Really, She's Done!

So, I might have been a tad bit ahead of myself in declaring that she was done yesterday.  I had one last job to do; test the trailer wiring on the tow vehicle.  I had tested it before completely finishing the cabin shelf area, but not on the actual tow vehicle.  Of course, there was a problem.  Isn't there always?  I could not get the left tail light to light up.  I tested every connection that was 'visible.'  It turned out to be one that was under the shelf.  Again, good thing I made the shelf (which was covered in insulation and cedar) removable.

Removing the two panels was refreshingly easy; you never know how well things like that will work out.  In this one case, it worked as designed!

I just set the two pieces aside while I worked on the wiring.

Finally, after buying a new wire harness to 'tap' into my existing wires, I finally got it all to work.  One of my connections under the shelf had come loose.  Everything is tight and well taped.  Hopefully I'll not have a problem in a long time.  I did put electrical repair supplies in one of the 'tool boxes' in the floor storage.

The Carpe Diem with her tow vehicle.

Having the basket bolted to the tongue provided me with a rigid hand hold as I moved the teardrop to the tow dolly.  I took her on a victory lap around the block.  Ended up meeting a fella around the corner who also has a 1947 travel trailer; his is a 'Standy.'  He thought when he bought it that it would fit in his garage to let him work on it, but it didn't, so he's slowly working on it in his back yard.  Funny how folks looked at me; not sure what it is.  Can't wait to see the looks we get when we taker her on the road!

Cabinets or No Cabinets? That is the Question.

So, I'm finally inside the cabin doing something besides pulling wires and installing fixtures.  I'm thinking about how I want the interior to work for me.  As you can see from the picture below, the teardrop has a very sturdy shelf over the wheel wells.  Believe it or not, my nearly 5' 11 year old fits perfectly there!  This brings me to the topic of today's post: to build cabinets or not?

The shelf/cabinet area of my teardrop.

I spent the night in the teardrop for the first time this past weekend.  I found myself using the front of the shelf as a 'foot rest' while reading at one point.  Another time I used the shelf to hold my regular glass of water I go to bed with each night.  This got me thinking.  Do I really want to build cabinets above the shelf or not?  

A really good friend of mine argues for not building cabinets.  He says that one can keep suitcases, bags, etc in the tow vehicle and there is really no 'need' for lots of storage in the cabin.  Pretty much you are only going to keep additional clothing, toiletries, etc. inside the cabin.  Because you can't stand up to change, you probably are going to be using some version of a 'side screen room' or shelter to do that in.  

A fellow teardrop enthusiast, Stacie, made a great suggestion on the TNTTT forum.  She suggested that I construct wooden bins to slide into the space above the wells.  This would allow one to store things out of sight, but still retain the ability to use the space as a shelf, bunk, etc.  I think that is brilliant.  I will think that over a bit.  In order to customize them even more, one could make them 'slant' from front to back.  this would further maximize the amount of storage in each bin.  

Another member of the TNTTT forum, Becky, shared that she decided on making a shelf too.  She wished she had made her shelf bigger.  She shared that she built a small cabinet below the shelf to hide her electrical work.  This got me thinking.  I need a place to 'hide' the 12 and 120 volt outlets.  I could make a small 'cabinet' below the shelf where I could hide these.  This would retain the shelf, but would solve the problem of getting the power into the cabin.  

I'm sure others will share fantastic ideas; that is what most amazes me about the teardrop community; they are always helping one another!