. Trying to figure out the bottom one now. In one way it looks like a window on top of the bottom shelf, but in another way, it looks like storage because I see things on the left there on a shelf of some kind. Would you mind explaining the bottom shelf area a little bit please?

Vagabound

 

[DannyB1954]

The owner of the van does computer work for an income. The cabinet was designed to reclaim space that would otherwise be unused. At the bottom it is only as deep as the wheelwell. In the middle it gets deeper because the van body curves outward where the window is. The inside part of that shelf is about 10" deep extending to the outside window.  At the top it is very shallow with just enough space to store her laptop and keyboard. With the doors down it becomes her workstation for cooking or computing, (monitor sits at eye level on top shelf, keyboard on the middle shelf at hand level. They like to stand up when they work. They can also sit on the bed that faces the cabinet and the monitor is still at eye level).   There is enough space in the middle of the van for them to walk past the cabinet with the doors down. To help you visualize the middle shelf, in the second picture you will see a red thing in the cabinet. That is their tea kettle they put there for storage. It may be hard to see the shelf as I used 5 ply prefinished birch plywood that is giving a reflection from the window light.

In the first picture if you look at the end of the lower dowel rod you will see wooden latches, (shaped like surf boards), when these are turned horizontal the lower storage area opens up, (door opens at the top and folds down to the floor).  They also had a solar panel installed and there is a power supply inside of the cabinet to charge up her computer or run a desk lamp etc. Both 12 and 120 Volt are there. 

The cabinet does not have a lot of internal space, but it was space that was previously unusable. It is a very personalized item. The height of the shelves are to fit their needs and comfort. They got to choose the grain structure of the plywood I used in most parts, ( this used more plywood, but the scraps were used in other projects so no real loss). The owner spent a lot of time overseas working so I tried to give the cabinet an Asian flair with the rope and dowels. Most of the screws in the structure are hidden, (only the top screws that hold the cabinet to the top rail of the van are exposed). There is a piece of wood that was part of some furniture she has hung on to and has sentimental value. The ropes and dowel that support the top shelf would normally hang in front of this wood blocking some of it's view so I added two other side knobs to take up some slack in the ropes and raise the dowel higher when the upper door is closed. It actually took more like a week and a half to design and build. Like I told them, it takes 10 seconds to drill a hole and 10 seconds to put in a screw. It takes an hour to figure out where you want to do both.

 

[DannyB1954]

I hope you had some fun, too, Danny!!!  All work and no play...

The cabinetry is beautiful!

It was fun doing something different. I am really not a carpenter. Most of the time I am best at making sawdust. The rest of the project is somewhat of a compromise. Hey, I cut it three times and it is still too short. I met some good people and I now know a lot more about the Lake Havasu area. I may spend more time there in the future. It was also fun seeing the way people reacted coming expecting to not receive much and getting a whole lot more than they expected. One came just to help and participate in the group and they got their car's electrical problems repaired, a window replaced, a storage bag mended, and a roof rack installed. There were a number of talented people there and if you needed a hand with something all you had to do was ask. LdMcCain was kind enough to help me a number of times. A man named Bob was thrilled with a bed frame that we built for him. It was tall enough to slide his storage bins under it and had a built in night stand that also could be used as a cook stand if the rear trailer door was opened, (I should have taken a picture of it). 

 

[rvpopeye]

Nice piece!

 

[cyndi]

Thanks to Danny and everyone who helped to make Jamie's endeavor successful.

We're so fortunate to be part of this great group of giving caring people!

 

[Vagabound]

...  Like I told them, it takes 10 seconds to drill a hole and 10 seconds to put in a screw. It takes an hour to figure out where you want to do both.

You've got that exactly right!  Superb explanation.  Thanks for the details.

Vagabound

 

[sassypickins]

Beautiful!

 

[cyndi]

Cody who blogs at Vantastic Living recently updated his blog. The post includes a lot of pictures of the event.
According to a fb post 24 projects were completed.

http://vantasticliving.com/2016-enigmatic-nomadic-van-build-party-rtr-havasu/

 

[cyndi]

[font=Roboto, HelveticaNeue-Light,]Van build Walk Around Impromptu Visits to Projects Underway
[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Tamra grabs the camera and tours the Van Build Party! Get a glimpse into daily happenings here at the 2016 Have Build Out Party[/font]

[video=youtube]

 

[DannyB1954]

Another clip of the build out

 

[Vantastic Living]

Here is a video I made of the event. Thanks to Jamie for such a wonderful time.

[video=youtube]