Who Built This Unimog Camper

[AKAdventureCpl]

Does anyone know who actually built the camper on this 1988 U1300L? Despite the sign in the background, I know it was not Atkinson Vos. Recognizing everything is always a compromise, and despite the height, I am drawn to the overcab configuration for sleeping as it increases the living space.

 

[Victorian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdcEhOg-yfE

 

[Coachgeo]

Looks too tall for numerous Amerian highways. Not sure about Canada

 

[unirover]

Everything is a compromise but there are certain things that stop being a compromise and start being a serious liability. IMHO, weight, height and overhang are all compromises to a certain degree but they can become a liability that defeats the purpose of the vehicle. Over weight or really tall expedition Unimogs are not very good off-road and can't get to many of the remote places they were intend to go. For example the pictured Unimog will not get into a lot African national parks because it won't make it through the gate, it would be a nightmare on the East Coast USA on any trails or unused roads. I'd hate to get that thing off camber on some remote trail. I'm sure the center of gravity is much lower than it appears but trying explain that to your bladder when you get it at a 20 degree angle. It is getting to the point where even on public roads you are going to need bridge height maps and certain roads will off limits. I think even in the AV video they practically clip a tree on an major road. In the end you have to wonder if a nice 4x4 Sprinter or a domestic 4x4 pick up with a cab over would have just as much room and be more capable on road and off.

 

[Sitec]

For example the pictured Unimog will not get into a lot African national parks because it won’t make it through the gate...

With this in mind, what do you think is the ideal height? We used to run the tour trucks into most African Parks without issue... (That was 10 yrs+ ago tho and a lot could have changed..). The reason I ask, I'm soon to start building the body on the back of my 1222AK, and was planning on building the box with an external height of 2m.. sat on a chassis that's 1.4/1.5m high.. Overall vehicle height of approx 3.5m... Are there height restrictions in the US? Cheers in advance, and sorry for the thread hijac!

 

[UpperCrust]

4.11 meters is how tall most overpass bridges are. Make sure your camper is less than that.

With this in mind, what do you think is the ideal height? We used to run the tour trucks into most African Parks without issue... (That was 10 yrs+ ago tho and a lot could have changed..). The reason I ask, I'm soon to start building the body on the back of my 1222AK, and was planning on building the box with an external height of 2m.. sat on a chassis that's 1.4/1.5m high.. Overall vehicle height of approx 3.5m... Are there height restrictions in the US? Cheers in advance, and sorry for the thread hijac!

 

[unirover]

As upperCrust mentioned, the max in the USA is 13 feet, 6 inches (4.11m) high. However, that is for bridges on major interstate highways and once you get on secondary roads, you will have problems with that height. So while you can legally go that high, in many places you will be limited to the same type of roads big RV's need. At 4m high, you will be greatly limited on road and off - sort of defeats having an expedition vehicle if you are limited to the same type of roads big RV's and trucks need.

On secondary roads, I think 12 feet (3.65) is a more important cut off height. That covers a lot of lower bridges, garages and structures. Still pretty limiting off-road but a whole different league than 4.11m. The next cut off is 3m. This is a breakpoint for many shipping companies, low European bridges, and European structures such as garages. It is also much more doable on off-road trails.

I am currently designing a back for my Unimog U1300L and ideal max height is 3m and worse case scenario is 3.5m. I will probably do some sort of extended top / pop top because I will personally not go higher than 3.5 (IMHO liability height) but I want to stand up. Again compromises, and pros and cons. This adds a bit of complexity to get the best of both worlds in terms of height. However, that in itself is a trade off between simplicity and complexity which is a whole other discussion.

 

[Sitec]

As upperCrust mentioned, the max in the USA is 13 feet, 6 inches (4.11m) high. However, that is for bridges on major interstate highways and once you get on secondary roads, you will have problems with that height. So while you can legally go that high, in many places you will be limited to the same type of roads big RV's need. At 4m high, you will be greatly limited on road and off - sort of defeats having an expedition vehicle if you are limited to the same type of roads big RV’s and trucks need.

On secondary roads, I think 12 feet (3.65) is a more important cut off height. That covers a lot of lower bridges, garages and structures. Still pretty limiting off-road but a whole different league than 4.11m. The next cut off is 3m. This is a breakpoint for many shipping companies, low European bridges, and European structures such as garages. It is also much more doable on off-road trails.

I am currently designing a back for my Unimog U1300L and ideal max height is 3m and worse case scenario is 3.5m. I will probably do some sort of extended top / pop top because I will personally not go higher than 3.5 (IMHO liability height) but I want to stand up. Again compromises, and pros and cons. This adds a bit of complexity to get the best of both worlds in terms of height. However, that in itself is a trade off between simplicity and complexity which is a whole other discussion.

All useful info and valid. I will be aiming for under 3.5m myself. Thanks.

 

[ianc]

I've being playing around in France and Spain and have seen 3.5m as a limit more often than not. Particularly at the cheaper fuel locations. Mine is 3.55m :-(

 

[Kiomon]

We are a right at 3.5M and in the US and down through central america, it hasn't been an issue. As far as trails go, a unimog of any height is going to have an issue on a trail that is overgrown. If you are serious about taking your 7500 kg home on wheels down tiny trails, then this isn't going to be the rig for you OR just accept the scratches and snapped branches. BUT the thing is that when you are really remote in some random country with no one around, you prob aren't going to take those risks anyway. The biggest thing we have seen from our travels is just accepting that your truck is going to get BEAT by branches and such. I think the ideal height to avoid that would the height of the cab of a U1300L (~2.5M?). If we look at our camper box, we see the scrape lines at about that height and above. There are times we have to lift power lines and such going into small pueblos, and you can forget about putting into a hotel or anything with an arch over the gate. But hey, you have a big *** Mog camper, you made it comfy for a reason, you don't need any of that anyway. Keep is under 3.5M if you don't mind scratches, and 2.5M if you do.

 

[Iain_U1250]

We are 3.3m high, but depending on what is on the roof, up to 3.6m high. If you build a Unimog, Camper, and don't take it down the small trails where the Nissans and Land Cruisers go, then you should have bought a simpler road truck with 4x4. Why use a Unimog as a base and then stick to roads . The sides of our truck are scratched, pretty badly, from the bottom right to the top. Having proper branch bars on the front and roof, and chamfering the top of the box make it possible for us to drive down most tracks where the Patrols and Cruisers go. Where there is a big tree or branch that would cause a lot of damage, we have an electric pole saw, and do a bit of pruning.

When we get home, we will clean off the tree sap, see what we can polish out and look at some graphics and a film wrap to help limit the damage, we already have canvas screens for our side windows that have really helped with limiting the damage on them. The bars on the front and roof will need re-painting, they saw quite a lot of wear.

When we get home I'll edit some of the video from the Canning Stock Route, we had to push through kilometres of trees encroaching the track, but only had to prune one, but we did break a lot of branches on that track, and got a lot of scratches, but that's no reason not to take the truck down it, that''s what we built if for.

Something like the Unimog with "Luton Peak" / Cabover in the photos would make it really difficult to drive on most tracks here in Australia, wide, high and no doubt a bit top heavy. If you need extra space, then maybe a slide-out is the way to go.

 

[DzlToy]

This may be a bit of a loaded question, but how do the large trucks like this do in REALLY technical terrain? I presume they are not very stable on side hills or off camber situations and I do realise they are not rock buggies. It seems to me that a cabover camper, as pictured above, would be quite restrictive on anything other than vast open spaces, on and off road, and relatively flat ones at that.

I have flopped Toyota 4Runners, rock buggies, Jeeps and a Polaris RZR on numerous occassions and it's not difficult to do at all. One slip into a hole, the weight shifts and you are toppling over onto your side. With a large truck such as the one above, that would be a very expensive recovery. On the RZR and rock buggies, you just push them over and continue on your way.

I would consider a pop up hard or soft sided camper or maybe a different platform altogether. Maybe the capabilites of a Mog are not warranted. They will most certainly be compromised with a huge, top heavy box, so it is almost self defeating.

 

[Haf-E]

Would be OK in Iceland...

 

[unirover]

The 3.25 meter wheelbase U1300L Unimogs are sort of unique size wise. If you keep them low and light, you can actually go just about anywhere a Land Cruiser/Rover Jeep can go. A troopie U1300L has a similar turning radius as a Wrangler Unlimited and is not far off a Land Rover 110. It is much better than a Land Rover 130 which has the same wheelbase and a 130 is helpless compared to a U1300L off-road. I've been on very tight trails with Land Rover/Cruisers and while my margin of error is a bit smaller, I've never had to turn around. The extra ground clearance has actually allowed me to go places they can't.

Having said that, the capacity of a Unimog is much more than a Land Rover/Cruiser/Jeep and it is tempting to build it out and up, and add lots of weight. Then it leaves the Land Rover/Cruiser/Jeep category and ends up in the MAN, Mercedes truck, full size USA pickup category which is much more limiting off-road but more inviting for living space. By these standards, the Unimog is very nimble and small but won't be going down smaller “jeep” trails.

In terms of tipping over, a tall box using lightweight materials, such as foam composite, does not actually raise the center of gravity that much. It is the spare tire on the roof, motorcycle half way up the rear end, and miscellaneous things people are tempted to throw on the roof that kill the center of gravity. A properly set up Unimog can be pretty tall and still have roll over angles that will make you pee your pants first. The thing is a lot of people pile the weight on top of all that height which then amplifies tip over angles and off-camber instability.

My goal is to try to keep my capabilities in the Land Rover/Cruiser/Jeep category because this is where a lot of the truly fun trails and roads are. I like to go down ATV trails and foot paths and I do it in a Unimog. This can be challenging even at the stock cab height and width but I've never turned back even on very tight trails. Scratches and dents go with the terrain, even in smaller vehicles.

With my latest Unimog camper back attempt the goal is light and tight so I can go most places a Land Rover/Cruiser/Jeep can go. However, I've got two kids and I've done my fair share of hardcore basic overlanding so I want the creature comforts the Unimog chassis allows but not to the point that it essentially becomes a typical 4x4 RV with big tires that is all bark and no bite.

 

[julius0377]

Angles for large campers

Here are some examples of tipping angles, the first is a video from company Blissmobil in Germany, testing the angles for a "fully loaded" camper on a Mercedes Zetros chassis (also check out the videos by "Cytros4x4 Reisetruck" on youtube for more Mercedes Zetros camper videos, some from Iceland.)


And here is a coupe of images of Unicat built Unimogs (one including a motorbike up top on the rear):