Berry Cabinetry Mods

Camp Tiffin — Red Bay, Alabama

If you want cabinetry work done while in Red Bay, there are two options that we know of … both come highly recommended on the TRVN forum. TJ Allison works for Tiffin, and does custom cabinetry work on his own time. Chris Berry is a former Tiffin craftsman who has branched off on his own now. With both equally well recommended, our decision came down to who could fit us in. Turns out, that was Chris Berry.

He came by one evening to look at our list and give us a bid; came by the next evening to do a partial install, and finished everything up the following evening. In addition to the cabinetry work pictured below, he replaced the door catches on my desk pedestals with stronger ones and came up with a 10-pound catch mechanism for the sliding door on our laundry cabinet. Seeing as how Chris already had his tools out, Mui also asked him to mount the cherry-wood cup holder he bought from the camp store.

Entry Door Cabinet

We had an empty niche under the dash that was begging for a storage solution. The cabinet, which has a flip-down door, is free-standing, held in place by a snug fit. It’s a good catch-all for small stuff, especially a few tools that Mui needs to do minor maintenance.

Dashboard Drawer/Laptop Tray

The drawer/tray came pre-installed when we bought the coach. The problem, however, was that the design dated back to when these coaches had smaller doors (or doors behind the co-pilot seat), so it didn’t pull out far enough to be useful. Cutting down the drawer portion to accommodate a second set of slides now brings the drawer/tray all the way out so that I can actually use it while we’re rolling down the road.

Before and After

Pilot & Co-Pilot utility trays

The wood trays have a shallow lip (at Mui’s request, deeper on the pilot’s tray) to keep things from falling off. We’re going to line them with some non-skid stuff to keep things from sliding around. Now we won’t be looking around for a place to put glasses, phones, pens, notepads, etc.

Trim for under-cabinet task lighting

This was a project Mui was going to do himself, but decided to ask Chris to build them instead. A simple u-shaped trim hides the fluorescent task lights and blends them into the cabinetry.

Linen Cabinet

There’s plenty of storage in the Phaeton, but we wanted to make use of the empty wall in the lavatory to add a cabinet to store things like extra rolls of TP and towels. Although the cabinet is only 7 inches deep, it holds a lot — or will when I finish putting stuff in it. The one shelf inside is adjustable.

Hamper Conversion

The coach came with a hamper in the bedroom vanity. Since we can use the washer as a hamper, we decided to have the hamper converted to more storage. Initially, I wanted two shelves installed, but Mui convinced me that drawers would be better. These deep drawers are good for bulky items; we use them to store rain jackets, fleece tops, and the like.

Before and After

Chris matched the stain color for the new work with our existing cabinets. The drawers in the hamper conversion turned out to be a little lighter, but I have been assured by Chris — and several others as well — that the color will darken over time. We might pull them out when we’re in a campground somewhere and set them out in the sun for a few days to hasten the darkening process.

Overall, we’re very pleased with these mods, and look forward to making good use of them.