Building a kitchen pod for the Beach

[Stoneybroke]

Excellent work. Lots of tips and ideas too. Looking forward to seeing the finished article.

 

[Max-Felix]

Thanks. Day off work today and put another 8 hours or so into this thing! Never again.... Takes sooooo long to custom fit a drawer etc but slowly, slowly, very slowly getting there. Below Reimo rail and leg. Battens fitted to bottom and rear brace on. Drawer aperture cut (after some hours..).

 

[kave]

Looks almost like an Ocean
Whatvabout Festool domino for joining the mdf?

 

[Max-Felix]

Looks almost like an Ocean
Whatvabout Festool domino for joining the mdf?

Thanks Kave. I did not really want to use biscuits or similar as I don't have the time to learn or follow through the additional work - taking me so long as it is! Also I envisage that when I move this on (yes, despite all this blooming work I only plan to keep our Beach a very short time) someone can just take the unit apart hand the five main pieces to a Vohringer dealer and simply use them as perfect templates to get lightweight ply made.

 

[Max-Felix]

Some more pics, here the corner fixings with caps (MVM). Drawer units linked in first post - great quality these. And to use the standard rail fixings from the regular Beach storage box you need to pop the trim cap off the top and unclip the circlip. Waiting now on the Dibond for the drawer, sliding doors and shelves. Then need to rout the grooves for the T trim next.

 

[Keith Smith]

Looks almost like an Ocean
Whatvabout Festool domino for joining the mdf?

A Festool Domino is about £600, which probably rules it out, and in my opinion is not as good as a biscuit jointer for joining MDF.

 

[MattBW]

Very inspiring! It is making me want to try myself but I would make a right mess of it!

 

[owen_h]

A Festool Domino is about £600, which probably rules it out, and in my opinion is not as good as a biscuit jointer for joining MDF.

Festool make great looking tools but they cost ££££. The Domino system looks impressive and could be used to make some joints where even the smaller size biscuits result in a slot that's to wide.
I bought a deWalt biscuit jointer when I build my pod. £180 at the time but has gone up since.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dw682k-240v-600w-biscuit-jointer/22417

Been a useful tool to have since for other projects as well.

+ Max - pod is looking great

 

[Max-Felix]

Thanks guys. That corner profile makes all the difference and really gives a pro look as well as being very practical - no 'edges/corners' to bash into or damage.

 

[Max-Felix]

Couple more hours tonight - took the whole thing apart for final 'machining' - cutting the slot for the T trim. My trusty old cutter seized up in it's housing so a bit of lateral thinking was called for and it actually turned out much more accurate this way.

Hopefully start sealing and painting on Sunday.

 

[Max-Felix]

As promised sealing and painting today. Two coats of sealer on all the panels of the unit that are not on the outside. And first two coats of primer/undercoat on the outer sides. Also below cutting and priming the new inside table to fit the unit. And lastly spraying the edges of the battens matt black so they are invisible if looking down low under the unit - would annoy me otherwise!

 

[Max-Felix]

Cornflower blue going on.

 

[Max-Felix]

Dibond arrived - seven pieces custom cut for £43 delivered! I expect VW would want £100 for one shelf...

Let the assembly begin.

 

[Max-Felix]

A very tight fit - I masked off the front panel edge to 10mm to allow for the paint in the profile but forgot to mask the sides but nice and snug now:

 

[Max-Felix]

Some more work this evening. Fitting the sliding doors and the drawer base and sides:

 

[Max-Felix]

And here really starting to come together. Sunny Yellow and Cornflower Blue...

 

[Max-Felix]

Hoping the build is of interest but seriously, anyone considering this I would say think carefully and maybe leave it to the pros - yes it might cost you £1500 or £2000 or whatever for a one off custom unit but I've got hours into three figures invested in this one unit...

Anyway, pretty proud of how it's coming together - and the blue is a perfect match for the deckchair seat blue in the Beach - will show that at the end.

Below - good old carpet trim has it's uses - the old trick doubled over to make a neat edge for the fit to the van.

And starting work on a table design nicked off eBay...

 

[Max-Felix]

And here another trial fit - T trim on, shelves fitted, worktop cut and sink trial fitted. You can see access to the Beach side trim storage still accessible.

 

[Max-Felix]

And a bit I was dreading but the Gods were watching over me - the fitting of the rail clamps - ended up spot on and with small spreader plates and both of these locked down it is going nowhere. Unit is easily lifted in by one person and mounts and dismounts in about one minute.

 

[Dave bee]

Top work, keep the posts coming.

 

[Max-Felix]

Cheers Dave, one more tonight - water containers and pipes ready for plumbing, first primer coat to worktop.

 

[zeratul]

Fabulous work.
I'm starting to understand why pods like maxxcamp's are so expensive.

 

[Fiskar]

Nice work, tedious but will be well worth it. Now you need to get years of use out of it. Struggling to see how the hob works as the sink is in. Will look at the design again to see how that part works.

 

[Max-Felix]

Thanks, I think to be fair Maxxcamp are very well made from uncommon materials and the price mainly comes from the development, tooling and materials used. For a non pro (albeit enthusiast amateur ) making a one off like this is incredibly fiddly, time consuming and eats up time in trial and error, research etc. For a pro using the common Voringer ply method with jigs and pro routers etc then once a prototype is made for templates then repeating it would be easy.

 

[Max-Felix]

Nice work, tedious but will be well worth it. Now you need to get years of use out of it. Struggling to see how the hob works as the sink is in. Will look at the design again to see how that part works.

Lol! We only bought our Beach for a single trip this summer as it was a pampered beauty at the right price and I knew I could sell it one month later for pretty much the same money hence saving £3k on hire costs. And yes, nuts but this pod will be used just for that trip and then sold with the Beach or separately, so all this work for a few weeks use... I told you I was nuts!

We don't have a hob installed as too much hassle/expense with sealed gas locker needed etc so cartridge stoves are stored above the water and will be used outside where we prefer to cook anyway.