I was up early as
usual when we were camping at Craven Arms earlier in the year and
began making a long list of things to do on the teardrop.
Top of the list was
still a bunch of things to do to the kitchen. Having used it in its
latest iteration for a couple of years, the things that were not
quite right had become apparent.
The cupboard
arrangement just didn't work. Using the middle cupboard for
transporting the gas bottle meant we had to insert the shelf and load
all the food and crockery when we arrived, and then dismantle it all
at the end. The arrangement of drawers under the table, while clever
was just a bother. And having the batteries under the hob essentially
killed some easily accessible cupboard space.
So we decided to use
the cupboard under the table for the batteries (now on shelves, one
over the other) and for the gas bottle in transit.
This then freed up
the space under the hob for a pots-and-pans drawer (which makes more
sense).
And the middle
cupboard was then fitted out with drawers which offer easy access and
a more permanent home for crockery, cutlery and food.
I did some
tortoiseshell effect paintwork on the door fronts. I had done this in
our previous home about 25 years ago, but new formula paints and
varnishes dry much more quickly than they used to, so it was a bit of
a challenge.
I also built a
couple of new units to hang on the rail in a kind of arts-and-crafts
style to add to the overall vibe.
The fixed-length
table leg was always an issue on sloping ground, ie nearly always. So
I needed to make an adjustable one.
I tried using a
regular artists' sketching easel, which kinda worked, but it had that
comedy putting-up-a-deck-chair thing that wasn't good. And adding a
table top was a challenge, too. Using an old-school wooden crutch was
a possible, too. But too clunky in the adjustment department.
So in the end I made
one. I'd sort of inherited some wood, so I'd got plenty in stock. I
drew on the easel for the adjustment mechanism and went for something
a bit Rennie Mackintosh in style.
Last year's project
was to add some proper electrics, so I've now got sockets in the
kitchen and cabin. I'd got an old scalextric transformer which I
connected to some “cigarette lighter” style plugs and put it in a
fancy-schmancy box.
So I can run 12v
stuff like this steampunked fan off it.
Finally replaced the LED strip light with these copperish eyeball types.
