Drilling a hole in the cabinet!!!

[Barryjm]

Hi All,

I am busy making a shorter parcel shelf for my Cali, which will give a more flexible living space and a shorter bed, which I hope will not be a problem as I am 5'9'' ish and the standard bed must be around 6' 6'' in length.

I am after advice on drilling a 14mm hole (or two) in the cabinet :crazy as I want to move the parcel shelf bracket on the cabinet side back a bit. I have purchased a brand new 14mm metal bit for my drill but I am nervous as drilling a hole of this size in metal is not always a simple matter. I plan to put a pilot hole through first to keep the larger bit in the right place. Any one have any advice??? :idea:

The bracket on the drivers side appears to be fixed to the body work, so I was going to leave this well alone!

Also I need to make a shorter foam matress to match the parcel sheld length, can anyone recommend a site to purchase a new piece of foam and covering material to match the Cali original cover?

Best Regards Barry

 

[BerndRos]

Can't give you advice, as if I put a shelf up its bound to fall down........

But, nice to see a bit of innovation in a Cali owner........

 

[Stu]

Ensure there is nothing behind the part you want to drill.

Put some paper masking tape on the area you want to drill and mark the position on that, you'll find it easier to get a start.

I'd use several drills, starting at around 2.5mm and working up say with a 5/6mm, 9/10mm, 12mm then the final 14mm. That should give you a nice clean finish.

Be sure to recover all swarf from both sides of the hole.

 

[Tayls]

This reminds me of when I worked for a company that had a Car Phone business as a subsidiary (I was a cash register engineer then)

A Jaguar XJ6 came in to have it's phone removed and a new one fitted (in the days when you had a fixed handset in the front and a control box in the boot) - anyway, the engineer removed the old control box and there was a strong smell of petrol - yes, the original fitter had drilled into one of the twin petrol tanks!

Scary

Be careful

Ian

 

[Paul S]

Bit confused, if you move one side but leave the other untouched how is it going to work?

 

[Barryjm]

Great suggestion about progressively increasing drill bit sizes Thanks.

On the other side I will fit a drop drop down leg, not ideal, but preferable to messing with the Cali bodywork.

If I can summon up the courage I might do it this weekend, if not, I'll be ordering a second drop down leg :rofl

Regards Barry

 

[Linda]

Hi Barry,
you could mod the current mattress: if you split the fabric on the parcel shelf mattress, peel it away from the foam, trim the foam , then roll the fabric in on itself and stitch it up again- perfect fit £0.

 

[Stu]

Great suggestion about progressively increasing drill bit sizes Thanks.

On the other side I will fit a drop drop down leg, not ideal, but preferable to messing with the Cali bodywork.

If I can summon up the courage I might do it this weekend, if not, I'll be ordering a second drop down leg :rofl

Regards Barry

If it were me I'd go with drop down legs and retain the originality. A future owner may not feel the same as you.

 

[Barryjm]

Couldn't wait, holes now drilled, successfully I made a template out of MDF and clamped this in the desired position, this acted as a drill guide. With a small pilot hole in place first the larger drill bit cut a nice clean hole

Leg has now arrived in post for the other side, I can now move on to the next bit. I am taking a few photos if anyone is interested?

Not sure if there is a "how to" section in the forum for the DIYers out there???

Linda, nice idea with regards to the mattress, as long as I can restore everything back to original, apart from the holes, I will be happy!

I also want some Cali drawers just like Pirat has fitted, but one thing at a time!

Regards Barry

 

[Stu]

There is a technical section you could post in.

 

[Barryjm]

All now finished! The extra room is great, but will have to wait until next camping trip to test properly. I modified the existing mattress by carefully cutting the foam and then tucking the excess cover back in on itself, in theory it could be returned to original length again. The bed is still long enough for 5'10" and I am almost that

Photos below

 

[Barryjm]