Popping my top

[Viva]

Just as another input, on boats sometimes the vent is simply run through the galley faucet. When the tank is full, water runs out the faucet and down the drain (boats don't generally have grey tanks to fill, but I have still often put a dishpan or a jug in the sink to catch this, as why waste good water).

Of course you have to have the correct geometry for this. Also not sure if having a pressure pump would affect the function (I had a "manual" foot pump).

On another boat the vent was simply a hose up into a locker (gauze over top), but on that I was filling the tanks right into the top of the tank with a hose/pistol grip, so I could see when the tanks were full and stop filling (release the grip).

Perhaps if the vent were high enough (inside) and you weren't filling with huge pressure (or a hose screwed to the filler), then the filler would be the overflow and not the vent (?).

Naturally you want to avoid "filling" the interior of the van, so any of these would have to be tested. I didn't have any problem with either of the setups described above, but then neither of them was a/your van.

[boywonder]

Viva: Venting into the sink is a very interesting idea......wouldn't require another hole in the van floor.

[Viva]

On that note I have also seen boats that have a separate spout (either something like a Fynspray WS66, which swivels; or just a bent copper tube or etc.) just for venting the tank into the sink.

[boywonder]

I recently spent a week camping in the van in Bass Lake and Moab........and the drawer slides don't stay closed...at all. All four drawers were regularly flying to and fro with every turn.

Need another solution; the obvious one is latches but its not that simple, as the drawers do not have face frame between them, so nothing for the latch to latch to.....still thinking.

[Viva]

Well "boo" on the drawer slides not working well. Darnit

I have not yet finished the drawer project I'm working on, but the drawers will be flush fit like yours are. In boating often flush doors/drawers are used, but the typical solutions rely on there being a non-moving rail above the drawer/door, which neither your drawers or mine will have (this is often a round hole in the drawer or door front, then a hidden rooster catch inside; or, alternatively a rounded, "half egg" shape of wood with a flat back that is screwed to the rail above, then can be flipped down to hold drawer, or flipped up when at anchor).

I guess I will probably try the "soft close" drawers that Rockbender has had success with (but the ones you have sounded so slick!). OTOH, since yours are already installed, I imagine you might rather come up with a physical latch and then keep the slides as-is. Hmmm. Knowing you, you'll come up with something super clever and then I can just copy it

[JWA]

Originally Posted by boywonder

I recently spent a week camping in the van in Bass Lake and Moab........and the drawer slides don't stay closed...at all. All four drawers were regularly flying to and fro with every turn.

Need another solution; the obvious one is latches but its not that simple, as the drawers do not have face frame between them, so nothing for the latch to latch to.....still thinking.

Seems to me Rockler or one of those outfits makes a locking latch that when employed is completely hidden from view---it was posted here on SMB about the time I first joined way back when; for some reason Members LenS or Larrie pop into my memory. Whoever posted that info had similar issues and their product selection solved it.

I'll dig around and post what I find---if I can anyway.

[boywonder]

Viva: Exactly.......no stationary face frame between the drawers to latch to.....My first plan was to use the 2" Southco M1 latches....I have them a few other places in the van and I like the style.

[boywonder]

Here is a picture of the water tank filler and the rear shower setup.

As already mentioned a few times I just have hot water on-board (set at a comfy temp for showering). If I leave the water heater off, then I have cold water

The water tank filler is simply a washing machine hose connected to the fresh water tank with a valve. I have a quick disconnect thingy on the filler hose because we are set up with these around the house.

The shower is a pet shower sprayer, works great.



These stow in the rear storage area of the van where the water heater is, I just open the rear door and pull them out...

[boywonder]

Installed some new stereo gear; built a rear door panel with a small subwoofer.....the door panel has a .5 cu ft enclosure built into it for the sub. This setup took awhile to get rid of rattles...I ended up using damping sheet on the upper door window trim to further reduce rattles....

The door panel is 3/8" baltic birch with the enclosure walls 1/2".....I needed as much enclosure volume as I could get....in hind site I would consider building the door panel and enclosure out of thicker (stiffer) material. The panel is covered with Nautilex Deck dot vinyl and the enclosure is stuffed with ultra touch denim insulation.

The sub is a shallow mount 8" MB quart (made in China) purchased online for $50 and a parts express grill.



I used some Dayton long travel mid woofers in the front doors with Dayton AMT tweeters mounted in the door trim. I machined cherry spacer rings for the tweeters on the lathe. I'm presently running a simple home brewed first order crossover at 8Khz. The tweeters are 3db more sensitive than the mids so some padding may be required...I've been trying to correct this using the EQ settings of the head unit...still have some dialing in to do.......



I started out using a old Sony 25W x 4 power amp, but this proved to be insufficient even for an old guy who doesn't crank things. I ended up buying a JL Audio 300/4 (75W x 4) power amp......this is a very nice piece, although I had to run dedicated 8 AWG wire from the house batteries to the amp to keep it happy.

[boywonder]

Next up is the door galley, made a lot of progress on this recently. The counter top is solid surface material and I'm using old bicycle derailleur cables for the 90 degree travel stop for the counter. Shimano SIS cables specifically. This unit also incorporates some rather large friction hinges that I picked up on Ebay (I think!! it's been a while)

I poked holes in a couple of #10 screws to allow adjusting the cables for the proper counter top angle of 90 degrees. I wet sanded (using a belt sander with 125 grit paper) the back side of the solid surface material to get a reasonable finish; both sides of the counter top show for a door galley. One side when stowed, and the other side when deployed/used.

I'm planning on fastening this to the barn door using rivet nuts for the upper two mounting screws. I need to order the rivet nuts so the galley won't be hanging for a few days. The counter top latch is a plastic Southco M1 type which I've used elsewhere and is common to many SMBs. There was a trade-off here, have a cool latch on the counter top that pokes through the counter top when in use.....I'm OK with this.....

The cubby in the door is just big enough to house my stove and perhaps one butane canister.

The door panel is 1/4" Baltic birch covered in the same Decko Dot vinyl I've been using elsewhere. The face frame is cherry with Zar antique flat varnish applied. The cubby pocket is lined with grey fuzzy trunk liner material.









I also added a handle for ease of door closing.....

In my application I wanted a simple low profile door galley since a typical SMB style unit will obstruct my view/usage of my main control panel when the door is closed.