Rear Shelf Removal - New Cabinets

ColoradoDJ

2017 320 S Max. I always struggled with this area.....”Is it a shelf? Is it a cabinet?” Half the time I would go to put something in there and it wouldn’t fit! I know many of you put baskets there, we like things a little more put away. I figure we increased our storage in that area by about 3-4 times. We use this area for clothes and followed Jenn Grover’s lead, we use storage bags. We labeled them and keep about 4-days worth of clothes ready to go. We sleep two twin beds so we have plenty of room between our heads to set our phones, remotes, a book, bottled waters, iPads etc. 

I reached out to Austin at nuCamp to get his thoughts, he loved the idea and suggested to maybe swing the doors down. I opted to swing them up. I thought they would be more out of the way, along with the hinges and we wouldn’t be leaning on the doors weakening them.

I made a face frame that slid right in place with 6-screws in the bottom, two small L-brackets on top and an L-bracket on each side. I ordered 3 cabinet doors from the factory, with hinge holes and without knobs. The soft close hinges & knobs are from Home Depot. Magnets hold the doors up (with wood grain contact paper), shortened the knobs and notched out the upper cabinets for the knobs. 

You might have noticed I added two under cabinet lights (same ones as in the kitchen area). I got 12v from the corner lights by the speakers. They are great for lighting up behind the bench! Tip: Stick a small door bumper on the face frame to indicate where the light switch is underneath. I also did the split bench mod (that’s whole a other post sometime). 

I know what you all are thinking.....”Did this block off the back heat?” and “How do you get to the Alde reservoir?” I got some 1/8” wood sheeting and glued 4- 3/4” slats as spacers to create a air gap and stuffed into the heating slot. The heat flows right up through it and our heads don’t get hot anymore.  Getting to the Alde reservoir is the same as before. Remove the two screws on the side and the wood piece slides straight out. 

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out and kind of looks like it came from the factory that way. 

After posting on a Facebook page I found out Kaethe Ko did something similar to her 2010 DM. 

snoqualmiesmom

Hi Leonard!  Here is the link to our Dutchman rear shelf mod. It is amazing that you and my husband did these almost identical mods.  Great minds both. 
kaethe

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/15226/dutchman-rear-storage-area-mod-to-improve-access-to-lower-storage-bin-and-increase-overall-storage/p1?new=1

Denny16

They both look very nice and appears to have been a factory install.
 Cheers