RV Update

That's a very good point Rob. I was just getting ready to order the gas springs and may go with a bit larger set.

Well, my buddy dropped off the flooring this weekend. Along with that he brought a new HD antenna for the roof, a LCD TV and swinging mount, which he wants me to install as well. He was happy with the height of the mattresses and is looking forward to having it done. He also brought some LED strip lighting that he wants installed. Turning out to be a bigger project than I was expecting, but kinda enjoying the process. He was also cool with me using parts from the couch for adding support over all the mechanicals under the drivers side bed.

So you experiencing project creep first hand. Hope the payment budget is creeping too.

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Rob Keeble said:

So you experiencing project creep first hand. Hope the payment budget is creeping too.

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Yeah, he and I chatted about that too. I was looking at things to make it an economy update. He stopped me and said "I want it done as you'd do it for yourself, I like your taste, and know it will be done right" (no pressure there huh?). I told him I had no idea what to charge him and he told me what he had budgeted for my time. What I thought was a lot, isn't even near the bottom of the range he told me.

oh and that's not really project creep. Project creep is when you go to change a rotten piece of siding and stop ripping rot out when you hit the top of the windows.

Chuck Thoits said:

:stop ripping rot out when you hit the roof.

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Fixed it for you

Fun thread Darrin, definitely interesting to follow along.

Today I finally got some time in on the project again. I had got a few hours in last weekend cutting down the existing base cabinets that were under the seating for the table. Each of the bases were cut off 4 1/2". Luckily the face and side panel were only screwed on, so I simply removed them, cut the top frames down and the side panel from the sides that have the doors on them. This allowed me not to have to modify the areas that housed the vacuum cleaner and heater on each.


This afternoon I removed the carpet and padding from the isle, then did some test fits of the flooring my buddy had bought.


He was going for a light/dark mix, but personally I think the finish is too yellow for the maple cabinets (may be hard to tell from the pics, but looks pretty contrasting in person). I think he does too once I sent him these pics. He has special ordered the floor, so not sure he'll be able to return them. I'm having my wife look at them tomorrow for a second opinion, I may be over thinking it, but he's already told me to see what else I could find as I think he knows his wife won't be happy with these.


I plan to shoot down some luan under layment as the floor has a couple of carriage bolts sticking up as well as I need to level out where the floor meets the rear step.

Looking good Darren!.

My wife says it's looks OK to her, but what does she know, she married me

I like the look of the flooring, but as you say, the photos may not show the actual effect.

Nice work, Darren. That floor sure looks yellow to me. Finding something closer to the maple might be better, but light floors really show the dirt.

Darren the floor wood looks great on its own but next to the maple the whole lot is too busy. Whats the chances of staining the maple doors darker so as to fit in with the darker color of the floor. Its a nice floorboard on its own but i can see it being difficult to match.

My wife looked at it yesterday and it was in the evening sun. When there's enough sunlight it looks fine, but looking at it when the light is filtered makes it look a little off. The borg might have some hickory with some dark areas that may go well, but need to take some samples up to see.

Rob, Part of the issue is that several of the panels are faux maple, printed kind of like a laminate floor on mdf, so they can't be stained. Also the extra labor would just make it cost more than finding a different floor.

Well, after researching some new flooring, my friend didn't see any that he thought would work any better, so we went with the original. Today I got most of it installed. After a few cuts on my miter, I realized I hadn't changed the blade since putting the laminate in my basement, and bamboo burns pretty easily.

I ended up putting down some 1/4" under layment to build up over some bolt heads in the floor as well as above the rear step's flange.

I re-used the carpet trim at the rear step to finish out the end of the floor, I milled a tongue on the end and a rabbet on the bottom side to clear the base of the trim. The tongue slipped into the opening in the trim.


I ended up nailing everything with 18 gauge trim nails. I adjusted the nail gun to set the nails about 1/16" - 3/32" deep, which worked well toe nailing into the factory tongues on the side. Though I did end up with about 50 bent brads to pull out as I'd hit hard spots from time to time, but since they were in the tongue the finished faces weren't damaged. I did face nail around the edges, but those will be covered with some trim.


Now the last part I need some input on is whether to run the steps flooring perpendicular to the rest of the floor OR to try and line it up and run it the same direction as the rest. I really don't think it looks bad the way I have it laid out currently, but how would you do it?


I plan to glue this flooring down since there is no sub-floor, just fiberglass. Also all of the fiberglass will be covered with flooring (the sides and kicker).

I'd choose as you have shown it in the last two pictures.

Thanks. Given that it's a step, it makes it stand out a little more. They plan to use it for tailgating too, so that may be the difference that keeps one that has been celebrating a little too much from tripping on it.

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Here's the finished step...

Well done Darren. Looks real good.

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Now you've got me thinking I need to get busy on some camper upgrades of my own!

Nice job DW!

Nice job!

Thanks all! Those back steps took quite a bit of cutting and fitting, actually feel like I did some woodworking this weekend.

After finishing the flooring, I focused on getting the mount for the seat belts made. I picked up some 2" x 2" x 1/4" angle iron, drilled a few holes and welded a piece on to connect it to the two factory seatbelt mounts where the seats used to be. I'll have 4 sets of seat belts along this wall, the other side has 3 sets.


I also cut down the original upholstered panel that was on the front of the front table seat, simply cut the fabric and cut the plywood to size and re-stapled the fabric.