2016 Blue Ridge 3780LF

[Hvacman]

I've never really started a thread before in a forum so bear with me. I've always gone to various forums looking for information about a variety of issues and projects.
I'm on my third and hopefully final RV, all fifth wheels, and have enjoyed performing different projects and modifications on each one. This will be my attempt at passing on my experiences.
I took delivery of my Blue Ridge in April 2016. My wife and I are now completely satisfied with the layout. We've always needed a bunk house layout, but could never enjoy much living space due to the typical bunk house layout. This mid bunk house plan gives us the best of both worlds.
My first project for this RV was to remove the couch in the bunkhouse and install a platform bed, which we have found is much more user friendly than dealing with the foldout couches. It was at this time I was able to see some of the quality built into the Blue Ridge product line. I was pleased to say the least.

If we were only going to need a bed in this room when we had guests I would have left the couch in place. It was a nice couch and very comfortable. This room would have been nice for a small TV rm or just a reading room. But since we use the bed on every trip, this mod made more sense. The fold out bed took up the whole space when opened up.

My next project was the unusable space below the TV in the living room. My wife wanted a drawer put in there. Which as any good husband would do, I agreed with her.This is a stock picture of what the space looked like. I had to wonder why Blue Ridge didn't do something like this at the factory. Maybe they don't have a Woman on there design staff????

I built the drawer but had a local cabinet maker make and finish the drawer face for me, hoping for a better chance at matching the style and color in the RV. I now have a happier wife and a space that is a bit more usable.


My next project was for me
I missed some of the aspects of my outdoor kitchen we had in the Moutaineer, my last RV. Specifically, storage for my cooking stuff, a refrigerator and hot/cold water access. Here is my solution. Let me know if you have questions.
I used the JOBOX Aluminum Sliding Drawer Truck Box — 2-Drawer, Vertical, Smooth/Diamond Plate, 50in.L x 24in.W x 6in.HModel# 1402980. I was fortunate enough for the height of the crawl space to accommodate the drawer assembly and the refrigerator. The drawer assembly is raised and anchored high enough for the drawers to clear the lip of the opening and the refrigerator is bolted to the top plate of the JOBOX. If you look closely at the first picture of the refrigerator you will see a black outside shower enclosure that I installed next to the refrigerator in the ceiling of the crawl space. This is for my hot/cold water access. Here are some closeups....


Now back to the wife...
She wants more counter space...
OK, just kidding. I happen to agree, the kitchen is a little tight on counter space. So I found a really nice piece of unfinished walnut cutting board that was 1"x 18"x 24", the perfect size. I found a set of heavy duty folding leaf brackets and went to work. Here's what I came up with.
Oops, looks like I maxed out the photo allotment for this post. More to come...

[Hvacman]

OK, I hope this works. Here are the photos of the folding leaf. A few notes to be aware of if your going to try this. Be sure to consider the structure of the cabinet your connecting this to. I made some reinforcements inside the cabinet to be able to handle this add-on. Also as an afterthought, walnut may not have been the best wood for this. It was a bit expensive and it was on the soft side as a hard wood. I was happy how it turned out though. The first pictures are of the brackets and the wood unfinished.

Yea, I know....unfinished really comes close to matching the floor, go figure.

The next pictures are after a week of stain and multiple coats of a spar finish and painting the brackets a more subdued color to match. I used spray Minwax Satin Helmsman Indoor/Outdoor Spar Urethane so it would better endure the temperature swings experienced inside the RV over the course of the year, and to better protect it from water since it will be a part time counter top.

Looks like I got closer to matching the new drawer face than the rest of the wood. Anyway....My wife is now a "Happy Camper".

[Hvacman]

This was a mod that my wife and I brought up to the dealership before we purchased the RV. You will see in the first picture that they used a material that matches some of the counter top material used. We didn't understand why they did this. The material would not, in our opinion, hold up. Plus you could see the finishing nail heads they used to put the material in. Anyway, part of our deal was for the dealership to get us some flooring material used in the rest of the RV so I could correct this concern. They got the material and I provided the labor. It took a month or two, but the dealership came through. This picture is a stock photo of what the floor looked like before.

Here is what we thought the factory should have done.


In our previous two campers, they used carpet. My wife was never happy with how the carpet would hold up. Apparently Blue Ridge thought the same thing and made the change. We just could understand why they just didn't use the flooring material instead.

[Eklc]

Excellent work! Looks great.


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[themounties]

Looks good