As you can see we have plenty of it, but its in one large lump which isn't so useful when you start stacking stuff in there. We need something a little more modular, or separated so we can keep wet tents away from dry clothing and the like. So out with the pen and paper for a quick doodle.
A simple design for a 2 shelf (plus the floor) system. I have made space at the front for the cool-box to sit on the middle shelf, so we can get access to it from the back seats while in motion, and included some cross bracing for strength.
With the help of some spare wood supplied by Adam, from his recent home refurbishments, we started building. We decided to not bother putting cross bars all the way up to the seats on the top shelf for several reasons. Partly because it would have been a pain to do the smaller bits on the sides with supports etc, but also it now gives us convenient access to the middle shelf from inside the car without moving the seats. Also remember "measure twice, cut once".
Next up the camp kitchen. A brain-fart I had while pondering this was the idea of a pull out work top for to put the burner on for our morning bacon. An old server comes with sliding rails, and makes a convenient metal box to store hot cooking bits in, and it just so happens I have an old server.... et voilà.
Work in progress...
The whole chassis extends clear of the back of the car, and can be accessed easily from both sides. The lid is conveniently removable so we can store the stove and bits inside and, when slid back inside the car, the boot closes without issue.
The finished product :)
So that's the shelving system sorted, while I was dealing with most of that, Mike attacked the dashboard. The Previa comes with a blanking plate above the radio that we wanted to remove to install the CB. As it turns out we might be locating the CB elsewhere now, but it was still a worth while exercise as we can install a cubby-hole here for easy access storage.
After much swearing, bashing and "persuading" the unit was loose. Not without a few casualties though. Not only did the cigarette lighter suffer, but the car also managed to draw first blood.
We also found a fairly random CD buried inside the dashboard kind of stuck in place with 10 year old dried up coffee. The CD had Asian writing on it, possibly Chinese, and its black on the back (much like the early play-station games. The odd thing is the Previa doesn't even have a CD player. Strange. The music is some random Asian singer, so I have no idea what it is. If anyone wants it, donate a tenner to our just giving page and it's yours :)
Anyway, after digging that out, cleaning up the coffee spill and all the other crud in the dash, we re-fitted everything ready for the electrical work next week.
So what's next? We have a number of things to do before we are ready to go, and with just 8 weeks left, time is running out. Some of the things coming up in this blog are:
- Wire up the various chargers and electrical gizmos.
- Do an oil change
- Replace the balding rear tires
- Check the engine over (and possibly switch out the sparkplugs).
- Install the CB and antenna
There are more things on our list, but I will save those for later, so tune in next time....
