2018-6/8-7/17 Arm Rests, Secret Compartment, Main Heater
These are three projects that happened pretty close to each other and are somewhat related. This is what I did with the far front of the living space of the bus. On one side, there is a secret compartment/arm rest. On the other, is an arm rest with shelving below, and a propane heater on a stand above.
First we have the secret compartment. I made a video for this one. Basically, that whole section slides out and will be hidden within the cabinet that I am building around it. There is also a cubby on the left that has an outlet inside.Similar to the pocket door, the whole piece slides out and the hardware is mostly hidden within the cabinet.On the side by the door, I built a shelf.This is before anything is installed. I put it in place to decide the placement of the light switches that were going to go right by the door. Now I can see where I need to run my wire.I used my router to freehand a shallow groove cut into the board by the door.Freehand…super nice. I’m not too good with the router.Cleaning out the sawdust to make room for the wire.Wire in the groove.This end of the wire will go into a junction box where I will mount a switch for the lights. Up until this point, the wire had just been dangling by the door. It’s a 3-way switch, so I can turn the lights on at either entrance.A piece of the ceiling will act as trim to hide the wire.Wood Glue.Clamps.Now I’m ready to build the front arm rest/shelves.These 2×4 pieces are holding the back of the shelf in place.A piece of wood covers the void and allows me to recess the junction box for the switch. Shelves go in. This creates a small void below the bottom shelf that I may turn into another secret compartment…Here’s the secret compartment with the shell on. It looks like a normal arm rest with a cubby. Even if you open the cubby, you can’t necessarily figure out how to unlatch the secret pull-out. Shellac finish for the entire cabinet.The other side gets the same treatment. I put a piece of Vertical Grain Douglas Fir on the tops of both arm rests, but it doesn’t seem to match the countertops as much as I had hoped. Still, they match each other, so it looks fantastic.Next is the Wave 6 Catalytic Propane Heater.I re-purposed an old TV mount to hold the heater. With a piece of scrap wood between the mount and the heater, I had plenty of anchor points to secure it.I pre-drilled and bolted 4 beefy bolts through the top piece of the shelf, to hold the heater mount. You can also see the 4 screws on the plywood mount itself. This is where the heater will attach.Heater attached, but not yet plumbed with gas line. That will come later.
