Putt

[Putts]

Drawer rails in.

Aaaaaaaand....thats it!

Just have to mask it up, and my buddy Wally will be shooting paint this weekend.

Man, I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel here! Still a lot of doors and drawers; have to build the stuff under the toilet to hold the bucket and jug and such; all the basic wiring yet to go. But once it's painted I can start moving my personal stuff into the under and above bed storage. Once the kitchen drawers are done I can start moving all my cooking stuff in. Might be a bit spotty through the dead of winter, but I plan to start living in it and moving out and cleaning rooms in the house slowly but surely.

 

[breeze]

How's the camera control center coming? Your first stab was pretty nice from what I remember. I'm about ready to do mine, and wouldn't mind seeing the evolved Putts security control system

 

[Putts]

Oh....it'll be a couple of years before I get around to that. Still a ton of required stuff like a ceiling with lights, all the composting toilet inner structure to hold everything in place, drawers and cabinet doors, and much, much more. Don't hold your breath on the security stuff.

 

[tx2sturgis]

I just recently replaced a failed security DVR with this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-4-CH-A...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

It's a basic, no frills unit. It does have motion detection and internet ability. 

I already had the cameras, and several hard drives, so this is all I needed to get my system back up and running. With a 500gb hard drive, and at low resolution and frame rates, it's giving me about 2 months of recording. Plenty for me. 

On the label it clearly says PAL but there is a setting in the menu to switch to NTSC. It came with a euro wall adapter, which I just threw away, because I also have all the 12v USA wall adapters I need. 

It even runs on 12 volts!

 

[GypsyDogs]

Sawdust?
I think you mean "Man-glitter"

 

[Burbanlife]

Damn man, looking good, lets see the paint !!!!

 

[galladanb]

Sorry, couldn't resist...



Been there! Dun that!!!

 

[GypsyDogs]

^ yep

 

[Putts]

Putt's innards are all puttied, sanded, vacuumed, wiped down, and masked off ready for spray paint. A small electric heater is keeping it toasty and warm, and my buddy Wally should be here over the next couple of days spraying a couple coats of the base white primer to cover the whole nine yards.

So, I been doing the doors. Won't bore you with pics of cutting out rectangles of 3/4" ply, rounding the corners with a jig saw (using the industry standard house truck cabinet corner radius: tracing a small can of refried beans), belt-sanding the edge all square and smooth, and routing all the visible edges with another light sand.I'll just show you the finished product.

I will mention two other features: hinge pockets and the rest bar.  Because these things are pretty heavy I need to take strain off the hinges---they're regular non-recessed cabinet hinges you can get at Home Depot; kinds cheap but the kind that will forever be available, and are simple and durable. So I installed that 3/4"x3/4" rail that rests on the cabinet frame. It'll help hold the door in place when I mark and drill the mounting holes, but more importantly, it will take the weight of the door as Putt bounces around rather than the hinges getting stressed out.

Also, notice the hinge pockets. They are dead-nuts on; after a light coat of paint I had to wiggle the hinge to get it in pushing the paint around a bit---it's tight. I'll be using screws where the hinge attaches to the door, but on the other side of the hinge I'll be using narrow bolts through the cabinet rails with washers and nylon lock nuts on the back side.

Here's the jig I made for routing the hinge pockets.

Been painting the doors, headboard parts, seat mounts, and counter tops in my living room. Doing about one table full of parts every two days. Sometimes it's one part, sometimes it's four.

I can tell you my hallway is filling up; and there are more bits downstairs; I'm about 60% of the way through, I guess.

Dart is becoming a great dog. A little black devil handful, but you can tell he's whip-cracking smart and will be an interesting companion for a long time to come. Gonna have to teach him to not bark while I'm away from Putt, but I think I'll be able to do it. He's already obeying sit, stay, lay down, come (sometimes), no bark (bit of a tug-of-war here, but he's definitely getting it).

 

[Putts]

Okie dokie! Putt progress.

Wally came over and sprayed on Saturday.

Did two coats of white exterior satin latex.

Took four gallons!  There's a lot of paint on there.

The only problem we had was the old plywood of the walls plywood leeching out it's tannin and yellowing the walls. I'll have to wait 'til it's really dry in a week or so and then roll on another coat of paint.

Yesterday I installed all the cabinet doors, and this morning I painted the gray of the lower part of the walls.

Put the bedding in there and Dart and I slept in Putt last night.

Gonna be a lot more of that.

 

[highdesertranger]

wow, nice. highdesertranger

 

[tx2sturgis]

I hope it's ready for me to come pick up soon....

 

[GypsyDogs]

dang- I know a blue van you can work on next.. lol

 

[tnvangirl]

This is gorgeous. Nice job. I love the curved wall and the white interior.

 

[tav-2020]

Very cool, Putt! I like the "european" styling around your bed area! (I call it that cause it seems that's what all the RV makers call anything that's not a straight line! lol )
Thanks for the pics, really love seeing them and getting ideas

 

[Burbanlife]

Awesome work man

 

[Putts]

Thanks all...gettin' there.

dang- I know a blue van you can work on next.. lol  

By the time I'm done I'll be a half way decent carpenter.
(I will forever be seeing every little mistake I've made.  :dodgy: )

This is gorgeous. Nice job. I love the curved wall and the white interior.

Thanks.  It's a long story, but I've been thinking about that curve even before I got the vehicle.  I knew I was going to get a step van so I had already started the 3D CAD drawings for it. Here's one of the drawings:

I never bothered to draw the curve in the drawings but I did visualize it. So, it took about 2 1/2 years before I got to see it in the flesh. I knew I needed it so I could reach the headboard easily while standing next to the bed; I didn't know if I'd really like it....but I sure do.

Very cool, Putt! I like the "european" styling around your bed area! (I call it that cause it seems that's what all the RV makers call anything that's not a straight line!

A guy on another forum said the curve in the bed area is similar to bed nooks in Scandinavian cabins.

Next big project is the ceiling. Ordered all the light fixtures, control panel switches, and ceiling trim today.  Over $600 worth of stuff. I got three Weather Deck 8-gang fused switches From Blue Sea Systems.

About $140 each. Yikes! Cry once, I guess. 

 

[Putts]

Slept in Putt a couple nights; a small electric heater keeps it fairly warm, but the forecast for the next few days is more snow and below zero at night so no more of that for a few days.

Got all the materials in for the ceiling panels...but probably going to wait for it to warm up a bit. So, I've been busying myself with a few other things.

Got the toilet bits all painted and re-installed.

Quite a bit more construction to go within the toilet making bits to secure the bucket and an access hatch in the front. It's a little complicated to explain here; you'll see the plan as it unfolds.

With the ceiling next to go in I needed to get the 12V switching and fusing in place to hook up the ceiling lights and fans. Layed all the bits out on the electronic cabinet doors for size.

Then cut out the holes and repainted the exposed wood and installed the switches and bus bars.

Here's the front side.

Being as this is all marine grade switching the label kits had nautical terminology. Don't have a masthead light, but there were enough choices with the 20 that came with the switches and the 120 label extra kit that I could make reasonable choices, and I kinda like the idea of thinking of Putt as my little land yacht anyway.

Re-installed the door.

Gonna be dead-nuts easy to wire things up in this configuration.

Door closed.

Been thinking for quite a while about cabinet door latches. There's quite a bit of weight on that electronics door so cheezy clasps or magnet thingies ain't going to cut it for me. I've found nothing I like at Home Depot, so I decided to make my own. Got a piece of oak 1x3; routed the edges; cut into 3/4" pieces; drilled a bunch of holes; and made a bunch of bits.

Did a run to the hardware store for little rubber stoppers, springs, and the right sized hardware, and made the first prototype turnbuckle latch. Don't really know what they're called but turnbuckle latch was what I found on the web. I would have called them dogs, which is what we called the latches around watertight doors in the Coast Guard.

The base part will be gray and the turning part will be black.

Yeah, these doors ain't going to open when a can of ballistic refried beans decides to cut loose.

Ceiling next...when it warms up a bit.

 

[rvpopeye]

"ballistic refried beans" may require a lead diamond plate enclosure ????

You could sell the plans for that rig !

 

[Putts]

You could sell the plans for that rig !

Well, except that I don't have any detailed plans. Folks would just have to follow the pictures. And you know the deal: What's perfect for me ain't necessarily perfect for the next person. Hell, I don't even know if it's perfect for me yet. 

*fingers crossed*