Bob the Campulance. E350 Crestline with Roof Raise. V3 in Progress.

[iggi]

and as the warm weather flees Alberta I've pretty much wrapped up the interior demo.
There's still the electrical cabinet to deal with and the rear heater/AC to be disconnected they can wait a few days until it warms up.
I'll be running it over to my buddy with the sheet metal fab skills to finalize the plans on the roof raise. Also, now that I can get exact measurements of the box frame I can finish my CAD plan for the interior layout.

 

[iggi]

A few progress pics.
A couple changes in the plan.

1) decided to keep the factory rear AC/Heat for now. With the roof raise it will tuck up nice and high out of the way. Being in Canada it's rare that it's too hot at night, provided one can pre-cool the camper and get rid of the heat soak from the sun. I'll probably look at a mini-split at some point in the future but right now I'm on a tight timeline so I've avoiding any work that doesn't have to happen for this summer's camping & roadtripping plans.

2) Putting the rear bench on hold for now. To make room for it I'll have to do away with the electrical cabinet and at this point I'm short on time to do it well.

Almost ready to start on the roof removal. Probably less than 20 minutes of work to get the wiring harness completely out of the way.
Not sure how long it will take to grind/scrape all the adhesive off and prep the surfaces for welding. Any thoughts on using an oscillating tool for the sanding? Seems like it would be better at getting into those tight corners and joints.

I'll kinda miss the look of the Cot lights but I won't miss the flickering of the cheapo 1157 LED bulbs. They are also not very space efficient and I was surprised to see there was almost no insulation between the lights and the roof.

Speaking of surprises. I think the cot lights used more feet of wiring than the emergency lights. That section of wires I have zip tied together is just the positive leads. There's at least 8 individual ground wires as well.

Pics:

 

[Abitibi]

Quite the change! Reminds me of mine just a few months ago, lol

I'd suggest you do a similar approach as mine for the insulation of walls and roof. It gets rid of the typical condensation issues...

Cheers!

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[iggi]

Thanks!
I assume you are referring to the wood strips over the 2x2 aluminum beams? Definitely planning on doing that to limit the thermal bridging.

Cheers,
Ian

Quite the change! Reminds me of mine just a few months ago, lol

I'd suggest you do a similar approach as mine for the insulation of walls and roof. It gets rid of the typical condensation issues...

Cheers!

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[TheRealPapaK]

I covered the entire interior with an additional inch of rigid foam to get away from the thermal bridging etc.

 

[iggi]

Thanks, What type did you use?

I covered the entire interior with an additional inch of rigid foam to get away from the thermal bridging etc.

 

[TheRealPapaK]

Used expanded that has barriers on both side but if I were to do it again it would used extruded even though its more money. You can actually bolt stuff right against the extruded and it doesn't crush down. I had to added extruded to places I was bolting heavy things to the wall like my upper cabinets etc. It's over double the cost but next time I will do that. The way I did it still works.

 

[iggi]

After a bunch of life distractions, finally making progress on the roof raise again.
Thanks to a friend who is a decent TIG welder I've now got the extension frames welded up. Next step is to cut the roof off and weld the extension frames in. After that I'll be adding a 10 inch section of new aluminum skin in.
A few pics of the progress.

 

[Bikersmurf]

After a bunch of life distractions, finally making progress on the roof raise again.
Thanks to a friend who is a decent TIG welder I've now got the extension frames welded up. Next step is to cut the roof off and weld the extension frames in. After that I'll be adding a 10 inch section of new aluminum skin in.
A few pics of the progress.

View attachment 662376View attachment 662377View attachment 662378View attachment 662379View attachment 662380View attachment 662381View attachment 662382View attachment 662383

Once you have it all perfected, there may be others who follow in your footsteps. There are certainly trade offs to a 5’6” interior height.

I understand the need, but it’ll have to wait till I’m retired, the 40 is built, and the kids are a bit older.

 

[Abitibi]

After a bunch of life distractions, finally making progress on the roof raise again.
Thanks to a friend who is a decent TIG welder I've now got the extension frames welded up. Next step is to cut the roof off and weld the extension frames in. After that I'll be adding a 10 inch section of new aluminum skin in.
A few pics of the progress.

View attachment 662376View attachment 662377View attachment 662378View attachment 662379View attachment 662380View attachment 662381View attachment 662382View attachment 662383

Always great to have a welder buddy isn't it! Can't wait to see you gutting the roof!

 

[iggi]

Been working my butt off the last three days. Thanks to my talented friends there's been a ton of progress. Still have to bend up the front corners, attach two more panels and the seal up all the seams (and had a little more bracing)

 

[iggi]

Finished all the metalwork and attached the last of the panels yesterday. Now to seal all the joints, add some more interior bracing and then paint. Also have to train myself to stop hunching over when I get inside. lol

 

[Abitibi]

That's awesome Ian! Doesn't even look like you got any nasty surprises along the way

I kind of like the look of the raw aluminum strip, lol.

Enjoy the new found height

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[iggi]

Thanks! Surprisingly, there were few bad surprises.

Yes, debating on what to do in terms of paint/colour. That's a few days away.
Bad weather has hit Alberta again so I'm having to wait to finish the seam sealing.

That's awesome Ian! Doesn't even look like you got any nasty surprises along the way

I kind of like the look of the raw aluminum strip, lol.

Enjoy the new found height

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[iggi]

Quick progress update: welded up the new bed frame/rear garage. Takes about 10 minutes to remove mattress and centre section in the event I want to move something large.
Mostly built with aluminum 1x1 .125 wall but the two outside bed supports are 2"x1". Didn't want to add extra support but also wanted to not ever worry about having too many people sitting on the edge of teh bed. It's rated for 500lbs load with a safety factor of about 2.5.

Next steps: enclosing the side storage, building a ceiling mount for the HVAC, then walls, ceiling, cabinets, etc.