Lucky for us, they do!
Since the beginning stages of planning the camper, we have had a designated spot for carrying the motorcycles. However, since the beginning stages of planning, the actual motorcycles which will be going with us have changed a few times. I settled on a Honda Wave scooter a while ago, but Tom was undecided until last week, when he took the plunge and bought a Honda Tornado. Today, we finally have the camper and the two motos in the same place, and decided to make sure both motos will fit. Lucky for us, they do! Also lucky for us, we’re both pretty happy with this configuration. We will have to do some adjusting to figure out the easiest way to load them, and then to figure out how to anchor them when we move, but we’ll both sleep better tonight after this proof of concept test.
0 Comments
This is what we’ve been hearing every time we show anyone either photos, or the cabinets in real life. Well, newsflash: THEY’RE FAR NICER CABINETS THAN WE’VE EVER HAD IN ANY OF OUR HOUSES TOO! The wood is old growth mahogany which was harvested over 10 years ago. It dried outside in large square cut pieces for three or four years, and was then milled into boards and dried inside for another six or seven years. Friends have had it sitting in their garage for all this time, and when they saw what we were doing with our camper project, offered it to us, and we jumped on it. Our Moonracer neighbors, Todd Klippenstein of Kliffstone Creations, along with his right and left hands Angel Alvarado and William Godoy, have produced a number of beautiful kitchens, so we didn’t have to look far to see where we could get this excellent work done. These cabinets are not done; they still need to be finished, and more hardware needs to be put in place. But what we see so far is stunning, and we can’t wait to see the finished product. We picked up the camper from Koops' a little over three weeks ago. We were supposed to have it for about a week and a half, but due to all the usual delays, we've had it longer than expected, and still have it. This has turned out to be a good thing, since in twice the time we've accomplished about half of what we wanted to do with it before Koops' gets it back. We have mostly used the time to measure things while the camper is close to figure out how much wood we need for cabinets, and how much wire for the electrical system, and how much tubing for the plumbing and the gas. We also measured, ordered, and picked up our mattress and cushions for the bench. The cushions are dropped off at an upholstery place to be covered, and I have the mattress so I can sew some belt loops to it for the belt which will hold the two pieces together. We've run all over everywhere getting parts...buckles for the mattress belt, connectors for the electrical system, the beautiful mahogany for the cabinets, as well as hinges and pulls, and I don't even know what other bits and pieces. The camper is currently with the cabinet maker, but should be going back to Koops' for the last pieces in the next week or so. Then, the electrician will be back in mid-December, and we will get the solar system hooked up, after Koops' mounts the solar panels on the roof. Tom is pretty sure he has what he needs for the plumbing and the gas, but it's all taking more time than we expected, even though we thought we built in a pretty good cushion. It now looks like we won't be leaving until sometime in the beginning of 2022...but we are going to get this done right, and stop stressing about how long everything is taking. We don't have photos of everything being measured since those photos wouldn't be very exciting, but we've taken lots of photos of the cabinets being built since that is very visible progress, and we are really pleased and excited about them. We picked up the camper from Koops’ yesterday, and it is sitting in our driveway! It isn’t done, but it’s ready for us to get some of the things we need to do going, and we’re really excited. The bed platform and slide extension is done. A queen mattress would have fit in the cabover with an east/west orientation, but by turning it 90 degrees and creating a slide, we created a lot of space for storage. Now that we have the exact dimensions, we are going to order a mattress in two parts which can be belted together, so we can pull out the slide and have a queen sized bed at night, but fold it up and slide in the drawer during the day. The mattress is on the list to be ordered when we go to Belize City on Monday, along with cushions and seat backs for the bench. Koops’ put in a hatch over where the washer will be so that we can reach through and turn the gas lines off and on without having to exit the camper. This hatch is also likely to double as a cat door so our cat who thinks she is a dog can travel with us, and we don’t have to have a litter box in the camper proper. The first thing Tom did when we took the camper was to drive it to Reimers to be weighed. We were delighted to discover that the total dry weight is a little less than 2000 pounds. This weight doesn’t include us or our personal gear, and about 150 pounds will be added when the solar panels are installed on the roof, but we are definitely breathing sighs of relief that we’re coming in at a weight that will be easy for this truck to handle. We also sticked it front to back and for total height, and found that the nose to tail length is slightly under 24’, and the height to the top of the rails is 11’8”. It could be slightly taller if we pump up the air ride shocks under the bed, but it will definitely come in at under 12’.
|
Meet the Moonracers
Tom and Marge are taking Moonracer Farm On The Road Again. Follow our journey to build an expedition vehicle and travel! Archives
January 2024
Categories |