Ambulance – Exterior Cabinet Removal!

Hello! This post will be about the removal of the cabinets that open to the outside of the ambulance! 

In the very beginning of owning the ambulance, I didn’t really want to get rid of any of the actual ambulance stuff, mainly just because I thought it was all really cool and felt like I would regret it if I tore any of it out. Well, I decided eventually that that was not the best path for me, and a big part of that decision was the choice to favor interior space that we could get back by removing a lot of the outside cabinets.

I wanted to remove three cabinets total, all of the bigger ones. This includes the one under the counter near the front of the ambulance, and the two taller cabinets at the back of it. I want to put a bed at the back and a fridge and water storage under the counter part in the front. We also wanted to remove the doors on the outside and weld a piece of sheet metal over it.

I was originally planning on doing this part myself, but I have zero experience with metal work or anything like that and I knew that this part was very important to the structure of the ambulance, so I had to figure out some way around that. My dad works with a metal shop that was willing to do it, so we took it there. 

We removed all of the insulation on the walls to make it easier to get a quote, and took it in. They said it would probably take 5 days, and ended up wanting to take it right then and there. That was pretty exciting since it would be done before we left on our trip. We thought we would bring it in the following week, but that probably wouldn’t have worked out anyways. 

My dad visited the ambulance every day to send me progress updates, pictures, and videos. This was super helpful since I was in bed recovering from having my wisdom teeth removed, and I loved seeing the progress every day. You’ve already seen some of these progress pictures since I interspersed them throughout this post. 

Even after the first day of work I could tell it was turning out better than we could have done, and I was super happy with it. We got it back in exactly 5 days like they said, and it was just perfect. I am really happy that we brought it to a shop for this particular work and didn’t do it ourselves. 

They used a combination of tack welds and a Bondo type material to secure the metal on the outside of the ambulance, and they told us we should put a primer over it so it doesn’t flake off in the sun, so that was our next step. 

Within the next couple of days, we did get around to doing that and this is how it looked afterwards. We were also not doing this right at the house, so we didn’t have a ladder, but we made do. I am also hoping this makes it look considerably less like an actual ambulance than it did before. 

Eventually, before the build is over, I would like to make a couple new doors where the larger doors used to be. The air compressor would be great to be accessible without taking everything that is on top of it out first. I would also like to have some grey water storage that is accessible from both the inside and the outside for convenience sake. 

I know this will be a big project as well, but I am feeling more confident in my skills as they grow each day. I am super excited to see how all of these things turn out!

That is all the information I have for you guys today! Thank you so much for reading my post! I am posting on my blog every Monday and Thursday, and a YouTube video every Thursday as well. I’ll see you guys in the next one!