Back shelf & starting on the benches

​Above the window in the back, we’ll have a cabinet hanging from the roof. Just like the shelf in the front, this will have cutouts for the roof slats so these align perfectly across the van.

The hardst thing about the back cabinet was to get the CAD drawing to match the shape of the car roof. As on the front shelf, I cut the test versions in cheap poplar plywood on the Bitraf CNC. When I got the curves right (on the third attempt), I used the incorrect versions to mock up a shelf. This tought me that (1) I can’t just wing this. It needs to be measured out quite well and (2) I can get away with a fairly light construction.

All the walls and interior sorfaces of the van (except for the roof slats) are treated using a hardwax oil, that gives a sort of smooth surface that prevents spills from leaving permanent marks in the wood. All surfaces has gotten two layers of this. It gives the wood a warm glow and really brings out the texture in the wood. We’re curious what will happen if the van stands in the sun on an hot day though? Fingers crossed.

It took some testing to get the hinges for the doors perfectly placed, so there is an even 3mm gap around the edge on all sides. I posted a nice trick for perfectly positioning hinges on my Tumbler. It involved double sided tape…

The two round metal pieces are mounts for reading lamps with flexible arms that run off the 12V system. The lamps can be dimmed and have a builtin USB charging port for convenience. You can see the lamps mounted in the picture at the top. While I was working on this cabinet, AM started framing out the benches.