Sunday, September 27, 2015

Hard Wired Surge Protector

My parents' 2002 Bounder ended up being totaled since the front end work would have required expensive fabrication of parts because of the age.  Their new replacement Bounder is a 50 amp and came with a built in surge protector so we are the happy recipients of a hand-me-down Progressive hard-wired surge protector like this: EMS-LCHW30 which has a lot more features than the $100 plug-in one that we've been using.

Thank goodness Kevin has confined space certification, because he sure had to use it in the tiny space that our power cord is housed at.  OK, HE didn't go in, but his arm sure was in that confined space!



There it is back in there:  




Saturday, September 26, 2015

Chalkboard Table and Refrigerator

The Winnie is back home!  However, between scouts and football, we remain grounded on the weekends...so time for some mods and stuff!  (and sitting in it in the driveway trying to imagine we're in Vermont - yeah, it didn't really work)

So first up was something I've been noodling on for a little while: some facelifting with chalkboard paint!

I bought a pint of the Rustoleum brand at Michael's with my 50% coupon, a foam paint roller for cabinetry and a hunk of furniture grade birch plywood from Lowe's and off I went.



The fridge panels were harder to remove than anticipated because they were stuck in there with some double-sided tape-goo, but our carpenter's square helped me get it loose since i needed something stiff and strong and thin to slip behind it and break the seal.  Apparently, according to the Norcold website, they usually just slide in and out.  So I don't know if it was because ours was a rental or if the panels were rattling and annoying the previous owner.  Anyway, after some wrestling I got them free.  The backs looked good, so I just used the same panels for painting.  That way the original wood grain is still available on the other side if we, or anyone else in the future, want to use it again.

Lots of sanding and more sanding on both the fridge pieces and my new tabletop, a wipedown with tack cloth, then I was ready to paint.  I lost count of coats but it is at least 6 or 7.  I just went out and threw on another coat every couple of hours over the course of a couple of days.

Meanwhile I took the original table out (this new one is about half the weight!) and removed all of the hardware.  Another quick trip to Lowe's for new screws for the tabletop portion since the old one is 1" and the new one is 3/4" and I was good to go.  We very rarely use the dinette as a bed, but we decided to still use all of the hardware to allow it to swing down.  It will be 1/4" off rather than level in the center portion now, but I'm thinking it won't be too noticeable with the cushions not being terribly level anyway.

So here's the end results:





Here are some before pics: