Up front in the cab of M-B is/was a cheapo car stereo. Quad speaker and MP3 friendly. This last was all that saved it from being replaced with another cheapo (NZ$70 odd) that has no cd or tape slot but does have a pair of slots for USB and flash drives. Cunning! Buy a cheap mem stick, load it up with all your music and you are laughing. No cd's under foot to either stand on, lose or provide temptation for miscreants. However, since the 1 I have is MP3 capable I can just burn my play list onto a cd and leave it in, changing it once a month or when ever I need something else. Fair compromise. A previous owner must have searched the land for the ugliest pair of bargain basement auto speakers known to man then screwed them to the walls left and right of the table. I took considerable satisfaction in removing them.
A cruise of TradeMe ( www.trademe.co.nz ) turned up any number of options at a range of prices from silly cheap (already have a pair of those, thank you!) to barking mad (nice but never going to happen). In the end I opted for a new pair of Sony Xplode 6x9" 60 watt automotive speakers at a delivered price of NZ$73. Paid for then and there by interbanking, they were delivered couple of days later and looked just the part. Best of all my measurements were actually right and they fitted perfectly!
A useful cardboard template came with them showing the size hole to be cut and the installed size as well. Mark the hole with a marker pen and go to work with the saw on one of my Swiss Army Knives.
A word about SAKs. Excellent. More words. Built properly, superior steel, impeccable build, fit and finish. In my humble opinion they represent a high tide mark of design and engineering excellence. Of all the pocket knives I've ever owned, and there have been a few, only the SAK has a saw blade that WORKS! Over and over and over. The world of compound knives is an interesting, lucrative and hotly contested one. There are some fine knife makers, Gerber, Leatherman, Buck, Shrade etc who build a fine product. With the exception of Leatherman I've owned all of the above and all have been acceptable. Sadly tho, only the SAK made a realistically priced (read cheap) saw option that delivers. Most cheapo knife saws will work once, few work twice. The SAK works. Period. If I meet ET in a paddock someplace and had to give him a present to take home, it would be a SAK. A primitive idea developed to a high art. Bloody marvelous!.
Anyhoo, the bottom of the cupboard turned out to be 2 layers of 3 ply, dig in the auger to make a hole then zipzipzip with the saw. The saw is narrow enough to easily cope with the sharp ends of the oval holes and was done before it could turn tedious. The speakers fitted neatly after a small trim of the holes, the supplied black screws wound in easily and almost suspiciously easily the job was done.
What's not to like? The other side went off just as easily.
This is too easy, when does the hammer drop? Only thing to be decided now was where to put the stereo head. When I thought I was going to get another stereo unit, the thought did occur I could get one with a remote control, then cut the unit in the cupboards on the horizontal between the cupboard doors, then it would be easy to reach while sitting at the table and with the aid of the remote, easy to work while in bed. Then when I decided to go with the one I had for now, the hunt began for a good place to put it. It didn't take long to see the best, ie easiest, place to put it was on top of the cupboards over the galley. Easy to reach from bed and acceptable from everywhere else. The fact I'm 6 ' tall bare footed helped too. Also easy was the fact there was a 12volt light switch handy to tap power from. Pry open the panel in the cupboard covering the back of the light switch and oh...my...god!
I suspected already that whoever re-arranged the 12 volt system had brain damage, but now I was sure. There are 4 12 volt lights (more on them later) inside, 1 at the head of the bunk bed, 1 over the galley and 1 left and right of the lounge. All the feeder wires were twisted together and jammed into the back of the bunk switch. Nice. So all the wires were removed, separated and arranged nice and neatly in 12 spot strip connector. 4 Lights, stereo and main feed = 12 wires. Some detective work with a multimeter showed which wire went where and were labeled accordingly.
I was going to make a nice neat aluminium bracket for the stereo head, but discovered some hard cell foam in my fly tying box (makes great spider and hopper floaters) which wedged the stereo head in place nicely, didn't need screws or bolts and can be changed with no effort later. Sweet!
It works! Add power, insert Johnny Cash cd aaaaand 'Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.' Rocking! Winds up loud enough to be painful and turns way down to a clear whisper. I had some concerns I'd need another pair of speakers for a good solid sound (the stereo has wires for another pair) but I needn't have worried. All good!
Stereo is clearly visible on top of cupboards. Note hand pump cold only tap over sink. Lots of campers have clever hot n cold running water, the camper I lived in did, very clever but raises an issue of when is clever too clever? Or if not too clever, then unnecessary. If I don't have it, it doesn't cost me and cant go wrong. A kettle on the stove will provide hot water and having to pump cold water will make me think about about how much I need anyway. There is no under floor water tank, that comes from a jerry can under the sink. Sooner or later the galley will be ripped out and rethought, but not today. In the meantime 'I'll keep a close watch on this heart of mine. I'll keep my eyes wide open all the time......'
love it lol
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