Kitchen, Plumbing, Electrical, Sound System, Roof Rack & Polyurethaning the world

Well, this is it.  The beast is almost done.  We're out of here on Monday (24th of March) after having spent the last month banging away at the last chunk of tasks: building our kitchen, figuring out the whole H2O system (carry-in), rigging the electric up to the battery bank, etc. etc. etc, and then taking it all out, treating all the wood with polyurethane, deep cleaning the interior, and then putting everything in place. . .this time for real for real.

Some things I am particularly reflective about:

1.) I built my first set of drawers.  And then, I earned the street/workshop cred to be commissioned to make more.

I stayed up until 5 am in a snow storm with the task of building utility drawers that go in the back storage area. Up until this point Dan had fashioned all the other boxes/drawers and I had said I wanted to learn how. Dan's (highly efficient though damn toughlove) way of teaching/motivating is to say: "Ok, do it." He figures you've paid attention to everything he's done up to this point, or done your own research enough to be competent. Yeah, it is a great approach--no hand holding, no overlording or forceful tutorial, just do it. But, and correct me if I'm wrong here, "Just Doing 'It'"--going after whatever you want to accomplish without exaggerations or reservations about what it is you know and can do, or performance anxiety/worry about how bad you're gonna fu** it up. . .that is a next level kind of approach to life.

I toiled in the workshop for an embarrassing number of hours before I started doing anything meaningful on the project. I think I felt confused and anxious; I kept fruitlessly assessing my approach, gathering measurements I wasn't sure were right or significant. I sifted through the wood pile.  My mind was cloudy and I was. . .angry.

Then Daniel turned in for the night, it was 11:45 pm. He had probably finished five or six large tasks.  He asked me if I was coming in; I mumbled.  In many ways I was waiting for him to leave so I could have a break down. So he did. And I did. I kicked a metal leg of a utility shelf real hard. Like, grown-up hard.  I thought I might have broken something. I yelled, "This is ridiculous!" or, I can't remember. Maybe it was just a violent yodel.  Big and second toes throbbed.

Utility drawers. Bottom most is a "garage table".

That was what it took. I stood there. No one was around (probably for miles).  An avalanche of snow thudded to the ground outside the metal garage. I felt silly. Then, I just went for it.  I got some paper and drew a picture of the drawer. I filled in the measurements. I made some cuts. I located the clamps and tools I needed. I made a box, put on some drawer slides, put the thing in place.  I pulled on the front and it slid out.  I put my pencil in it and pushed it back in.  "Cool, a drawer."  It was the anticlimax I was looking for.  

Dan came out at 4:45 am to see if I had cut my arm off.  He saw that I had hacked apart a milk crate to fashion "face plates" to two of the drawers and hired me for future drawer construction.

On a technical note: I highly recommend drawer slides, though they are a little pricey. Takes the whole custom storage thing to a more professional level besides making the drawers flat out easier to use.

2.) Daniel did not make a roof rack.  He made a patio.

You should see this thing. It is the raddest. He modeled the design on a roof rack his kayak instructor had in high school, on a van in which he and sizeable paddling entorages had traveled to Canada and Mexico and back many times over. Might max our top speed out at 25mph. . . but he has prefigured for us many nights of sleeping up on that patio rack under big ol' western skys. Plus, it screams dance party. So, there's that.  Yolo. -Delilah

Photo spread of rest of our accomplishments:

Kitchen w/ storage. Yes that is a tennis ball under
the foot pump pedal as a rebound aid.

Inserted speakers in back doors. Subwoofer quality
complements of semi-hollow doors!

Memory foam custom cut to fit the bed
at shortest setting. Combines with seat backs and
butts to reach extended bed length of 78"

Switch board.

Polyurethane on errthing.