especially things that really should be.

here is an example: you have a single din sized slot for a car radio, so when you buy a single din sized car radio you should be able to expect that the thing drops straight in, right? i would have thought so.

maybe, just maybe, it’s also a bit my fault. i could have chosen a ‘simple’ head unit, a ‘real’ single din unit. but most of those are a bit shouty, with many buttons and flashing lights and dials on dials.

in comparison the nakamichi looks tame, it really does. so you can imagine my disappointment when i took the unit out of the box and tried to hook it up.

first problem: it did not fit into the din slot. so either people in ballina have different ideas about the size of these standard mounting slots or the japanese do. in this case i’m with the aussies, not necessarily because i like to support the home team (i do) bit because all the other single din head units i put in there fit – first time!

that would have been a simple problem to solve – get a file, a bit of elbow grease and a slightly enlarged slot would have been able to receive the radio.

except it turns out because of the flip up display the entire radio sticks out by about 3 centimeters. not an issue under normal circumstances, but our favourite home away from home does this folding up trick where the top part neatly slides over the bottom part – and the 300kg of canopy would equally neatly deal with any flimsy little radios that might want to get in the way. because, say, they stick out further than ‘normal’ single din head units.

fitting the radio as originally intended was out of the question and it appeared the appropriate solution was the only course of action left: fit the radio in a different spot. the idea was to create a new cradle for the frame the radio slides in to and stick it to the top of the shelf.

correct: stick. first i cut a few aluminium angles to the right length and used (strong) double sided tape to glue them to the frame (the one with the weird shaped cut outs that under normal cicumstances sits in the din slot).

a bit more double sided tape to the underside of the new sliders …

and we have a new cradle on top of the shelf. it was a bit of a balancing act between too far forward (and get it guillotined by the canopy) and too far back (where i would not be able to fit the cables to the ports on the rear). i hope i got it right, otherwise it will be crunch time – literally.

so far it looks pretty neat up there. i still need to conjure up a little white cover, i’ll fashion that from a bit of white power coated sheet i bought the other day for precisely this case. just to make it blend in nicely.

see: that’s what i like about it. plain and simple.

i’ll get that cover done tomorrow.