For me, the most dreaded job is finally done, and it turned out OK which is even better. I was very unsure about not only cutting the Laminex but also glueing it down. I decided that today was the day and went to it. My first try at cutting the laminate a couple of weeks ago was a disaster, but I bit the bullet and bought a Laminate cutter which made all the difference. Today the cuts were clean and easy.
The glue was of course contact adhesive and this was the other worry. Contact means contact and the moment the two glued surfaces touch, that's it. Of course the laminate breaks really easy to getting it into the right position before the surfaces touch is essential. As susggested, I used some thinn pieces of pine to hold the laminate off the other glued surface. I then started at one end and used a piece of timber and a hammer to make sure that the surfaces were in contact and stuck.
I started with the kitchen bench, and then realised that I only had just enough laminate to do the job. On the weekend I used a piece in the front of the fridge. This meant that to finish the bench, the small bench and the table, I needed to use the pieces I cut out of the bench where the sink and cooktop go.
Anyway, just enough to do the job. Once everything was stuck down, I used a 9mm trimmer bit in the router and trimmed all the edges to size. I also used this to cut out the sink and stovetop pieces. After they were all trimmed, I changed the router bit to the more decorative one and did all the edges.
Once that was done, I had enough time to stain all of the edges to match. The whole job looks really good and the Laminex makes a huge difference to the look of the conversion. I have taken the following pics to show the finished job and put the sink and cooktop in for effect.
The pic above is the small bench next to the dinette where the radio will go.
This is the kitchen bench looking from the back of the vehicle. The colour of the Laminate is difiicult to see, but if you click on the pic it will expand to make it easier.
This is view from the front near the dinette seats. The bench cupboard doors are not hung yet, just standing there for effect at this point. I ran out of screws to fit them.
Another view of the Kitchen bench. The doors will look OK I think once they are varnished. That's it for today. This coming weekend, I have to get the water tanks in and mounting for the shower taps so that Peter can do the plumbing for me on 5 February. Thanks for reading.
