Interim doors and countertops for camper interior.

[dbhost]

On my 93 Sportsmobile camper van, the interior cabinets are made of MDF, yea stupid I know, the doors on the dinette bases at the rear cargo door, well honestly ALL of the doors are either slightly swollen, or just massively distorted, and the kitchen countertops are junked and need to be replaced soon.

I want to do a full interior rebuild but want to camp it while I am rebuilding the cabinets. so my thought process is this...

Countertops. Going to be the same thing on the new cabinets anyway, so just build the countertops as I want them, butcher block of Pecan and walnut. Stove and sink mounted flush. The side cabinet for the kitchen will need to be extended up .75" to make it fit. Long story but easy enough with biscuits and glue...

Doors. I want to go light, easy, and cheap...

I currently have 100' of fence down due to the hurricane that happens to have cedar pickets that I am reclaiming...

The idea here is these pickets should be cleared of any / all metal, surfaced, and laminated so I have some at least 5/8 stock to work with, and then just some basic Z braced rustic doors that will keep my pantry and closet from dumping out on me in transit...

Problem is, long term, I am aiming for a rustic / cabin theme in there anyway. I can see myself keeping the cedar slat doors...

Might just end up doing some dowel joinery and coat these things in epoxy to keep them around for the long run...

My biggest hangup is the shop doing the mechanical work is S.L.O.W.

I need my camper back like yesterday.

[capncarl]

Use Rubbermaid plastic totes for your stuff while you enjoy your camper and explore your possibilities with cabinetry. Maybe you can source some foam board/laminate materials for doors in your travels!

[dbhost]

The cabinetry exists now, so no need for rubbermaid totes other than in the cabinet organization, and I use ditty bags for that sort of stuff... But yeah, the idea is cheap quick and easy replacements, particularly for the doors by the rear cargo doors. I am figuring that is where heat is least likely to get to in cold weather, thus sweat etc... PLUS that is where I know I would be likely to be stuffing wet laundry bags to carry home, pretty sure the previous owner did too..

[capncarl]

I bought a bunch of old style kitchen cabinet doors at a yard sale, where home owner had renovated kitchen by replacing all doors with modern style. Fine for what I wanted for shop cabinets, and cheap. They were quality 1960s 3/4 plywood, no sign of warping, and cheap. A few calls to some local cabinet fab shops might yield some of their tear out materials, something similar that would suffice for cabinet doors.

[capncarl]

I learned from a motorhome complete interior build and a houseboat complete interior build, (there wasn’t anything inside the motorhome, and the houseboat was in shambles) that I could spend my life working on camper furniture or I could put some parts together and enjoy the motorhome and houseboat. I mentioned Rubbermaid totes, I used them for kitchen supplies, towels, toiletries, bedding etc. Use your down days, cold weather, too hot weather, to build furniture and spend the good days traveling and enjoying your camper. I promise you that after using your camper for a while as is, you will completely change your furniture plans!