Sticking to our early Christmas gift pattern this year, Greg received his gift from Natalie this week, a 3 cubic feet Midea WHS-109W1 Upright Freezer. Of course, he wasn't actually supposed to get this present so early. He just cut the box open after picking it up from the P.O. box, much to Natalie's and my dismay. So, surprise! It's early December and you have already opened your big Christmas present DAD!
But, alas, now that it has been opened, there is no reason not to put it into use, right? After almost 16 months of living in this beast fulltime, we have realized that while it is nice to have an outdoor kitchen, two refrigerators is not necessary. Many, many packages of meat have gone bad waiting to be barbequed in the small outdoor refrigerator. The tiny indoor freezer has also been pretty worthless once it becomes more than half full. Ice cream, popsicles, anything sweet stays a sad state of soft serve mush. Not good for an ice cream loving family.
A new freezer mini freezer seemed to be a simple solution. We would just order on the same size as the mini fridge that was already sitting in the outdoor kitchen space. Jus swap them out, right? Ha! Ha! Ha! Nothing is ever that easy. What should have been so obvious is...the motor for a freezer is bigger than a refrigerator. Thus, a 3 cubic foot (the inside measurement) freezer is bigger than a 3 cubic foot refrigerator.
After removing the mini fridge on the first day, Greg and Natalie tried to push the freezer min at an angle. That was a complete and utter failure. We were sure were would have to send the freezer back. Which would be tough considering the box was thrown away on day one and this was now day four of the big thing sitting in the center on the only open space in our living room.
Back into the RV this albatross of potential frozen ice cream sundaes and pot roasts was pushed. After a couple of days walking around it, we decided to measure it and see how close to fitting it really was. Side to side, we were just tine. Front to back it appeared to one half inch too wide. One half inch! In the end, it was a bit more than that because, to make this freezer, that is hidden away behind an outside door on our RV slide, PRETTY, they curved the door outward! Sigh.
We had to gain about an inch of space in a set space! The first thing we did, after, of course, dinging up the brand new freezer door, was to remove one of the two spring hinges that holds up the fold up door. It still, as you can see by the photo below, holds itself up just fine with only one spring hinge.
Then, we created some magic. By removing the eight screws that were holding the door frame in the slide unit, we were able to pull it out about an inch. Replacing those 2" screws with 3" screws and using washers as spacers, we reattached the door unit to the slide. We never actually removed it rom the trailer, just slide it out far enough for the door to close.
Once the screws and washers were in place, we used large amounts of goop to seal the edges of the door to waterproof it again. Finally, we had to slide the latch plate on the bottom of the doorframe out just a 1/4 of an inch to allow for the curve of the freezer door.
We long ago pushed the cup holder rings in the shelf unit all the way to the back to allow us to use an basically useless shelf into a small pantry shelf. We use it to store our extra pastas and brownie mixes. The space directly below that shelf unit is just exactly the right size to store our instant pot cooker.
With a freezer filling up with ice cream and hamburger, Greg had time to work on setting up an amazing Christmas gift from our Bay Area friends, Ryan and Amanda. A new BBQ grill. We are totally set for a new year. One without quarantines and pandemics. Time for some happiness, joy and togetherness.
