Foretravel Owners' Forum

Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Renovations => Topic started by: Charlieboise on December 03, 2022, 05:00:09 pm

Title: First critical project
Post by: Charlieboise on December 03, 2022, 05:00:09 pm
After driving my new to me 03 U320 1200 miles I knew right away what I was going to eliminate first.

Banged my head 5 times coming into the coach and have no need for a TV up front.

My TPMS, GPS, Backup camera, silverleaf, and anything else I feel like will be highly visible up there.

Not an easy task.  Hardest part was finding stain that fit in with the 20 year old walnut cabinetry.  Old masters special walnut was the best possible match I found. 

My head will thank me down the road. 
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: Michelle on December 03, 2022, 05:29:41 pm
For future reference, the original cabinets are black walnut with (yes) Sherwin Williams sanding sealer as a finish.  That is per David Flanagan at Foretravel (and we used it for a couple of projects with good results).
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: Woody & Sitka on December 03, 2022, 06:09:04 pm
Very nicely done and it looks oem.
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: oldguy on December 03, 2022, 06:30:52 pm
I got rid of my head banger too and built the TV in tight to the cabinet. I like your blinds up front
is that OEM for that year. .
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: Charlieboise on December 03, 2022, 07:21:41 pm
Not sure if the blinds are OEM for that year.

I spent $60 at Sherwin Williams on stain with multiple trips back to get it right. It got worse as we went. 

That cabinet is not all walnut and on mine the colors are all over the map from light to dark.  I was mostly trying to match the cabinets to the right and left.

The stain was the pain in my case.

Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: nitehawk on December 03, 2022, 08:34:16 pm
I used walnut stain on cherry wood and it came out super close.
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: oldguy on December 03, 2022, 10:49:52 pm
That's the first I've seen that has 2 shades up front. Who ever did it did a great job.
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: Charlieboise on December 04, 2022, 04:10:43 am
I used walnut stain on cherry wood and it came out super close.
I used cherry as well.
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: Gary & Jeannie on December 04, 2022, 06:27:02 am
The shades are the same as on my 2005, they are original.  Driver and passenger side are on separate switches  What i really like is when driving into the sun I am able to adjust to block direct light. 
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: Old Toolmaker on December 04, 2022, 09:29:25 am
Well covered, but I want to add:

If the white rabbit grabbed your pocket watch and you want to follow him into the hole to retrieve your watch:

You can color your own wood stain, and or mix your own wood dye to match your existing wood.

Where was the internet when I was young?
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: Elliott on December 04, 2022, 09:52:19 am

You can color your own wood stain, and or mix your own wood dye to match your existing wood.
I have done this to match the walnut in my coach with limited success. By far the best match was just finding a similar piece of walnut hardwood and using a satin polyurethane with no stain. Once you start looking closely, you realize that much of the original wood doesn't match perfectly either.
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: oldguy on December 04, 2022, 11:02:37 am
I notice he still has the old sun shades which I took off as I use the blind to block the sun
when driving into it.
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: WS6_Keith on December 04, 2022, 11:05:16 am
The shades are the same as on my 2005, they are original.  Driver and passenger side are on separate switches  What i really like is when driving into the sun I am able to adjust to block direct light. 
Same here on my 2003 U320.  Original from what I see in the manuals.  They are MCD's.
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: Charlieboise on December 05, 2022, 06:08:26 am
I notice he still has the old sun shades which I took off as I use the blind to block the sun
when driving into it.

I considered using the power shade to block the sun but with 20 year old electronics I saw a vision of driving down the road with no vision.  ;) 

I kinda like those swing arms. They do junk it up a bit but they function well. 
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: Charlieboise on January 29, 2023, 09:44:48 am
Well with exception of the plugs in the trim I'm done for now.  Have some room for expansion to boot.

The laptop runs the VMspc.

Gonna add the AC port to the power bank and build a charging shelf to hold phones and anything else that needs to be charged while parked. 
Title: Re: First critical project
Post by: juicesqueezer on January 29, 2023, 12:40:57 pm
Nice job on the setup and color match!