Upgrades

[zzjea]

National owners may be interested in upgrades I've been making to my 2001 National Marlin DP.

Photos can be found at

Flickr: zzjea's Photostream

Select "Sets" just above the photos for groups of work done.

John

[MikeandRuth]

You are my kind of Guy! You can make as big a mess as I can!
Did you have to disassemble the panel opposite the fridge to get it in the hole or for some other reason?
Is the new fridge deck sitting on the furnace box or do you still have some clearance?
I like the new blocks on the slide. Did you jack the slide up to work on it?
And do you put the wood strips down every time you retract the slide to protect the floor? Vegas Dan posted that he scratched his floor initially and I do not know if he ever solved the problem.
Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.
Mike

[zzjea]

Originally Posted by MikeandRuth

You are my kind of Guy! You can make as big a mess as I can!
Did you have to disassemble the panel opposite the fridge to get it in the hole or for some other reason?
Is the new fridge deck sitting on the furnace box or do you still have some clearance?
I like the new blocks on the slide. Did you jack the slide up to work on it?
And do you put the wood strips down every time you retract the slide to protect the floor? Vegas Dan posted that he scratched his floor initially and I do not know if he ever solved the problem.
Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.
Mike

Thanks. Check out my answers on the Class A Forum, Upgrades to My Motorhome.

The hallway was widened 2" to give more space to install the new fridge and to give a little more space in the hallway. The door handles add about 2.5" to the depth. It might not be needed but now I'm glad it is a little wider.

The plastic blocks are inside on the sub floor. The flooring was put in around them and they are about 1/4" higher than the flooring. The vinyl planks are laid down each time I retract the slide to protect the wood floor. It would be scratched significantly if not done.

Vegasdan put throw rugs down to cover the scratches. If he had known it would happen, I'm sure he would have used something like the vinyl planks. The planks are sturdy enough to take the weight of the slide and not buckle when used.

John

[MikeandRuth]

John:
Your post in the other thread mentions you are going to do something behind the table soon.
This is what I did.
We installed a washer/dryer so we lost the space we used as a pantry, among other things.
I cut 12 inches off of the table and built this cabinet exactly 12 inches deep so the table footprint stayed exactly as original. I added 6 inches to the cutoff table piece and made it into an 18 inch leaf. The table now seat four comfortably. I store the leaf against the back wall of the closet in a pair of brackets I fabricated to retain it securely. It does not interfere with cloths storage. The drawers are on glides that allow them to pull all the way out so there is no reaching or shoving when accessing goods.
It works for us!

[zzjea]

Originally Posted by MikeandRuth

John:
Your post in the other thread mentions you are going to do something behind the table soon.
This is what I did.
We installed a washer/dryer so we lost the space we used as a pantry, among other things.
I cut 12 inches off of the table and built this cabinet exactly 12 inches deep so the table footprint stayed exactly as original. I added 6 inches to the cutoff table piece and made it into an 18 inch leaf. The table now seat four comfortably. I store the leaf against the back wall of the closet in a pair of brackets I fabricated to retain it securely. It does not interfere with cloths storage. The drawers are on glides that allow them to pull all the way out so there is no reaching or shoving when accessing goods.
It works for us!

Mike,

I wanted to do this exact thing but could not figure how to go about it. Can you give me details about how you did it? I would like to do exactly the same king of thing. If you could provide details and pics. I would get started on this project. I have a lot of questions. If you have the time, I would be very interested in your advice either here or a PM.

Thanks

John

[MikeandRuth]

John:
I would be pleased to assist any way I can.
I have some other construction pictures and I can take more as well as give you all the dimensions for everything. I am sending you a private e-mail so we can exchange phone numbers. I talk faster than I type!
Mike

P.S. If anybody else is interested, let me know! I think the cabinet makes excellent use of a dead space.
I have attached a couple of pictures of the box under construction.