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Coffee shelves

Inspired by/ ideas stolen from 1705.net

Was seriously missing surfaces for the evening time, especially if the top is down. Cooker top is no use as you have to move everything when you brush your teeth. There is just the tiny area in front of the cuttlery drawer.

Wanted a small shelf that never got in the way. Although the idea started from the larger shelf on 1705s blog, I wanted something shorter. I had a failed carbon fibre project that was using 5mm Nomex honeycomb so decided to use this with some home made CF sheet to make a small, thin lightweight shelf. Some bits of bent ally with CF reinforcment completed this one. Works well for phone, keys etc.

The first coffee shelf

1705.net also had a reduced clip in shelf, using bracketry from their second unused table. My van only came with one table, so although this looked like a nice idea, I didn’t have the spare bracket to use for it. I searched high and low for an aluminium profile to match with no luck but recently came up with a way of simplifying the bracket using a hook and and a single stopper (the original having a stepped stopper section).

Bent some 3mm acylic to make the hook sections and aluminium corner to make the stopper section. Shelf constructed from 2 layers of CF and aluminium honeycomb (about 10mm thick total).

Has a bit of give in the brackets but then so does the original table bracketry! Could possibly reinforce the angle if it comes to it.

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Wardrobe

The original wardrobe is much hated. I hated that it had little usable storage. It had doors that were always in the way and clattered while driving.

I decided to go the shelve route and to also change the doors to a tambour door

Completed install. Dimmer for the roof LEDs and a dim/full switch is on the left beneath the one remaining cigarette socket in the van. Plate replaces what was once mains power outlets.

The shelves were mainly produced from the old cupboard doors cut up and repurposed. These were actually quite a nice, light weight hollow construction. The divider was extended at the bottom to prevent items from crossing between the two sections using some home made carbon fibre, double sided sheet. The top shelf is a sandwich construction carbon fibre shelf with aluminium honecomb core!

The brackets for the tambour doors needed spacing out to put them in line with the metal door edges. A top vanity cover is needed to hide the roller and the gap at the top. Purple carbon fibre sheet (one layer of purple glass/CF twill and rest CF). A trim is also needed for the bottom of the metal frame where screw holes were exposed from removing the old track. Access to the top shelf is slightly limited by the door.
I find aluminium corner a really simple, lightweight and flexible way of making shelf brackets.

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Middle cupboard shelf.

It took more than a year of mulling over this one but I finally worked out a way to make the middle cupboard a bit more usable to me. The issue as many know is that this cupboard as it comes is one of the few that is accessible when the bed is down (making it valuble cupboard space) but it is deep and an odd shape meaning its difficult to get much in it in an organised manner.

For a year I just had a soft box that I shoved in over the pans and it was super annoying. For ages I mulled over how to get a usable shelf. This is what I came up with.

Shelf shaped to allow a higher level storage. Shallow enough to allow pans into the bottom. Upstand to keep items in and hinged to allow easy access to the top shelf.

I formed it all from carbon fibre using a aluminium honeycomb core. Something similar could be done in wood with a metal door. Composites are something I am accustomed to working with.

The two halves of the shelf sandwich. The shelf actually lost about 20mm in order to get the pans in
Completed shelf before trimming
With hinged upstand added.
In place with DZUS 1/4 turn fasteners opened ready for loading
Fully loaded