Nana korobi ya oki

“Nana koroni ya oki” is a Japanese proverb which, loosely translated, means fall down seven times, get up eight. It’s usually used in reference to resilience, perseverance, commitment or struggle. It’s a neat phrase, simultaneously uplifting and a heads up that there will be tough times in your future. And, as with many metaphors, there is some relevance to our teardrop project.

After finishing much of the exterior metal work we moved onto completing the galley. For us this was voodoo. It was as if we were nearing the edge of our build journey and the next part of the map simply had the phrase “here be dragons.” Ok, maybe too melodramatic? But building the upper and lower cabinets, carcasses, and drawers, and then installing drawer slides and catches, was all uncharted territory that filled us with a fair bit of dread. We also wanted to be able to strip out the galley lowers for electrical access down the road, if necessary, and needed to design and construct it accordingly. We just kept taking small forward steps, persevered and kept “getting up.”

Before closing it all up, we did the final tidy of the wiring. Running behind the upper cabinets (the black bundles on the left hand side of the photo below) is wiring for a battery isolation switch, a volt/ammeter, a 12 volt outlet, a 110v outlet, feed from the solar controller to the battery, feed from the solar panel to the controller, galley hatch light, brake/ running combo light and the license plate light. There’s a lot going on in that corner.

We then tackled building the box for the electrical components. This was made much simpler as the smarter one of us volunteered to design the layout. This resulted in a clean, efficient and balanced panel. If the other of us had done the design it would have come out like a Dali painting.

The other thing that was super helpful was the purchase of corner clamps. They made set up and true up much simpler. Highly recommended.

After the front panel was cut we made a side panel with plenty of holes for ventilation, and installed a cleat on the outboard side into which we screwed the panel. It went together pretty well but not without drama.

Drama One – the meter (black square thingy below) was put in upside down but with only a few mild expletives it was quickly remedied.

Drama Two – we realized the white outlet and cover plate didn’t look right. In future pics you’ll see they were replaced with black.

Drama Three – after all was hooked up the brake light and license plate light weren’t working. Troubleshooting time. We had 12v at both sides of the 7 pin connector, at the junction box and right before the wiring entered the hatch. 12v was not present at the lights on the hatch. Grrrrr. We then took the lights off the hatch and connected them directly to the battery – both worked. REALLY not looking good. So we called our buddy Eric, the master electrician, and said we had beer if he could give us a hand. He came over and had it squared away in a jiffy. It turned out the other one of us had swapped wires. On both lights ground is white, not black. Crisis averted!

Once the panel was installed we moved on to the vertical upper cabinet members. These were quickly cut to length, width, drilled for shelf supports and poly’d. We had to think about their install as nothing in these uppers could be dependent on or attached to the countertop (our removability requirement mentioned earlier). The last step was to add the shelf on top.

To finish the shelf and make it more functional we added a lip to the front. After dry fitting we realized the the lip would interfere with the hatch struts so before it was permanently attached we cut and finished channels in either end to accommodate the struts. Finessed again.

Version one of the galley uppers looked like the photo below, with the electrical panel on the left and the shelves covered by a single panel. From the outset we planned to use the cabinet door(s?) as tables. We would add some C channel to the side of the trailer to slide the panel into then figure out a way to add some legs for support. But as we looked we felt it would look better, and be more functional, as two panels which would also give us two tables instead of one.

One of the final things to do on the uppers was to build a little box in the middle section to protect the back of the electrical panel and wiring. It too needed to be removable as well as provide ventilation. We added mesh fabric on the back side of the panels to ensure nothing can get through the ventilation holes accidentally. It took some pondering but worked out ok and now we’ve got a place for wine. Bonus!

While we were working on getting the hatch lights sorted out we remembered that our license plate bracket doesn’t really work with the curve of the hatch (it causes the license plate to bend). So we made the piece below which is screwed onto the hatch and the license plate bracket is then screwed into it. This way the plate has enough room and doesn’t hit the surface of the hatch. It’s always something… just keep swimming, just keep swimming….

As we’re getting closer to hitting the home stretch it’s fun to look back and see how far we’ve come. One of the nice, but surprising, things to come from this project is that we seem to have developed better ways of working together.

It’s safe to say that we have different ways of approaching things. One is not better than the other, just different (many ways to “skin a cat”). On previous projects the difference made it, at times, a challenge to be on the same task at the same time, so we’d figure out ways to avoid this. But with the size, complexity and duration of this build, avoiding each other wasn’t an option. We’ve had to work together and it’s been a good process. We’re figuring out new, better ways to accommodate and communicate with each other… a very good thing.

I met the smarter one of us in a piano bar in Waikiki called the Rose and Crown. I knew the piano player pretty well and he was chatting with us on his break. When he found out she was a music teacher and could play, he asked her for a song. This was the first I heard her play and it still makes me smile.

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