Now that the box is finished, it’s time to start making it a home. Most of the furniture was already handmade by us during the winter while we were waiting for the box to be finished. We used aluminum square tubes (2,5 cm) and black nylon cornerpieces for the construction. At first I (Koos) decided to cut the aluminum tubes to pieces myself. But getting all the sizes and special options right was a very detailed and time consuming job. So, when I found out that there is a company that can do this for just a small extra charge, I didn’t hesitate one moment as it saved me a lot of time.
For the finish we used lightweight boards. We were very lucky to get honeycomb floor boards of an old DC10 airplane through a friend. We used them for instance to replace the bottom of the IKEA drawers and saved over 13 kg in total in!
Also we bought a sheet of plastic honeycomb that we covered with bamboo veneer; same look but very light!
As we both like to cook and most of the kitchens we see in campers are too small, we decided that we wanted sufficient space in the kitchen area. On our wishlist:
- Large worktop
- 1,5 bowl sink
- 2 or 3 burner gas hob (big enough for 2 big pans)
- Cabinets with drawers only
- Integrate waste containers
- Good size refrigerator with separate freezer compartment
As I was able to make the units separately, it was easy to make all necessary preparations for the water, electricity and heating. IKEA drawers are self closing, but they won’t hold when you make a sharp turn in the mountains or when you drive off road! So I added magnets at the back that are operated with a switch to ensure that they stay closed during driving. Unfortunately I miscalculated the necessary strengths but I had ordered some extra and will add these to the most heavy drawers.
We are very pleased with the outcome so far (check out the video on the building of the kitchen) and took it for a test trip to the Alps in April.
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