Chapter 806 – steps and walls
The flooring was slightly difficult, since Aiko only had one colour of wood and that was no colour.
She had to be a bit more creative with the floor to make it seem at least somewhat good so she kind of crisscrossed the planks to make it seem like they were more elaborate than they actually were.
The small side walls were also finished successfully. Aiko kind of made them plain, since there was no need to worry too much about them as she would use furs on them.
What she was concerned about was the front part where the coach was supposed to sit. There were different heights she had to accommodate, but she was unsure how she should go about this.
She did have some ingenious ideas, but those had a slight- big issue. The amount of work she had to put in...
What she had in mind, since this wood was so tough, she could very easily make it detachable and adjustable, with simple wooden male pins that would go into female pins.
This way you could easily adjust the height of the footrest, but as mentioned before, too much work.
Another idea was to make it suspended, but on rocky terrain that might cause issues, so Aiko dropped that.
Another idea was to make the footrest lower than what she needed and then make a very small adjustable footrest.
This required a lot less work, but again, it was still too much work.
'Maybe instead of round pins make them square?' Aiko was considering adjusting everything, but sawing all of that...
'Gosh...' Aiko shook her head. The adjustable footrest was probably the best option, but fuck it. She would make it for her height for now and if she could get more teammates later, she would just adjust it to the person who would be driving.
"There was also this suspension thing, but there is no way I'm doing that." Aiko snorted unhappily. The suspension could be sto0- Ahem, appropriated later, and it didn't need all that much tinkering, so she could attach it at any time later. The most important part was the caravan itself.
With that being said, Aiko finished the footrest and tried it herself.
"I need something soft for my ass later." Aiko nodded her head seriously. If she ever tried steering this thing, she would make it as comfortable as possible!
With that in mind, she stepped down.
"Right, how about making steps to the sides that you can pull down, that will save some energy getting up and down. I should probably do that on the back too, some ladder steps with long planks that would allow me to slowly make it up and-" Aiko thought those things were simple enough, since she could rely on hinges for this and the design was simple enough that she didn't need to carve anything too much.
She could also easily detach it, so it wouldn't be obvious and since the underside had a lot of room she could make simple rope holders to keep it in place.
Another thing she could also include were holsters on the side and just simple things with some rope and nails.
You would be surprised how tough those nails actually were, probably because it was considered a premium product.
The steps itself were easy. You drilled 2 holes into the footrest and used iron hooks to keep the stepladder attached and unmoving. To those hooks you would attach two square thin planks and add horizontal stepping planks, nailed it down and voilà, you had a stepping ladder.
Primitive, but easy to keep and doesn't get in the way.
The same could be said about the stepping ladder on the back, but a little different for the plank footholds that allowed you to smoothly roll anything on it.
Again, you get two holes with hooks, but this time you will attach hinges to those hooks. Since those planks will touch the floor and not all floors are even, this will help you with that without you needing to fiddle around.
To the hinges you then attach the planks and again, that's pretty much it. You didn't need to have anything fancy, as long as it was simple enough to be easily repaired and durable enough that it doesn't immediately break, you have pretty much the best thing you can have.
With that being said, Aiko was moving to the hardest part, or two parts.
One was securing the bed as kind of like 'second floor' and the other would be the actual roof of this thing.
So, the next step is roofing.
She had a few options. There was the metal and cloth option. The "I don't give a fuck, give me that house-type roof". Another would be a mixture of wooden beams and cloth and so on.
There were many types, but Aiko couldn't use all of them if she wanted to keep things sturdy.
However, weight would also be an issue if she went overboard.
As such she settled for the wooden beams that would secure her bed, coupled with fabric, for the time being, but later replaced with big furs.
Those furs would be difficult to obtain, so Aiko was even considering making a wooden roof, but then the weight...
'I don't know how heavy this whole thing will be, so I have to be careful.' She also had to keep in mind that there would be barrels, crates, her armour and other stuff, so the weight would quickly add up.
"For now, I can move it." That was the most important part for Aiko and would also determine what kind of rooftop she chooses. Well, she did pick the beam and fabric one, but she might have to downgrade later to keep even more weight in check.
However, nobody would dare criticise the sturdiness of this thing as it was built like a freaking tank.
"Hmmmm..." Aiko was now considering adding doors and even more walls, making it into a house on wheels, but then she would actually need something to pull it and that something she didn't have.
"Whatever, I can do more later." Aiko chose to give up thinking about it, there was already a lot of work to do, so one thing at a time.
There would be 6 beam pillars that would meet in the middle. With 3 sections each to make it more simple and higher ceiling.
2 pillars on each end and then one in the middle. This should give it enough structural integrity, but Aiko would use more wood at the base as triangle reinforcement and just in case all those beam pillars would also be joined between each other, making it one sturdy fucker.
The amount of wood was staggering, but fortunately she was not doing anything complicated, and she could even scale things up, saving some time in the process.
Of course, it was like the 200th time she had to go for more tools, since they didn't allow her to bring more at the same time after her first visit.
It kind of felt like she was waging a war against those shops, but that was truly not the case.
Thinking about it more, she was more and more proficient in this, so the actual consumption decreased over time~!
'Okay.' The beams were set up. It was so nice that there was no concept of night for the time being, and she could rest whenever she wished, making things easier on her.
"I will make Mei and others cook for me once I return." The food inside the safe area was nice, but there was this gnawing feeling that it was not as good as the real life food, so Aiko started craving it recently.
Shaking her head gently, it was time to put on the fabric, but...
"Is it big enough? Do I only secure it on the bottom?" Aiko tilted her head a few times before trying a few times.
The bottom would always be tied to prevent unnecessary water reaching the inside. That also included behind the coach and on the behind. That way she could tie it together and keep it 'closed'.
If it ever rained, it would provide her shield from the rain even if it rained sideways!
With that part finished, Aiko took it down. Why? Because it was easier if there was a lot of light for what she would do next.
Aiko was planning to fit a whole queen size mattress inside, so she needed a lot of room for it.
She fortunately already got the dimensions, so it was very easy to measure things. However, making the actual thing was quite difficult.
The main reason being the sheer weight and complexity of this thing.
Make it too simple, and she might fall through, but make it complex, and the weight will quickly stack up, especially since she also needed supporting beams that were attached to the wall beams.
The nails were also slightly running out, since Aiko used a lot to secure everything as she didn't want anything to suddenly fall apart, but thanks to that, it's why it was considered a damned tank!
Nodding her head slowly, she created the lightest bed frame. She already prepared the mattress, so she slotted it in and sloppily secured it to the beams with just ropes.
That was to test the durability before she nailed it down and made it permanent.
Another issue was the space above her. Aiko wanted to figure out how much space she needed to more easily move around instead of crawling.
And she could even include a secondary storage, if she so needed.
Aiko laid on her bed, looking at the clear sky with the Sun and many other objects.
At first, she moved around gently, but then she started to thrash around and eventually also had a seizure until the bed broke under her.
Aiko repeated this process until the bed didn't break, and then she also made it slightly thicker.
You never know what might happen, maybe the wood was not durable, so having a margin for error was a no-brainer.
With the framing done, Aiko was also considering the additional storage.
Those things would mostly be for the fabric used for camouflage or some nice beverages. In other words, very light stuff.
However, due to the fact that the wall beams were quite far away, it was hard to say how much she should do and how much she should reinforce it.
Aiko also wanted a small night stand to keep her things on, or just hide them from plain sight.
Clicking her tongue gently. She was quite limited on how she could go about this. The bed could either be closer to the front or back. Aiko picked the front, since there was more room, but she might consider actually moving it to the back.
For now, the front would suffice.
This meant that the front and middle pillar would be used for the support for the frame, instead of those ropes.
Those things were too far apart, so if she wanted a small storage, she would have to introduce additional supporting beams for the smaller storage.
'Everything increases weight...' Aiko groaned unhappily. She would have to be more careful moving on.