My fit of pique must have effected a cosmic change because the rain held off!!! It’s about to come down though.

I went to Home Depot this afternoon to get the angle brackets as well as door hinges and fasteners. I’m pretty sure I’ll return 90% of what I bought, but I didn’t want to have to go out tomorrow. Today’s visit took well over an hour because a Home Depot clerk and I started to talk about custom RV design and got into a hot debate about slides vs. no slides.

I got a pleasant surprise in regards to the angle brackets. I’ve always bought them in packs of 2 for about a dollar. I needed at least 40 to finish the dishwasher cabinet, duct tunnel, and bookcase installation, so I figured that I’d have to shell out at least $20 plus tax for all my brackets. But the Home Depot guy made some ‘contractor’ supplies materialise for me and I got a pack of 100 brackets for $6.95 plus tax!

It was three when I got back home and the hardest part of the job started. I find that no matter how many times I measure, I never get things 100% right. I had to go back and forth to the workshop to trim a panel or another. At least, my problems were too much height, which is much easier to remedy than not enough of it! I finally got everything level, although the dinette top isn’t as flush with the kitchen counter as it was when it was temporarily installed. It’s a matter of millimetres and probably not something the casual observer would notice so I decided to pick my battles.

The installation was a real puzzle as I had to figure out what to screw down first without blocking my access to something else I had to screw down. The sliders for the drawer were a nightmare to put in place and I wound up having to install the shelf above it with the angle brackets on the top side.

My breadmaker finally has a proper home! I’d been storing it in a cabinet in the study! Notice the tray and cutting board tucked into the ‘dead’ space behind the drawer.

My carpet cleaner and vacuum cleaner are going to be stored on this side. Linens will go in the drawer. I’m not sure yet what will be going on the shelf above it, probably garbage bags and dishwasher powder!

I was going to have the dishwasher face the door, but it’s going to have to go in sideways.

Once everything was assembled and secured, I added the counter and screwed that in nice and tight. The whole thing feels satisfactorily sturdy and secure for transport. It might not be very pretty, but it’s exactly what I wanted and once the doors and trim are on most of my lack of carpentry skills will be hidden behind stuff.

I discovered what a moot point looks like when I went to install the dishwasher as I had planned. It won’t fit that way; the hoses are too short! I’m going to have to orientate it the way that it was when it was under the counter. That somewhat changes my plans for the securing of it and may be the biggest cause of delays tomorrow. The other thing I still need to figure out is how to make the kitchen side of the cabinet look neat since it projects out beyond the width of the counter. You can see what I mean in the first picture. A solution will come when I start to work on the problem; it always works out that way.

I’ve decided to make my own doors after all since they will be quite small and I already have the materials for them. Tomorrow’s projects will be to finish the dishwasher cabinet then start on building the ductwork tunnel, and securing the bookcase. I believe this is a realistic target for tomorrow. Monday I will go back to Home Depot to return whatever I hardware I wound up not using and to pick up the lumber for the secret ladder project. There’s lots to do, but I am 100% on target so far and feeling pretty accomplished!

There’s a pizza with my name on it in the oven (not made by my hand, of course!) and I need to put in several hours at my contract tonight, so I’m calling it a day.

There are not enough expletives in all the languages of the world to describe how I feel about the change in the weather forecast for the next four days. It was supposed to be sunny with occasional cloud cover. Instead, it was overcast this morning and it is now going to rain for the next three days. And if that wasn’t enough, after four days of glorious sun and heat, it’s cooled down considerably. I’ll have to bring a heater into the workshop if I want to spend any time there.

First priority this morning, then, was to get the final cuts done for the dishwasher cabinet. I used a combination of the wardrobe and free plywood.

I was originally going to assemble the unit outside, but it will be much too cumbersome to carry. Now that it’s going to rain, I also don’t want to get it wet. Finally, an in situ installation will enable me to catch little mistakes much more easily. It’s going to be awkward to do the work in the rig, but it’s the best option.

I seriously under estimated how many angle brackets I’m going to need and I don’t have the patience to take apart my valances to get the handful I have left in the rig, so soon as I have lunch I’ll head over to Home Depot to buy a bucketload of brackets. I’m also going to size up plywood seeing as I have decided to let them cut my door panels for me since I won’t be able to use the tablesaw this weekend. I also wouldn’t be able to bring home a sheet without going through some tarping exercises to keep the rain off it.

(Seriously, I have no idea how anyone could live in this climate full-time. Between my six months in Campbell River and my four months in the GVR I have had a lifetime’s fill of damp, grey winters and am starting to miss a crisp, dry, sunny, twenty below, RV not built for that weather notwithstanding.)

Griping aside, here is what the dishwasher cabinet looks like right now. Some assembly, and trim, required:

The horizontal piece of plywood is actually a shelf over the drawer.

I am really nervous about the whole assembly thing because it’s going to block off a corner of the window. I will have to take the whole cabinet apart, including the housing for the dishwasher, should I ever have to deal with a leak there, so I need to get into the habit of checking that area for condensation on a regular basis. I might be worried for nothing, but time will tell.

Off to Home Depot I go…

I had to stop early this afternoon because it got very cold very quickly in the workshop, but the progress for today makes me optimistic that I can make the dishwasher cabinet look nice.

This is the kitchen side of the counter. What a mess!

A bit of paneling hides the side of the mess and a topper of trim takes care of the rest. Imagine when it’s all painted the same colour!

I had planned on putting a bit of a ‘lip’ on the bottom of the cabinet to further discourage things from sliding out, so the trim is both pretty and functional.

The dining room side is going to be a bit trickier in that I need to keep the bottom panel open for access, but I think I’ll do something similar, only with magnets instead of nails.

Now, what would I do for eight solid hours of weather I could actually work in….